I keep driving past this Clos and seeing the constant work going on there – and I don’t mean just the vines: In the last year or so, workmen have largely repaired the walls of the Clos – last week a pair were ‘re-pointing’ the stonework of the entrance gates. I thought Mr Mugnier was joking with me when he said he might restore the mini-colosseum building as a gite, well I don’t know if it’s really a gite, but it looks in much better shape than the Acropolis now!

Anyway I’m on a very good ‘run’ of wines that I would rebuy, but thankfully so – these are all wines that I bought (typically) en-primeur – if they are no good I’ve clearly been wasting my time ‘practising’ these last years! Anyway, lots of parallels between this wine and the previous day’s 2006, but this is on a much higher plain – except perhaps if you want to drink it today!
2006 JF Mugnier, Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos de la Maréchale
Relatively deep colour with purple hints. The nose starts with sugary dark fruit of real depth, though less width – slowly it adds a creamy coating and eventually red berry notes begin to peek through. Fresh impact and plenty of extract too; the wine/wood tannins are smooth and impart an acceptably bitter note through the core of the wine – the sweetness of the dark cherry fruit is quite enough to balance, mixed with iron and minerals. The tannin and some of the bitterness are the main items of note in the finish, though these will fade and bring to the fore the creamy fruit that plays second fiddle today. It impresses now, but it will clearly impress more in the future.
Rebuy – Yes

I may change my mind if the weather turns hot, but I think a couple of 99 Gevreys might be nice in the next days; Fourrier Combe aux Moines and Bachelet VV anyone?

Well I was on a decent run, so why not another 2000? I’d put this behind both the Vougeraie Clos de Vougeot and the Clavelier Brulées, but it’s still a very nice wine:
2000 Clos des Lambrays
Medium ruby-red colour – looks great in the glass. The nose has a little more truffle than the Clavelier, some brown sugar and higher tones – pretty, but less pretty than the Brulées. In the mouth it’s nicely sweet, reasonably concentrated and provides a lingering sweet, mouth-watering finish that has more than one dimension. There’s still a little bitter oak in the finish but it’s only a minor distraction today. It needs at least another 2 or 3 years to reach its apogee, but it’s still a very tasty bottle.
Rebuy – Yes

Having failed to land the ‘Best Job in The World‘, I suppose I should open some wine. [As an aside did anyone see the Johnny Cash bio on UK BBC2 the other night? – stunning.] Anyway, after the two 2000s from Vougeraie, what better time to benchmark a third?

I found this aromatically superb at an en-primeur tasting and whipped out the plastic without hesitation – seven years later it’s time to take a look. The longer corks of the Vougeraie wines look much higher quality, and as if they were only recently bottled – by comparison the wine-soaked Clavelier corks would concern me if I was planning to wait 20 or more years (see below). Overall this Brulées is less fat than the Clos de Vougeot, but clearly with more freshness and youth on it’s side – it’s more ‘classic’ too. Clearly I don’t have enough Clavelier in my cellar!
2000 Bruno Clavelier, Vosne-Romanée 1er Aux Brulées
Medium ruby-red colour. The nose is round and delicately sweet and, at its core, retains that gorgeous crystalline dark cherry fruit of my original tasting – for the vintage that’s a rare treat. Good acidity also for the vintage and just enough fat to give a silky texture. You can find a little tannin if you’re prepared to work for it, but frankly, why bother? The fruit remains quite primary and shows a subtle creaminess as it lingers. Also a little bitter chocolate in the finish too that harks to oak. Young, but a beautiful drink today.
Rebuy – Yes

2000 Vougeraie, Clos de Vougeot
I wasn’t going to rush to open one of these, but given the relatively poor performance of the 2000 ‘Cras‘, I felt compelled to. Medium, medium-plus colour. Warm, ripe aromas with a hint of spice but without any loss of elegance and still a decent focus. Nicely mouth-filling, excellently textured and with understated, though sufficient, acidity. Decent depth of fruit and the faintest residue of tannin – only one complaint; there’s a hint of cola flavour that I don’t think appropriate for Clos de Vougeot. The finish is elegantly long. Neither a powerhouse nor a wine of mind-bending dimension – you might say not a great grand cru then, but this is a beautifully judged middle-weight that is in a very nice place at the moment. Most villages wines now cost more than I paid for this – I’d buy a dozen without a moment’s hesitation if I could pay the same price!
Rebuy – Yes

A selection of wines tasted in Burgundy last week. Starting with a pair of perfect 1961’s, two iconic whites from 2006 and then a face-off off between two recently delivered 1999 en-primeur purchases:
1961 Morin Père et Fils, Pommard 1er Rugiens
Medium-pale colour but still with plenty of red. The nose is soft and more than a little earthy with a hint of sweetness. In the mouth it retains a masculine lick of tannin and there’s a good length. Clean and alive

1961 Max Quenot Fils et Meuneveaux, Corton-Bressandes
If any thing the colour is yet younger. The nose is sweeter, still with plenty of fruit – a little roasted. In the mouth it’s clearly more sweetly red fruited than the Pommard, minimal tannin and has a lovely balance. The finish is a good one. I would say this is just about ready – and it’s also very tasty!

2006 Roulot, Meursault 1er Perrières
Pale to medium yellow. The nose is just a little tight, ripe but tight. In the mouth there’s width, density and a very sneaky extra dimension in the mid-palate – it’s very impressive. What’s less impressive is an apparent lack of energy – I think it really needs a bit more acidity. Very nice, but no wow.
Rebuy – Maybe

2006 Louis Carillon, Bienvenues Bâtard Montrachet
A whiff of SO2 defines the first interaction – it’s even still there after about 20 minutes in the glass but on a much lower level. The fading of the sulfur reveals a width of aromas and some very pretty higher tones and eventually a little caramel. For the vintage there’s very decent acidity and a really beautiful width of creamy, dreamy ripe fruit – it seems to go on and on. No fireworks – if anything it’s a little tight – but it’s a very, very competent demonstration of a grand cru.
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Leroy, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Narbantons
The cork is soaked through with wine and splits in half while trying to extract. A medium, medium-plus young colour. The nose starts quite oaky, though slowly it fades to leave heavier and heavier young fruit notes. In the mouth it starts with grainy tannin and a little spritz but it’s followed by a lovely impression of damson/plum fruit and a super length. The fruit continues to blossom, becoming cleaner and fresher though this is clearly a Leroy wine rather than a wine of Savigny. Over time there’s a little mushroom and mineral on the nose, though a quick swirl reveals perfect berry notes.
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Engel, Grands-Echézeaux
Medium-plus colour. The nose is about deep, macerated fruit – and even goes deeper with time in the glass. It’s very pretty indeed and all the while adds faint if not wild complexity. In the mouth the clear first impression is width, aided by faintly grainy tannin across the whole panorama. There is an understated presence and interesting complexity, though the finishing flavours are a tad simple despite their length. A good wine here, but today I shy away from ‘great’ as I didn’t find any real focus or ‘spine’ to the wine making it come across as ill-defined/loose in the mid-palate. Give it time, but today I’d rather drink the Leroy.
Rebuy – Yes

2000 Vougeraie, Vougeot 1er Les Cras
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour. The nose is deep, edged with sweet oak spice and more than a hint of cedar – reminiscent of an 04 but less ‘high-toned’. In the mouth this is sweetly ripe and with a little fat in its texture but also a nice core of acidity. Plush but tasty though the decent length finish still shows a little bitter oaky element that has almost become bitter chocolate rather than just ‘bitter’ – a little creamy coconut too – but also some more cedar. For the first hour it was open it was alternately yummy and engaging then herby and bitter, I expected improvement, but instead the palate became a little prickly/pickley. Basically this is all over the place today – unusual for a 2000 – so I can’t recommended it.
Rebuy – No (I hope the 5 in the cellar improve…)