I planned a tasting of 2020 Saint Romain and Saint Aubin for this week in Beaune – little did I know that growers, stressed by a lack of vineyard workers and exponential growth of their vines just now, (more on that tomorrow) had better things to do than send samples to Beaune.

It’s not just me – re samples – Decanter this week were in the same position, Bourgogne Aujourd’hui and the Revue du Vin de France too, and even the BIVB’s Cave Prestige has seen a big drop in the number of samples sent by the domaines – estimating ‘half’ the volume of samples versus previous years would be generous!

So, I clearly didn’t have enough samples to make a single report for subscribers, so I’ll simply place the tasting notes here. Still, there are three domaines that I’d be interested to follow up on and, as always, the wines were tasted blind, their identities revealed only for the camera once done:

2020 Sebastien Magnien, St.Romain Sous le Château
Cork – broke in two
A forward and broad nose – citrus skins and relatively modest creamy oak. Broad, nicely vibrant flavour here. The oak is not excessive and fills out the palate, augmenting fine citrus bitters. This is very nicely mouth-watering and could be enjoyed today, though I’d perhaps wait 2 years. This is a lovely finishing wine.

2020 Géraldine Louise, St.Romain La Périère
A personalised cork – and I like the contemporary label very much
A little extra colour. A wide, if calmer, more compact nose in other directions – airy, faintly spiced, less visible oak. A wine that goes deeper, showing riper fruit too, more generous – almost rich. Here the oak is more visible in the flavours and whilst mouth-watering and showing a little mineral character in the finish, the previous wine is much more refreshing and has the better energy today. Give this 2-3 years in the cellar to see how it opens.

2020 Château Philippe le Hardi, St.Aubin En Vesveau
DIAM10
A more stony, mineral, freshness to this nose – narrower but quite deep. Hmm – flighty, energetic, relatively direct – tension – lots of rock and citrus, only faintly of oak and faintly perfumed in the modest length finish. I love the energy here – a super wine for today’s apéro…

2020 Larue, St.Aubin 1er Sous Roche Dumay
Fortunately to pad out this tasting(!) I had a glass of this the day before! I didn’t see the seal.
That has both a width and an energy to the nose – the oak is very modest and it’s the citrus complexity that’s in command. The first impression is of a direct wine, vibrant with mineral energy – no padding. Time in the glass widens the perspective. Another wine of tension and delicious flavours. This is very good!

2020 Pierre Brisset, St.Aubin 1er Sous Roche Dumay
DIAM10 – and a second Sous Roche Dumay – not that well-known a 1er!
A fuller nose – large in the depth too – almost a richness of fruit. Belying the richness of the nose is a mouth-filling wine of lovely energy. There’s a more than interesting, almost haunting, mineral width to the finishing flavour. That’s a beautiful finish – a wine with disparate parts but a very good wine – so wait for it to come together – it could become excellent.

2020 Prosper-Maufoux, St.Aubin 1er Clos du Chateau
54mm (long!) cork and a much too heavy bottle!
Lovely – complex, airy, citrus – a little lime in the mix too – such an inviting nose. Mouth-filling – a flavour that really expands over the palate – almost fizzing as it goes. Not quite the sherbet-style of Montagny but some comparisons. A finish that rolls over the palate as it slowly unwinds. My favourite so far and a wine that should get better and better in the cellar – excellent wine.

2020 Prosper-Maufoux, St.Aubin 1er Combes au Sud
DIAM10 and a lighter bottle – so it seems that I tasted these two in the wrong order…
There are aromatic parallels with the flavours of the previous wine – sherbet energy – here backed with a modest oak component. More silky and mineral – hmm – another level of ripe but balanced concentration here. This flavour is delicious though with an ‘apple-y’ oxidative style and more visible oak – despite that, it’s an impressive finish. That’s a good wine, with very good energy too – but for drinking today – for my cellar, I’d prefer the previous wine because of the oxidiative style of this.

2019 Gautheron, Chablis 1er Montmains
One of my house wines from last year: Already coming into a great place (I might be tempted to open my 2020 Homme Mort!) with freshness and aromatic clarity – a super invitation. In the mouth, cool, all sinew and muscle – mineral freshness. A wine to drink and drink – and we did! Lovely stuff
Rebuy – Yes

2003 des Chézeaux/Berthaut, Gevery-Chambertin 1er Cru
In small-volume vintages – such as this – their Cazetiers and Lavaux are usually blended. For at least 15 years this wine has been absolutely delicious. Today, showing a small extra aromatic maturity but luscious, sweet fruit on the palate too – it just goes to show how we have become accustomed to the ripeness of modern wines – this was quite an outlier for many years – it’s now, practically, normal! On day two the last third (overnighted in the fridge) didn’t smell so nice – I didn’t finish my glass – but day one was really on top form. I think I have 3 or 4 more – I’m sure that they will all be enjoyed!
Rebuy – Yes

2016 Buisson-Charles, Chablis Vaudésir
Patrick Essa has been making a range of maison wines for a few years now. This was served blind and had a ripeness yet energy that made me think of the best producers in Mâconnais – but not Pouilly-Fuisse. There was a modestly exotic style to the fruit but a clean attack that should have reminded me that 2016 is quite a favourite of mine in Chablis. Overall, a great wine for such a ‘non-standard’ Chablis, yet one that properly reflects the vintage there. It drank great for the whole night!
Rebuy – Yes

2016 Vincent Dancer, Meursault Les Grands Charrons
Another wine of supple, slightly exotic flavours – at this age the vintage completely outshining the place. Another wine that you would justly call delicious despite, in this case, having no single feature that you might consider Murisaltien! Yum!
Rebuy – Maybe

2010 Daniel Rion, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Beaux-Monts
Another wine that was served blind, and what a tour de force of a nose – much more mature than you expect from the vintage, full of sous-bois and enticing mature character. It seemed to me to be a warmer vintage so I considered 1997 or 2000 to be suitable vintages and perhaps from a very place – such as Chapelle-Chambertin… So much for blind guessing! But this was a wine that was completely on song – the first to be opened from this case, no-less!
Rebuy – Yes

2020 Camille & Laurent Schaller, Chablis
Here’s a wine with no hint of the 2020 greens – just a very attractive and properly mineral yet tasty wine. All as it should be from this (otherwise) excellent vintage. Super!
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Nicolas Potel, Volnay 1er Clos des Chênes
When released, this wine was one of my joint-top-three Volnays of the vintage – it wasn’t possible to separate this from Lafon’s Santenots or d’Angerville’s Ducs – 3-4 years later this was clearly in third place – though still something great. This may, unfortunately, be my last bottle – unfortunately, because it was such a bravura wine – concentrated, clean, complex, a little muscular, even a little young – certainly younger than the 2010 Rion. But a beauty – a real beauty! Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

2000 Bessin-Tremblay, Chablis 1er Montmains
As the previous bottle – great wine from an excellent vintage. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes