2002 Alex Gambal, St.Aubin 1er Murgers des Dents de Chien
From magnum. Medium lemon-yellow colour. The nose is soft and sweet with a faint citrus edge over a note of ripe pear. In the mouth this has a soft texture and in particular has a lovely and impressively lingering, mineral intensity. The acidity is almost good and certainly leaves my mouth watering. This is a super little wine which I try to buy every year, great value.
Rebuy – Yes
How quickly prices can move. I bought the 1999 for under 60 euros – this 2001 is more like 90 euros from a Swiss merchant.
This 2001 is actually the result of my corked Jadot Clos de Bèze from the group of 1999’s last week; the seller of the Bèze was happy to exchange, but (of course) has no more Bèze – within 5 euro, this is now the same price! Anyway, I decided it would be good to experience this 2001 after the 1999…
2001 Robert Arnoux, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots
Medium, medium-plus ruby red colour. The nose starts with heavy, sweet oak that totally obscures any fruit. The palate is jam packed and quite well textured, but my first impression is the creamy coconut on a finish who’s duration is frankly amazing for a 1er cru, it’s even like toffee after (over) a minute. The overall stance of this wine is medium-weight and it really has first-class balance – though I couldn’t find anything to indicate the village, let alone the vineyard for the first hour if was in my glass. The most telling comment came from my wife – and she wasn’t tasting (yet) – “what’s wrong, why are you pulling a face – is it corked?” – I didn’t know I was being watched! Two hours(!) in there’s a finer red fruit note just starting to appear above the sweet, soft base. Unlike some very expensive names in 2001, this wine has very ripe, if understated tannin and is excuisitely made, but particular in style. Going forward from here is quite simple; if you want a very high quality wine to luxuriate in, drink this wine right away. If, however, you want to drink a very high quality wine that reflects its origin, then don’t even think of opening one of these before 2012 – or you will be disappointed – in fact, make that 2015!
Rebuy – Maybe
I suppose I should be happy that I would much rather drink (for instance) Potel’s Suchots than Arnoux’s – the Potel is that much more transparent, and ‘only’ about 60% of the cost – at least that would be my preference in the first 10 years of the wine’s life – after 10 years in the cellar, who knows…(?)
1999 Louis Jadot, Beaune 1er Les Theurons
Medium ruby-red. The nose is just a little reduced, eventually a mix of sweet, slightly dark oak and understated redder notes. The palate is fresh and linear with well-covered tannins. The acidity is a little tart, but there is quite enough fruit and a nice creamy edge to the fruit and acid-driven finish. Fresh but fun – I enjoyed.
Rebuy – Yes
2002 Nicolas Potel, Aloxe-Corton Les Boutières
This was lush, sweet and full of joie-de-vivre from barrel and also for it’s first 18 months in bottle – it was great fun – it’s now a different wine. It still retains that medium-plus cherry red colour and the nose is high toned and fresh though has now lost some bass notes. There is still sweetness and it retains a well-concentrated punch in the mid-palate, but today this wine has lost much of the lush foil to the acidity. It’s fresh and certainly not overly acidic now – but it’s more obviously tart than before. The last 5 or 6 can spend some time resting now…
Rebuy – Yes
Summaries:
There were no wines here that I regret buying, and none that I would regret having more of!
Wine 1 – Like a beautiful lady watched across a room that I didn’t manage to speak with. This was (as many guessed) the Mugnier Amoureuses. The comment about not speaking referred to the fact it’s so primary that despite the obvious joy the bottle gave, there is so much more in reserve for the future.
Wine 2 – Tight, precise and quite haughty, but I’m just wondering what she (for this is another she) will be like if she lets her hair down and takes off those glasses. This was the one that confused everyone, it’s the Bèze from Jadot. It has a little of the mineral intesity of a good Bèze but would be better approached in another 6-10 years.
[Note; I’m regularly disappointed by Chambertin/Bèze from all producers, but I find virtually all I have samples from 2005 to be fabulous!]
Wine 3 – A soft-focus picture of a big brown bear. This is the only wine where I had a measure of disappointment. It’s full-packed but in soft-focus way and really needs to sharpen up to compete with the other wines here. It’s Drouhin’s Petits Monts.
Wine 4 – This is quite a wine; masculine and muscular of stance, with an obvious winemaker’s signature. I think Pascal Lachaux has turned down the oak a notch since 99, but I was surprised how the style really stuck out in this group. The Arnoux Suchots (of-course).
Wine 5 – Despite the concentration there is perfect balance, this wine is the ultimate in sophistication – monumental – it’s the best wine I’ve drunk this year. It made a bigger impression on me than the 2004’s from DRC, I can only think of Louis-Michel’s 05 La Romanée that has made such an impression in the last 9 months! Shame I can’t find any on winesearcher with either Ponsot’s or Chezeaux’s label – it’s the Clos St.Denis VV.
Now onto some (relatively) simple 2002’s…
Cheers
Wine #5
The other corked bottle in this group, so onto bottle number 2.
Medium-plus cherry-red colour. The nose is very wide and somehow silky. It’s very slow to evolve, but first you note dried cranberry fruit before a subtle blackcurrant confiture, the last drops in the glass are sweet and red. Like the nose, my first impression of the palate is its silken texture, the second is the length – impossibly long – no other of these wines comes close and it’s not about bitter oak, it’s about a subtle sweetness that clings to the palate. There’s a real, but measured intensity about the palate, driven by perfect acidity and tannins that are there only if you search for them.
Despite the concentration there is perfect balance, this wine is the ultimate in sophistication. Monumental, it’s the best wine I’ve drunk this year…
Wine #4
A deep ruby-red core right to the rim. The nose is a bit of a give-away; once the prominent dark oak fades – 5 minutes – you are left with a wide and spicy vista over deeper sweet and dark oak. It takes rather a long time – over 1 hour – before striking yet still spice-edged cherry fruit is revealed. After the last wine this is sleeker and certainly more polished yet is equally concentrated. The acidity is just a little brighter but the velvet tannins and the finish are certainly more oak driven and just show a little bitterness because of that – it’s long though. Complex and compelling, though this wine is the only one of these five to show a strong winemaker’s signature with its modern oak-driven style.
This is quite a wine; masculine and muscular of stance though with a clear winemaker’s signature.
The (alphabetical) list to choose from:
1999 Premier Crus
1999 Grand Crus
Here’s the third note – which is it?
Wine #3
A deep core of colour, just the last vestige of cherry at the rim. The nose is deep and dense if rather bashful to start, showing little more than dark flashes of toasty, sweet oak – fortunately this remains an undertone before fading as a dense and primary deep red note comes through that becomes finer with aeration – I can only summarise it as ‘very sexy’. After wine #2 this is altogether denser, softer and with riper fruit too. It’s brimming with intensity and concentration – it’s a real mouth-filler – showing a lovely expansion in the mid-palate before slowly narrowing in the good finish. In the background there plenty of soft texture from the tannins, but they will need a few more years in the cellar to shrink. Everything about this wine is more fun and lush than wine #2, if rather less tight and precise.
A soft-focus picture of a big brown bear.
The (alphabetical) list to choose from:
1999 Premier Crus
1999 Grand Crus
Here’s the second note – any ideas which it is?
Wine #2
After 4 months without a corked bottle, bugger – corked – now I only have 4 of these left. The colour is medium, medium-plus ruby red with just a little less cherry red at the rim than the first wine. The nose starts with a waft of dark, spicy oak but this is quickly gone to reveal a dark and understatedly spicy base. Time in the glass opens the wine out into a redder and finer vernacular without much in the way of density. Lithe and rather linear the plate shows forward acidity, but such is the superb intensity that this is kept quite in balance. What tannin can be discerned against the background of acidity and intensity has just a little astringency and the faintest edge of bitterness. The length is impressive, but it is rather ‘thin’ and an extension of the flavours I associated with the tannin, just a little tart too. The nose is now rather good, but the palate needs some time and currently shows much less ripe than wine #1.
Tight and precise with angular but compelling features – I’m just wondering what she (for this is another she) will be like if she lets her hair down and takes off those glasses…
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