Profile: des Chézeaux

2007 Chézeaux/Ponsot, Clos St.Denis Vieilles Vignes
These are now over 100 year-old vines, the label says ‘vieilles vignes’, but the cork, (like the label on the Ponsot botting) says très vieilles vignes’. Medium, medium-plus colour. For quite a while after opening, the aromatics are rather diffuse offering almost a little blood-orange fruit, slowly it takes on a little focus with a dark, if not black cherry-fruit, still a little ‘lifted’ though intense and eventually very pretty violet floral notes – the longer it is open the more intense it becomes, perhaps a little raisined fruit hiding in the depths. Right from the start, this is intense and fresh – reminds me of a great white wine where the intensity and acidity make it hard for you to keep it in your mouth. If you’re prepared to fight with that intensity you will find very little overt tannin yet a certain silkiness, and there’s an understated but considerable length. At a similar stage (September last year) the 2006 was also rather difficult to judge, maybe that’s why Laurent Ponsot waits longer to release his wines, likewise this impresses in so many areas without quite delivering a ‘whole performance’ – today! I’m confident enough that the balance and intensity will bestow a long life to this wine, eventually to blossom.
Rebuy – Yes

You may remember that one of my trio of William Fevres (yesterday) was corked. Of-course that put a momentary panic into the supply situation and I grabbed this from the cellar and put it in the freezer for that quick chill. Just a little later I remembered that I had a Pierre Morey 2006 Meursault Perrières in the fridge (it was silky, silky and very, very long – that’s as much as I remember!), so panic over.

Of-course well into your third (good) bottle, you are (okay, I am!) inclined to become absent-minded! Back to the Bougros; well, 24 hours at -18°C didn’t break the glass, but the cork is held in by only a millimetre-or-so of frozen grand cru Chablis. No harm done I expect…
2005 Bouchard Père et Fils, Chablis Bougros
Pale yellow. A round nose that’s just fresh enough, has a little brioche and subdued but smooth and seemingly ripe fruit below. Maybe it’s just a little fatter, richer that I consider perfect for GC Chablis, but it has the requisite mineral core and a late-arriving mouth-watering finish. Sweetly intense and quite pretty. The purchase price was a bargain and I’d buy more at the price – about half the current Fevre Bougros price!
Rebuy – Yes

2001 William Fevre, Chablis Les Clos
Yellow with green glints. Deep, hints of green fruit, a faint impression of oak and sulfur, ripe melon – quite some depth. Intense, good acidity and very mineral – hurrah, super and rather young Les Clos.
Rebuy – Yes

2002 William Fevre, Chablis Les Clos
Slightly lighter, again with a hint of green. The nose is finer and lighter with higher toned fruit and floral notes. Again intense, just a little more acid driven. Mineral, but less obviously so than than the 2001 and perhaps a little less concentrated, but what’s that in the finish – TCA. Within 15 minutes of opening it went from lovely to yukky – but never any cork aroma, only flavour…
Rebuy – Yes (but only bottles that aren’t corked!)

2002 William Fevre, Chablis Bougros
Maybe even lighter than the clos. Similarly fresh an wide, just a little less oomph. Lovely width, hint of lime and ripe fruit good length – very good. This was lovely.
Rebuy – Yes

So no po.x, only our old ‘fiend’ dodgy corks to spoil the fun.
All of these wines are very young. From a style perspective I slightly prefer the width and fineness of the 02s to the riper 2001, but that’s only splitting hairs. I note (above) that Winesearcher shows massive price variation on the 02 Les Clos – both of these are from reputable UK merchants…

2006 Gaston & Pierre Ravaut, Aloxe-Corton Vieilles Vignes
Medium cherry-red colour. The nose is quite forward and red fruited, but it’s a mix of higher-toned red fruit over a core of more baked red fruit and a faint mineral background. Nice fruit, good acidity and a not too grainy but slightly astringent tannic edge to your mouthful. I suspect this may be a little nicer in 12 months or-so, but it was enjoyed without remorse today – decent value at about 25 Swiss francs a bottle.
Rebuy – Yes

2006 François Parent, Pommard 1er Les Rugiens
Medium-colour. A sweet-ish, slightly meaty but rather more diffuse nose than I’d like – a little oaky cola too before finally giving way to some finer red berry notes. Fresh and quite intense, relatively velvet texture with a dark fruit personality. There’s a sneaky extra fruit dimension in the mid-palate – which is nice. The finish is reasonably long if rather understated. There are no nasty bits here, but for a Rugiens I find this rather underpowered, or should I say, rather ‘under-interested’. I liked it, but it hovers close to a grand cru price and I don’t see what’s in the glass as an ‘added value’ 1er – it was certainly trumped by yesterday’s Morey. I wouldn’t turn away if it ended up in the sales however!
Rebuy – Maybe

2006 Lucie et Auguste Lignier, Morey St.Denis 1er Les Chaffots
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is darkly-fruited, a little mineral and spicy – it almost smells tannic – very interesting and open, time makes it a little creamier and just a shade redder. Despite ‘smelling’ tannic, the considerable structure is almost entirely hidden under a smooth, slightly linear but intense dark fruit. There is an impressive extra dimension of faintly creamy, dark fruit that forms a reprise in the finish. Today it’s far from an elegant pinot – you will have to wait for that – but it is an exciting and rumbustious mouth-full of Morey – serious fun, in a glass.
Rebuy – Yes