2005 Thierry Mortet, Gevrey-Chambertin
Medium colour. None of the lovely fruit notes of the 2004, rather a darker, quite sumptuous effect. Dense, but it’s a cushioned concentration and there’s super depth of creamy fruit. completely buried structure today. Lovely, though it will be a long wait for complexity…
Rebuy – Yes

The garden looked pretty with snow, so I pulled out a hearty, warming 2004 – oops, should have been the 2005. Never-mind. I can open that at the weekend.
2004 Thierry Mortet, Gevrey-Chambertin
Medium colour. The nose has more than a hint of 2004 about it, plenty of high-toned cedar but a quick swirl displays the frankly lovely red berry/cherry fruit below. In the mouth it’s a little mineral and perhaps a hint flimsy in the concentration department, but despite that, the flavours are really long in the finish. Slowly the palate’s texture apparently thickens with concentration. If you’re immune to the 2004 cedar it’s a buy.
Rebuy – No

2005 Rapet Père et Fils, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Les Vergelesses
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose only gives hints of interest in the first minutes, but gradually offers up a beautiful mix of raspberry and violets with occasional traces of caramel, but these pretty aromas come and go. A very soft entry – maybe just a little too soft – but smooth tannin and decent acidity. The flavour gently builds into the mid-palate and decays just as gently. In the middle the fruit is clean, has reasonable depth and some extra creamy dimension. So I’m not sure about this – lovely aromatics and very pretty fruit, but I felt it somehow just a little too soft.
Rebuy – Maybe

2005 Thomas-Moillard, Volnay 1er Clos des Chênes
A domaine wine whose back-label proclaims the grapes to be ‘biologique’ and that all operations were done according to the lunar calendar. Medium-plus colour. Brooding aromatics but there are glimpses of very fine fruit that slowly turns redder in the glass. Concentrated, lots of very fine tannin that’s largely submerged under fruit – and what fruit it is – intense and edged with cream – it lingers very well too. It doesn’t merit the tag ‘elegant’, rather ‘muscular’ would be better and I think that maybe 2005 is a little early to be influenced by Bernard Zito and Pascal Marchand, but it is a definite rebuy.
Rebuy – Yes

I have a whole bunch of Malconsorts that I might be working my way through in the next weeks!
Direct from the domaine this was only €51 – I was amazed they would still have these (at least at this price) as that’s very cheap for a perfect provenance Vosne 1er, or at least if it’s half-good. Actually it is half-good, that was what left me scratching my head… Maybe the concentration of all those 2005’s gone to my head (palate)?
1991 Pierre Bourée, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Malconsorts
The cork is black were it meets the air, and stained red all the way through – perhaps 2cm of ullage – but the wine is fine. Medium-pale though it’s a relatively young colour. The nose is soft and faintly spicy with hints of strawberry and stems but it’s also rather clean and interesting, occasionally it’s beguiling. In the mouth it’s soft and supple with a little kick in the mid-palate and perfect acidity. The almost-gone tannin is but a transparent screen. Very long, but it’s on a very subtle level – and despite the evident complexity, that’s the problem – everything about this wine is on too subtle a level, it’s like it’s diluted. Yields? Beautiful if you have the patience and lack of distractions but, if I may say, too ephemeral! For all that, every last drop was drunk in about 2 hours, I just wish I’d savoured it a little more, rather than thought ‘if only…’

2005 Billard-Gonnet, Pommard 1er Chaponnières
Medium, medium-plus colour. Directly following the Château de Chorey the nose and palate both seemed attenuated and narrow, only the finish was captivating – much longer than the Beaune. Within 5 minutes the nose showed occasional flashes of brilliance – beautiful red fruits and hints of coffee. The palate is clearly barrel-tight making the acidity seem forward, but the tannin is burried. You only have to experience the finish to know this is a great wine, but perhaps we may have to wait 10 years to see it. Day two there’s a hint more width, but no more.
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Château de Chorey, Beaune 1er Le Cras Vieilles Vignes
Medium-plus colour. Wide, a little herbal and mineral with a dark core of fruit. In your mouth there’s great fruit though it’s wrapped in plenty of structure – it’s relatively smooth but the tannin still needs a number of years. The depth is super and there is a mineral length. Don’t touch again for at least 5 years.
Rebuy – Maybe