1997 Bouchard Père, La Romanée
My last bottle, but what a way to go out!
Ooh – that’s a beautiful nose – reeling me in with complexity. Mouth-filling – an extravaganza of flavour that’s even more punchy than the nose. A bottle about 5 years ago was still showing some youth – this much less so – but the bones of fine structure remain as does its freshness and seemingly endless, ravishing, finish. Captivating is a word that could have been coined to describe this wine – its actual age and vintage seem immaterial – it is (was!) simply a great wine. Bravo!
Rebuy – No Chance

Three very easy winners this weekend!

2020 Thivin, Côte de Brouilly Clos Bertrand
A deep nose, a wide nose, of pure dark fruit. I like this shape, direct in style but with fine texture and depth to its pure fruit – delicious!
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Thibert, Pouilly-Vinzelles Les Longeays
Broad, properly fresh but still ripe yellow citrus – faintly waxy. Mouth-filling, with just a little fat to this but it’s another wine with a fine, silky, texture. A width of beautiful, pure, clinging on for life, ripe citrus for a finish. Certainly a little padding but, frankly, ultra-delicious wine that just hints of the minerality to come with a couple more years in the cellar.
Rebuy – Yes

2019 Dominique Gallois, Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes
Dark colour. A sweet core of dark fruited aroma, perfumed too. Mouth-filling, structural yet beautifully fluid despite a couple of mm of cushioning, indeed quite direct shaped. Juicy, long, silky, intense – slightly old-vine creamy in the finish. Fabulous.
Rebuy – Yes

Week 43, 2022 – already! And you can see that my cold has improved – right? 🙂

2017 Domaine Verret, Bourgogne Côte d’Auxerre Les Gaudiers
Young colour. A nose that is incisive to start but still shows plenty of creamy oak in the background. Just as incisive in the mouth – this has a great structural shape, intensity and concentration of lemon-citrus fruit – but again a lot of creamy, almost vanilla oak which seems to add excessive sweetness. A wine that’s seriously great in parts but, too much, resembles a lemon pie with too much creamy vanilla – in my glass, anyway – normally, I don’t decline lemon pie!
Rebuy – No

2019 Berthaut-Gerbet, Vosne-Romanée
Such depth of colour! This nose is deeply, darkly, red-fruited, but with such fine purity to that fruit. Supple, perhaps with a couple of millimetres of cushion to the silky flavours. Sweetly ripe but not in the ‘make-up’ style of the Verret. Very modest bitters in this finish but no overt tannin – just a silky texture. A wine that adds dimensions as it warms and takes in air in your glass. Far too easy to drink for such a baby and just beautifully proportioned.
Rebuy – Yes

Disappointingly, I’m at home this week*: A cold that developed over the weekend has left me coughing like a horse – not a good look while trying to taste wines retailing for $1,000 a bottle – even when triple-negative tested! Only about 15 domaine visits to be rescheduled – I think I’ll probably be fit (and presentable!) to taste again by Friday.

But before I started losing any of my senses, there were two nice bottles at the weekend:

2016 Château Bonnet, Juliénas
Broad and exciting aromas – faintly with some development but that characteristic oxidative note of gamay/Beaujolais – like Marsala – is hardly yet evident. Broad, great energy and long finishing make this wine completely delicious. Despite not being anywhere like fully mature I’d still say à point!
Rebuy – Yes

2018 Maison Harbour, Santenay 1er Les Gravières Blanc
Hmm – here’s a generous, clean and attractive nose – a fine invitation. Mouth-filling, structural but also generously flavoured – there’s so much packed into this wine. Long, energetic and concentrated – large-scaled but never wearing. The second completely delicious wine of the weekend!
Rebuy – Yes

*Still, it means that I’m catching up on writing visit reports – 5 done today!