1999 Frédéric Esmonin, Ruchottes-Chambertin
Medium, medium-plus colour – paler than the Mazy. The nose starts quite dark and oaky – some dark toast notes that take at least 30 minutes to lift. Redder, less dense fruit is the result, though the dark oak slowly turns to make a nice coffee ‘coating’. Nicely balanced concentration with background velvet tannin. Truth be told it has more of a 1er cru weight, the only distinct grand cru element is the mid-palate flavour – pretty red fruit with a distinct creamy edge and excellent length. Some distance behind the quality of the Mazy, and there are probably better premier crus, but they will cost more than this bottle – value has always been the watchword on the Esmonin GCs, and there is plenty of value in this bottle. Rebuy – Yes
[Next stop the 99 Griotte – I just had to do it!]
The weather was quite warm, so first I opened the bottle, then I left it in the refrigerator for about 90 minutes – clearly it would start too cold, but would be teased to the right temperature in the glass.
1999 Frédéric Esmonin, Mazy-Chambertin
Medium-plus colour, still with some last vestige of cherry-red. Right from pouring, cold – say 12°-ish – the nose was just a gorgeously smooth interpretation of macerating dark cherry – wow! The palate, however, was tight, linear, hinting towards tannin but delivering only a dark, faintly oaky but very long finish. As the contents of the glass slowly warm the nose adds a little coffee though slightly tightens, the flavours are expanding though, and with them, the tannin seems to be diminishing. Eventually a herbal complexity fills out the aromas. The palate becomes more intense and builds a sweetness – not a ripe vintage, confiture type of sweetness, rather an intensity of sweetness at the back of the palate. A very young, but very rewarding performance – I really wish I’d bought more, not just this wine, but Mazy (Mazis) in general. Rebuy – Yes
Did I say normal service would be resumed? Well Friday evening’s bottle didn’t quite go to plan – it was horribly corked…
(I hope tomorrow’s Mazis fares better!)
I find it hard to open Fourrier’s bottles now – mainly it’s due to the capsules – or lack of capsules. Since the 2005 vintage the domaine has topped their bottles with shiny red wax, and that offers me two problems: one, the wax looks much too pretty to break; and two, wax normally shatters and makes a terrible mess!
Maybe Jean-Marie has a new formulation or the 24° of my kitchen had a softening effect, but a knife easily removed the layer covering the cork – and no shattering, no mess!
2005 Fourrier, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Goulots
Medium, medium-plus colour – not that deeply coloured for a 1er cru from this vintage. The nose starts with a characteristic note that makes you think of oak, but as I’ve slowly learned with Fourrier’s wines, it’s more about reduction, as it fades, in this case, in about 30 minutes without decanting. Slightly heavy and powdery fruit morphs to beautiful red berry notes over cherry – primary but very, very pretty – more time will give a pretty creme-brulee background. In the mouth this is soft and rather silky – you will only find the tannin with serious rolling around the mouth. There is decent density of dark fruit that slowly melts and becomes redder as the nose also develops. It’s slowly lingering on slightly emphasised acidity. Versus the impact of virtually every 2005 villages and higher Gevrey tasted in 2008, this is more mellow and understated – what a difference a year makes – there’s a little iron and minerals, but in particular this misses out on the ‘I’ word – impact. The style of Fourrier still makes this eminently drinkable, but I expect it was all the more impressive 12 months ago. Time for a long sleep… Rebuy – Yes
PS As an after-thought, I often think that Jean-Marie Fourrier should have been born in Chambolle, the style of his wines are more ‘poster-child(ren)’ for that village. For Gevrey I’m often looking for that slightly harder edge – perhaps a hint of danger – but, good as the wines are, you don’t find it at this address.
2006 Maison Nicolas Potel, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Fuées
This wine made such an impression when tasted about a year and a half ago that orders were placed in more than one bottle size! Here’s its first outing… 2006 Nicolas Potel, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Fuées
Medium, medium-plus colour. So effusive once the cork is popped, it’s like you’re back in the barrel cellar with forward red and black fruit that is softened at the edges with a sweet, faintly brulee’d note – primary but very gorgeous. In the mouth it has lost some of that barrel ‘padding’, but you have good intensity, equally good acidity and a reasonable amount of structure; the tannin is there and whilst velvety, has the merest trace of astringency. Slowly lingering, this is super – it’s perhaps more structured than when last tasted (and ordered!) and I’d recommend that you leave it in the cellar, but the fruit is gorgeous. Rebuy – Yes
1997 Robert Arnoux, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Reignots
1997 Robert Arnoux, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Reignots
Starts with dark, slightly dirty oak and some forest floor – slowly the forest floor fades to leave the oak and a slight roast coffee ground plus much fainter, greener herbal note – there is a little spiciness, but this is interesting, rather than captivating . Some sweetness though it is ‘balanced’ by acidity that’s a little tart and a lick of slightly astringent tannin. The sweetness is associated with the fruit, mainly red shaded in this vintage and hinting at cream too. There’s enough here to make me interested to try other vintages, but this wine is a poster-child to ‘not quite there 1997’. I gave it a bit more of a chance and left the last third for day 3 (day 2 I was out!) – hints of red berry, less oak and more balance. Still far from worth the normal sticker price, but there is now some interest here. Another bottle will rest in the cellar until its 15th birthday or-so. Rebuy – No
[Actually, everything is relative – looking at winesearcher on the green dollar icon above, you can buy this for £35 – put it in a decanter for 2+ hours and I think it’s maybe worth that!]
I though this would make a nice counter-point to the Clos St.Jacques.
This is a wine that has become an icon. I could buy it relatively easily up until the 2005 (that vintage was problematic, though I managed to get a couple), but since then, and despite buying the wine since ’99 I’ve been shut out through merchants. I will have to live with the modest few cases or-so of assorted Griottes in the cellar I suppose…
This is a classic example of Griotte, and I think there are many parallels between this and Les Amoureuses; it shows grand cru concentration and power, though it is still very approachable – yet, what it offers in style, it so often misses in intellect – this is an ‘easy’ and currently one-dimensional wine. Clearly it will get better and better with age, but by comparison, at this age I would already expect to see much more character in its next-door neighbour, Chapelle-Chambertin. Maybe I am personally becoming more mature, but with more producers and a lower average price in Chapelle, maybe it’s time for me to dispense with the pretty Griotte face and buy more from ‘next door’ – wines I have more chance to converse with!
If you wish to open one of Fourrier’s ‘top 2’ from this vintage, open and decant the Clos St.Jacques – for the moment at least, it offers far more interest.
2002 Fourrier, Griotte-Chambertin
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose opens with wide and forward and very, very young grapey fruit – it’s like a genie escaping from the bottle, but escape it does and what you are left with is a dense core of red fruit. The aromas remain solid and one-dimensional for the next 2 hours – no 02 CSJ sytyle reduction here. The palate is fatter and more concentrated than the CSJ and the balance is very good – the tannin is there only if you search it out. Like the nose, there is concentration but no complexity – it’s big and rounded and soft and somehow comforting, but it’s monosyllabic – typical young Griotte I suppose. Remaining bottles should wait at least until their 12th birthday I think, though 15+ is likely to be better. Rebuy – Yes
1998 Confuron-Cotetidot Clos de Vougeot
Medium pale ruby, just touched with garnet. Medium tapering rim, clear at the very edge. Paler than I expected from a “modern” producer in a robust vintage. Nose is robust and earthy, and also high-toned, with some sweet red cherry fruit sandwiched in the middle. It comes across as sappy and loose-knit, but quite oaky. Not really attractive – a touch of the beauty salon about it, but slipping behind the front. Mouth entry is also loose-knit, even dilute, and smoky. Mid-palate shows dark earthy tones and a little tannic grip. But those tannins – while not too big – turn bitter on the finish. There is so little delight here I wonder whether it is closed, but I suspect not and decide not to list it on this showing. Just about nice enough to suggest drinking up if you have it (though you may prefer to hold and hope), but not a buy if you don’t ! Rebuy – No
2002 Fourrier, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
Medium ruby-red colour that’s just turning to offer a hint of mahogany at the rim. The nose starts with red fruit but also a dark, reductive undertow that initially makes one (wrongly) think to oak – it takes a little over 90 minutes (without decanting) to disappear. Over time the nose becomes lovely and transparent, just a little powdery and young though. From the start there is sweetness coupled to perfect acidity – it’s relatively narrow at the entry but there’s a tight core of concentration in the mid-palate – this also shows a dark, reductive flavour for as long as the same lasts on the nose. This is about transparency rather than impact and is exactly to the Fourrier ‘template’, if arguably not to the terrior. The finish a good one, if not really remarkable. Very tasty, indeed I would say its balancing of sweetness and acidity make it delicious. Rebuy – Yes
