But only a modest couple of bottles!

2019 Gautheron, Chablis Emeraude
A house wine since last April that has slowly taken on more precision – I like it much more now than 6 months ago – it’s all that I could wish for – except that most of the bottles have been drunk. I suppose I’d best replenish with some 2020s before they are all sold out – many in Chablis already are – even the ones not yet bottled!!!
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Alex Gambal, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
This cork was robust but soaked/stained red – almost the full length to the capsule – it looks like my timing was right for this one – not that anything was amiss with the contents!
Hmm – now that’s a nose! Not yet a fully mature nose of sous bois – but more than hinting at it – with round, generous and still deeply fruited aromas – it was a great invitation. The palate doubled-down on the nose; rich, sensuous, layered and completely delicious. What a wine! I guess I’m getting closer to the time to open the first of his 05 Amoureuses! Chambolle was the very epicentre of greatness in 2005!
Rebuy – Yes

Just from memory:
2019 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett
The name longer than the note! Low alcohol, sweet but so moreish – delicious wine…
2018 Laurent Martray, Brouilly Corentin
This is why I love this producer – so involving, beautiful fruit and suddenly the bottle is empty!
2010 JC Boisset, Aloxe-Corton 1er Les Valozières
Ooh – aromas and flavours almost so great – there’s just something in the background – brett? I think not as the wine gets better and better over three days and brett usually gets worse. Strange but still 90% of a great wine.
2019 Stéphanie Colinot, Irancy Les Cailles
Deeply coloured. What a nose of cassis! The palate powerful, concentrated – a fraternal friend of the Laurent Martray. A great, great Irancy!
1993 François Jobard, Meursault 1er Poruzots
Wow! A zing, a line of intensity – mineral and acid. More than a certain austerity! This wine needed air – 6 hours later it’s another wine – broad, concentrated yellow citrus and it’s a beauty – certainly stricter than the 93 Meursault-Charmes of a couple of years ago but a great wine!
1993 Ponsot, Griotte-Chambertin
Direct, very earthy, Vibrant energy – and acidity. Completely stable in this style. Honestly, considering the trilogy of place, maker and vintage a bit of a disappointment.
Thillardon, Pet Nat
Almost pink. Lightly petillant. Hmm, I like – it’s not sweet, like many a pet-nat, and leaves me with the impression of a cider. I found it very tasty – a winner!
1999 Vincent Girardin, Chambertin Clos de Bèze
I bought 2 bottles a long time ago – the first was far too oaky – not my thing. Here we are 20 years later. Actually, there’s still quite a bit of coconut oak – in fact generally too much for me – but here is a wine of proper grand cru depth, energy and flavour complexity. They spoiled it to an extent but it was still good enough that every drop was drunk!

Of course, we are not yet done – enjoy your bottles too!

2020 Samuel Billaud, Chablis Vaudésir
An early idea of what to expect in January when I visit Chablis…
That’s a crystalline yet deep nose – a great start. Fine shape in the mouth – the texture is lovely. An almost unctuous depth of slightly exotic fruit but this is completely moreish wine and beautifully poised. There’s ‘tension.’ Really super!
Rebuy – Yes

2019 Les Pinots Blacks, Irancy Vallée de Coigny
This starts a little cold and tight but as the wine warms in the glass, the perfumed aromas of whole clusters and flowers start to broaden. Beautifully perfumed flavours too – just a small, inconsequential rumble of tannin – an anecdote – but here is the classiest Irancy you can think of drinking. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Parigot, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos St.Jean (Blanc)
Hmm – nice. This has a silky, waxy, lemon nose that’s ripe and faintly spiced. An initial softness but then it’s much more incisive, wide and mineral. A suggestion of caramel in these flavours but the shape and energy are more to the mineral side. A wine that’s very easy drink, despite obvious concentration. In great shape too, considering the cork seal…
Rebuy – Yes

2016 Chablisienne, Chablis Grenouilles
A wide and attractively open nose – at first sniff the slightly exotic fruit might pull you away from Chablis but its purity and a growing seashore note might bring you back on course. In the mouth, this is proper Chablis – but of concentration – impressive minerality and depth of flavour that is very ‘2016’ – and I happen to be a very big fan of 2016. Not quite to the level of Bessin’s great 16 Valmur – but really super wine, almost a great wine!
Rebuy – Definitely!

1996 Jean Grivot, Nuits St.Georges Les Lavières
Quite some amber, there’s some age to this colour. The nose is actually quite an invitation; it’s clean, nicely showcasing some dried leaves, even a little cooking herbs – it’s lovely. Mouth-filling, plenty pf acidity but with waves of finishing flavour. A wine that has little to do with fruit today, yet is really absorbing and rather tasty too.
Rebuy – Maybe

2019 Verret, Saint-Bris Veaupiery
This nose is a little tight, with some sweetness and a ‘clean’ impression, perhaps a little ripe mirabelle at the base. Hmm, that’s a hint of sweet but not too sweet, delicious fruit. Mouth-filling and vibrant – lovely energy. That’s a great wine, and in 2019 it’s not so much ‘sauvignon’ as simply ‘delicious.’
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Cornu, Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Saucours
Plenty of colour, though it’s starting to show some age. This nose starts compact but clean, fine, with a little brown sugar, slowly a few floral references too. Ooh – that’s very direct and narrow to start with but it’s also beautifully silky too. The flavour broadening out in the finish, slightly metallic but in a good way and of good depth too! The flavours here are still quite tight but structurally/texturally this is very sophisticated, silky, Savigny. Day 2 and this wine is better on all fronts – fuller, more floral aromas and fuller more saline flavours. There’s even some nice red fruit! I still have the impression of a little metallic lilt to these flavours but it’s not excessive. Still, I’d probably consider waiting at least 2-or-3 more years before opening another of these – the quality implies excellent but remains largely latent for this cru, for now…
Rebuy – Yes

2010 des Croix, Beaune 1er Pertuisots
Not a lot more than medium colour. A wine that was impossibly floral-perfumed before bottling – today it starts only with fruit – but very fine and pure red berry fruit. Give it enough time and there are flowers too – a smooth lilac impression. Mouth-filling, full of acidic zip but that’s balanced with a modest fat to the texture. At this age the tannin is almost completely submerged – certainly, there’s no grain – just a width of gorgeous and precise flavour – a little fuller and seemingly more concentrated as the wine warms in the glass. I slightly prefer the cooler zip – but I’m splitting hairs. A beauty – bravo – and no rush for my magnums I think 😉 Day two, the wine’s a bit more direct and intense – a little spiced too – so, enjoy it at its maximum on day 1!
Rebuy – Yes

Truth be told, I haven’t seen any since Sunday – and that wasn’t in France!

Anyway, there was the sun in the sky this afternoon and what a beautiful red sky at sunset too! It seems the weather for hordes who will come to visit Beaune for this Hospices Auction weekend, will be fine – except for Sunday – that’s not going to be so good. Oh well! Still, it looks like beautiful weather for Beaune half-marathon on Saturday – a shame, then, that I’ll be in Bern – but a stubborn cough 3 weeks after the start of a cold (negative tested) has left my jogging shoes unworn – maybe I will get to restart this weekend.

It’s been interesting to catch up on the rumours, some new, and not yet announced changes of ownership around the côtes – maybe a note about such gossip at the weekend.

Anyway, this has been my single busiest week of visits with 21 – but I only seem to get further behind with the writing – well, the publishing anyway.

2020 is coming into focus for me now – the whites are easy but the reds have a stylistic complication. I’ll share more at the appropriate time. Anyway, importantly, I’ve so far avoided issues with the mobile speed camera parked in front of the Clos de Vougeot – unlike some of the winemakers I’ve visited. Talking of avoiding, I also avoided tasting at the Roi Chambertin today; I went but decided not to taste. The place (Tonnellerie Rousseau in Gevrey) was just what was needed – a more open and less covid-intensive set-up after last year’s cancellation – with plenty of winemakers in attendance too. Unfortunately, it was a backwards step in the tasting process – winemakers stood by a barrel with 2-3 of their wines on top – a mini Grands Jours de Bourgogne. If you want to taste seriously, you do the villages, then the 1ers and then the grands – which in this case would have meant continuously touring the barrels and never being able to taste three Corbeaux side-by-side. So I said Hi to a lot of people, ate a number of gougères and then left. You can’t win them all.

Just three visits tomorrow before heading home for the weekend. Enjoy yours, wherever that may be.

Some of this weeks snaps: