It’s good to get back to a four-bottle weekend 😉

2018 Alex Gambal, Aligoté
Yes! Fresh, clean lines and attractive purity, with an occasional glimpse of some creamy oak. More incisive and precise than any 2018 has right to be – that’s simply delicious stuff and was a steal at the initial price. The last flavours still accented by some faint barrel. A wine that was drunk far too fast – it is that good! Bravo Aligoté!
Rebuy – Yes

2019 Antoine Sunier, Morgon
This nose starts in the low sulfur vernacular – a beefy, savoury style that, whilst not unpleasant, is still far from an invitation – yet there are also flashes of fine and attractive fruit. In the mouth this is altogether more pleasurable – broad, mouth-watering wine of fine fruit clarity and delicious energy. The nose is on-off – good-not so good – but the flavour is super. Half the bottle was left in the refrigerator for two days – the wine didn’t survive that – so drink it when you open it.
Rebuy – No

2020 Beaune-Grandchamp, IGP Saint Marie la Blanche
The words ‘Burgundy’ or ‘Bourgogne’ are not allowed anywhere near the label!
They tell you that Melon de Bourgogne must be drunk young as it’s prone to age much faster than aligoté or chardonnay – but this wine, sealed with DIAM³ was fresh and pristine. The nose is attractive and slightly floral. In the mouth there’s a combination of attractive fruit and energy – the flavours clean and delicious – that floral of the nose haunting the tasty finishing flavours. Not better than a good aligoté but in itself a very tasty wine – yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2005 AF Gros, Vosne-Romanée Clos de la Fontaine
Now into the second half of this six-pack, bought en-primeur.
Lots of colour. A forward and powerful nose – dark and spiced – though possibly more of this spice comes from the barrel than from Vosne – darkly fruited too. In the mouth, the power of the nose is amplified – this is a wine of scale. The texture is good and there’s obviously still plenty of tannin supporting this wine but neither with grain nor astringency. The fruit is deep here but for drinkability today needs a little more energy and/or clarity. I’ll drink this no problem – but today a second glass is not invited – it’s still far from a wine of maturity. Today, I think I’ll take another glass of melon!
Rebuy – No

Wines worth a special search to acquire are highlighted – as in the reports:

First from Faiveley:

2014 Mercurey 1er Le Clos du Roy ‘La Favourite’
Just from the top part of the climat
I like the volume of aroma here – a base with some dried leaf maturity and quite a strong floral perfume – potpourri in style. Open, lovely waves of fine acidity that add a certain tension to the flavours. That’s even showing a subtle, grainless, finishing tannin – subtly accenting the texture. I might even wait another year or two to drink this but it’s a very tasty wine.

2016 Nuits St.Georges 1er Aux Chaignots
Narrower but deeper aroma – dark and cushioned – a little fine cooking spice – there are some stems here but I didn’t note them. Incisive, cool, fresh in the mouth – I love it! The spice and salt are stronger in the finish. Simply excellent – that’s a delicious, still young wine.

2018 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cazetiers
A fine, almost airy, width of aroma – less power but some fine perfume here again. Like the previous wine this is beautifully expansive – more oak visible in the flavours but, again, not too distracting. The structure is moderately visible in the middle and finishing flavours. A wine that’s more to wait for – but a super wine.

And some whites:

2020 Ladoix Les Marnes Blanches
A nice puff of freshness – round, lovely fruit – rich but with nice energy. Mouth-filling, even a hint of structure but still roundness – a halo of fine tannin and stony length. I would wait 2-3 years for the oak to fade and accentuate the freshness but this is a remarkably tasty wine.

Domaine Trapet

2017 Gevrey-Chambertin Ostrea
A faintly spiced, a nicely transparent width of aroma – the depth with a slightly darker-red fruit. Super in the mouth – mineral, modestly structured, lots of freshness. Drink with pleasure now, despite the structure – but wait 10+ years with ease!

2017 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos Prieur
Less spice and maybe more clarity to this nose. Bigger, more energetic and mouth-watering – almost juicy. Right at the end a little chalky structure. A simply gorgeous wine…

2017 Chapelle-Chambertin
A lovely round cushioned fruit – not a full-power nose but a very attractive nose. Ooh – that has a super and quite intensely direct flavour. A baby but such an attractive one.

2017 Latricières-Chambertin
This nose has more width and a more rose-petal perfume. Those rose-petals visible in the flavours too – more delicate yet complex at the same time. Not more delicious than the Chapelle but more my personal style of wine – a beatiful 2017 in a delicate style.

2014 Chambertin
A tighter, less expressive nose. More mouth-filling, energetic and complete wine in flavour. Structural too – I’d drink this happily today but give it another 10 years for the ultimate joy.

2017 Verret, Bourgogne Côte d’Auxerre Les Gaudiers
Now that’s a really good one – fresh, mineral, and with plenty of pure citrus complexity – yes! In the mouth this has a little generosity but a lot of energy too – I like the direct line of this wine despite there still being plenty of creamy oak in the middle and finishing flavours – for my own taste a bit too much – but your mileage will vary. It’s still a very impressive wine!
Rebuy – Maybe

2011 Camille Giroud, Beaune 1er Aux Cras
Wow – what a cork! I could hardly extract it – it was like concrete – but (unsurprisingly!) less than 1mm of wine travelled up its length!
Here’s a nose that starts solid, a bit monolithic, and not much fun – air works wonders. If opening a second bottle (with a similar cork!) I’d definitely carafe. The wine is a fine middle-weight with super clarity of mainly red fruit and a little sizzle of minerality. After half an hour the nose has opened up well with a good blend of red fruit and flowers. It’s a very nice wine and there are still no overt signs of impending maturity – you can keep this, no problem. I never saw any pyrazines here when young, and still don’t. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

I missed telling you about a couple of nice ones at the weekend:

2017 Roland Lavantureux, Chablis Vauprin
Plenty of colour here but there’s not even a hint of anything oxidative. Broad and fresh with a little caramel padding – the oak is still visible in this one. In the mouth – who switched all the lights on?! – such energy and fine architectural shape – then there’s the delicious flavour. As a purist, I should discount this wine because, like the nose, it still has some barrel caramel in the flavours – but it’s just so damn delicious. And hey presto – the bottle was empty – how did that happen?
Rebuy – Yes

2008 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Corton Clos du Roi
I think this is the last bottle from a mixed case of 2008s that I bought at the domaine about 10-12 years ago.
Medium colour. What an elegant, nay, beautiful nose! So perfumed. In the mouth there’s some fat – I’d go as far as to say generosity – and beautifully perfumed flavour. Blind, I don’t think that I’d ever guess this the be a 2008 – bravo – finesse personified!
Rebuy – Yes

Leftover boiled ham joint, diced and added to a fresh risotto – yes!

2018 François Gaunoux, Meursault Le Clos de Tavaux
Cork-sealed. A young colour with plenty of aromatic freshness. In the mouth, this is young – slightly structural – a good sign in this high volume vintage. Tatsy wine with fresh structure and just enough intensity. I think it will only get better if the cork plays along…
Rebuy – Yes

1984 Pierre Guillemot, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Serpentières
I tasted at the domaine on Tuesday, and when we had finished the range of 2021s, Vincent Guillemot pulled out a blind wine: Forward, in fact amazingly forward underbrush / sous-bois aromas, almost a cep-mushroom complexity to this but ultra-clean too – wow! If I’d been poured this wine blind in a restaurant and was told it was a 1970s La Tâche I’d have simply said thankyou! Vincent was making a point that the early commentary on 2021 was not that favourable – but only from people who had not tasted any wines! He didn’t tell me the vintage – I guessed that it was a wine from the mid-80s but not 85 as that vintage has a more obvious ripeness and ‘fat’ texture. I’d hardly ever tasted any decent 1984s so I guessed 1986! Not bad but still wrong. 1984 was a vintage with a lot of rot – but Vincent explained that his father had triaged this fruit to death – the result is in the bottle – bravo! When we parted he gave me the bottle to drink at home – he’d used a Coravin at the domaine. Back in Bern:
Very clean colour though obviously with a little browning at the rim. A nose that was exactly as on Tuesday – you could smell this before the nose was in the glass – so clean, so complex – so large-scaled! In the mouth it’s broad and obviously fresh but not in a sharp way – just a way that brings mouth-watering energy. Deeply flavoured wine – that even the domestic management enjoyed – and she doesn’t like ‘old wine!’
Timeless, brilliant wine from a long forgotten ‘poor’ vintage!

1997 Bouchard Père, La Romanée
My last bottle, but what a way to go out!
Ooh – that’s a beautiful nose – reeling me in with complexity. Mouth-filling – an extravaganza of flavour that’s even more punchy than the nose. A bottle about 5 years ago was still showing some youth – this much less so – but the bones of fine structure remain as does its freshness and seemingly endless, ravishing, finish. Captivating is a word that could have been coined to describe this wine – its actual age and vintage seem immaterial – it is (was!) simply a great wine. Bravo!
Rebuy – No Chance

Three very easy winners this weekend!

2020 Thivin, Côte de Brouilly Clos Bertrand
A deep nose, a wide nose, of pure dark fruit. I like this shape, direct in style but with fine texture and depth to its pure fruit – delicious!
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Thibert, Pouilly-Vinzelles Les Longeays
Broad, properly fresh but still ripe yellow citrus – faintly waxy. Mouth-filling, with just a little fat to this but it’s another wine with a fine, silky, texture. A width of beautiful, pure, clinging on for life, ripe citrus for a finish. Certainly a little padding but, frankly, ultra-delicious wine that just hints of the minerality to come with a couple more years in the cellar.
Rebuy – Yes

2019 Dominique Gallois, Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes
Dark colour. A sweet core of dark fruited aroma, perfumed too. Mouth-filling, structural yet beautifully fluid despite a couple of mm of cushioning, indeed quite direct shaped. Juicy, long, silky, intense – slightly old-vine creamy in the finish. Fabulous.
Rebuy – Yes