Medium colour. To start with there is no aroma at all, very slowly there is hint of beef broth and a more impressive and sweeter acid cherry. Very silky. You have the taste impression that somewhere there there lies a hint of oxidation but it’s buried under a sweet red note and never becomes more than a suggestion. Pretty with a fine, if understated acidity. Very stable in the glass, and with a lovely core of fruit. My run of excellent 69s continues…
This one has about 7cm of ullage and a cork that crumbles – c’est la vie…
Here is also some balsamic aroma but it’s just a trace, there’s a little beef broth too – neither are my favourite. Slowly both of those components fade to reveal a wine of clarity, silky intensity and a lovely extra creamy dimension of flavour in the mid-palate and into the bright finish. There’s a result! The fruit aromas are of alcohol macerated cherries and oranges. I started to make a coffee in the first few minutes this was opened – I never did finish making it! 😉
The cork comes out in one piece – no mean feet in these older Bourées – the bottle glass has a blue shade to it; clearly a bit unscientific but I’ve never yet had an off wine from a blue-shade bottle! Very good, relatively young colour. The nose? Well it’s rather particular; in-fact blind this is a 2004 with at least a 6/10 ‘score’ for pyrazines. Underneath is a pretty depth of still croquant, sugared strawberry fruit with the faintest suggestion of stems – as an occasional bottle, I’m quite happy to put this in my mouth! There is weight and sweetness to the red fruit with fine if understated acidity – overall a very smooth ride. There is some taste from the pyrazines – mainly in the mid palate before the flavour slowly decays in the finish. I have to say, pyrazines aside this is quite some wine – for those with low sensitivity I expect they would absolutely love this bottle – certainly I find it interesting and still drinkable: Indeed quite a remarkable bottle.
Medium colour, again with plenty of browning. The nose starts in a very tight way; some savoury notes but little else to latch onto. Very slowly a raspberry perfume with clear stem references begins to evolve. The first mouthful is of a perfectly balanced, if rather thin, wine. There is a little rasp from what remains of the tannin – it’s a nice touch of character. There is eventually an interesting extra dimension, and some intensity, in the mid-palate – this is not a food wine, it’s flavours are engulfed by just about anything. Without food there’s just enough sweetness, but overall, it’s hardly worth the effort. After the 66 Pommard of last week, this is something of a let-down.
A little more than medium colour. The nose is awash with iron-infused soil, milder stem smoke and minerals – it’s very, very nice. Medium bodied, with very good fruit that almost completely obscures the tannins. Depth and interest here despite it showing far from all it has. Good length. 2005 is clearly the perfect to vintage to buy from a producer with such a traditional approach – it may never be the greatest of 2005’s, but is a great alternative to (for instance) a Dujac from other vintages and it will surely last and last if that’s your wish. Very tasty.
The cork is black were it meets the air, and stained red all the way through – perhaps 2cm of ullage – but the wine is fine. Medium-pale though it’s a relatively young colour. The nose is soft and faintly spicy with hints of strawberry and stems but it’s also rather clean and interesting, occasionally it’s beguiling. In the mouth it’s soft and supple with a little kick in the mid-palate and perfect acidity. The almost-gone tannin is but a transparent screen. Very long, but it’s on a very subtle level – and despite the evident complexity, that’s the problem – everything about this wine is on too subtle a level, it’s like it’s diluted. Yields? Beautiful if you have the patience and lack of distractions but, if I may say, too ephemeral! For all that, every last drop was drunk in about 2 hours, I just wish I’d savoured it a little more, rather than thought ‘if only…’
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose, whilst still reasonably primary, sets high expectations; heavy with red fruit concentrate against higher tones of stems and, if you don’t swirl, an understated pot-pourri of herbs. In the mouth there is some fat, then acidity that finishes just a little tart – like under-ripe – before a very nice extra dimension of creamy fruit. The understated finish, whilst long, seems to pick-up a slightly metallic note from that acidity. I’ve never been acid averse, so despite this being less than perfect, there’s enough character here for me to buy a couple more (it’s anyway a good price) for later reflection.
A rare négoce bottle of Clos St.Jacques. A deep core of already ruby-red colour – quite deeply coloured for a Bourée. The nose is the usual interesting blend of smoky Bourée stems a faint undertow of cedar, earthy Gevrey notes and another faint undertow of mushroom – the last droops in the glass hold a lovely pure redcurrant note. In the mouth there’s good texture; the plentiful tannins are not so astringent and are very well covered. There’s clearly plenty of concentration here, though the acidity shows a little too tart for the first hour, hence, defining the wine and becoming the major aspect of a very long finish. Density and complexity on the mid-palate is very good. This is a very young wine that improved in the glass such that the acidity was much less forward (maybe I was just ‘used’ to it) after an hour or so, but it is also today, slightly compromised by low levels of the 2004 green but there’s is plenty of wine here so my remaining bottles will stay at least 10 years in the cellar – if the green fades into the background it will be an excellent wine.
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