Bought way back in 2000 when Sotheby’s had a sale of old Bouchard Père vintages, for what I thought a bargain at £170 direct for BP&F. In storage since then, here is it’s first outing – time to see if it was really a bargain!
1997 Bouchard Père et Fils, Le Corton
Medium colour. The nose starts with a herby top-note and a little meat below, it slowly develops a sweeter core of spiced plums. In the mouth this is full of dimension and some reasonable tannin too – the flavour is slightly savoury and inflected with coffee. Good sweetness and no lack of balance helps produce a decent finish. Unlike many from the vintage, there’s a real smoothness here – impresses. Half a bottle was left in the refrigerator overnight and next day it was acid-forward and not so nice, though my single glass was always rather cold. So on the third day, at room temperature (~19°C – the weather was cold!) the impression was somewhere between the last two days. So initially a very tasty if not stunning grand cru. Drink it straight away, watch your serving temperature and you will be rewarded!
Rebuy – Maybe

2000/01 Méo-Camuzet, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Clos St.Philibert
Like chalk and cheese these two wines. The 2000 has a quite young, medium yellow colour whereas the 2001 is much more golden. Despite the colours, the 2000 is the more toasty and faintly madirised, the 2001 is aromatically much more like a classic white burgundy. The 2000 needs time in the glass as it starts also with madirised flavours – but they all-but disappear with 1 hour’s aeration, leaving some sweetness, good concentration and balance. The 2001 is very balanced but much more austere in the mid-palate and finish – just needs a little more sweetness for ‘solo’ drinking, however, it fits really well with food. Overall, decent value wines that I occasionally see at reasonable prices on restaurant lists.
Rebuy – Maybe

1997 Daniel Rion, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Vignes Rondes
Medium, medium-plus colour still. The nose is full of sweet-edged undergrowth and below there’s still a dark edge of oak-toast. In the mouth there’s a silkiness and good, if not totally seamless acidity. The dark flavours mirror the nose but have a nice extra creamy dimension, there’s still a bitter-chocolate edge to the tannins too. No sharp edges and only just beginning to enter its drinking window, despite its oaky beginings being still on display, this is becoming a very above average 1997.
Rebuy – Yes (and I don’t say yes to many ’97’s…)