A few bottles bought at auction for a relative song – of-course it was only a song if they are drinkable…
1994 Bouchard Père, Volnay 1er Caillerets Cuvée Carnot
Surprisingly deep colour, amber at the rim. The nose starts tight and dense, faintly savoury too, time adds a greeny, herbal note – but not unlikeable. In the mouth it has more than decent concentration for the vintage, similarly decent acidity and a grained tannin that retains a little astringency. The fruit has some sweetness, yet there’s still a bit of bitterness in the finish – I have the impression that the tannin grain and and the bitterness are both barrel derived. Overall this stays rather clunky even if there’s not much here to particularly dislike – or indeed like!
Rebuy – No

Okay – it’s still a Drouhin – but a different one!
2005 Drouhin-Laroze, Gevrey-Chambertin
Medium-plus cherry-red, still some purple reflections. High-toned black and blue fruit mingles with faint notes of violets – below lies a nice earthy base – lovely. Plenty of forward acidity, but here’s a 2005 that has not yet completely sunk into it’s acidic sleep. Very good fruit, relatively linear but it’s got intensity and length. The tannin is a low-level faint grain and I find no obvious oaky elements. This was a relative bargain and is recommended.
Rebuy – Yes

Profile: M&P Rion

2006 Patrice Rion, Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Prieur
Medium colour. A caramel nose that almost completely hides the nice red cherry fruit. Nice acidity and plenty of sweet, ripe fruit. Nothing obviously ‘gevrey’ today; faint astringency to the tannin and a decent length. Very tasty indeed, but I’d like a bit more connection with the village – it just needs a little time for that as many young wines need to shake off their elevage. Anyway it’s a good value bottle.
Rebuy – Yes

Part deux of my small report on Saturday’s dinner. High-quality wines throughout, and only one corked wine that I can remember – but fortunately for us it wasn’t from our table. Despite it being a level playing field for all, this is where we begged the use of better glassware – these wines would clearly have benefited from it.
1995 Lafarge, Volnay
Medium ruby-red colour. The nose is deep, meaty and leafy – one to keep sniffing. In the mouth there’s plenty of acidity and it’s followed by plenty of action too. Good persistence of flavour and whilst rather unruly, it’s definitely a wine with personality.
Rebuy – Maybe
1996 Engel, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Brûlées
Medium-plus colour. The nose is deep, showing plenty of leaf, undergrowth and a nice spicy element. Very nice acidity and flavours that burst across the mid-palate, then a wave of tannin before fading in the finish. This is a lovely wine and not ‘too’ 1996.
Rebuy – Yes
1996 Arnoux, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots
Warm and sweet are main thoughts as you bring your nose to this, very pretty if not stunningly effusive. In the mouth it’s sweet and intense – tannic still – and has nice complexity. I don’t find the ‘cut’ and excitement that was evident in the Engel Brûlées, so would much rather drink that today but this is clearly no slouch.
Rebuy – Yes
2000 Dujac, Bonnes-Mares
The nose is wide and surprisingly mineral with understated red fruits – no obvious stems showing here. In the mouth the personality is of a medium-bodied red-fruited wine with tannin that’s hardly worth a mention. Despite its very understated acidity it is both long finishing and not a little mouth-watering. I found this a very good and very approachable wine, though several steps below the quality I might expect given the pricing of more recent vintages.
Rebuy – Yes
1998 JF Mugnier, Musigny
Opened 2 yours before the first pour. Medium colour – ruby but still with cherry-red accents. The nose is deeper and darker than that of the Bonnes-Mares, but less wide. Slowly in the glass the aromas gain width and dimension – I would say very fine. In the mouth my first impression is that it’s a little hard and tight; in tandem with the nose it slowly unwinds, softens and adds width. Another wine where the tannin hardly warrants a mention, though the quality of the wide and creamy finish was streets ahead of the Bonnes-Mares. In this context it was a fine wine, but one that didn’t ‘wow’.
Rebuy – Yes

Favourite of the night? Not easy, but on reflection I’d give it to the Engel for its sheer personality.

Our weekend get-together, where I culled the notes for those super Remoissenet bottles, also included a ‘walk-round-tasting’ of bottles supplied by the attendees, followed (after a quick shower) by an evening dinner. Before we started dinner, I counted 21 bottles at our table – which sat 9 people I think! – though (memo to self) we sadly had a dearth of sweeter wines. Perhaps the glasses could have been better, but the company surely couldn’t. I only offer you here the burgundy notes from our Paulée-style evening, but be assured that our glasses were generously augmented by Germans, Australians and, amongst others, teeth-staining Bandols. This first installment offers you the whites, tomorrow (I’m a slow typist) the reds.
1993 Leflaive, Bourgogne Blanc
A medium, in fact quite young looking yellow. A little creamy, mature lanolin underpins the aromas of a younger wine. In the mouth it is linear and quite mineral until a small burst of interest in the mid-palate and a nice finish. Whilst the acidity is the defining feature of the wine, it has just enough padding that it doesn’t become jarring. Everyone around the room was sure it was a Puligny…
Rebuy – Yes
2001 Leflaive, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Pucelles
A much deeper colour than the 93 bourgogne. The colour made me rush to smell – but no problems with oxidation here, only caramellised butter and hints of citrus for freshness – it was actually very nice. In the mouth it definitely needed time to unwind and I’m sure it never fully did, but the texture and impression is of density coupled to long, lingering flavours. Not much complexity today or even excitement come to that, despite all, it still made a strong impression around our table.
Rebuy – Yes
2003 Louis Jadot, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Folatières
A few hints of oxidation on the nose, but it’s largely fresh and interesting. In your mouth this wine is all over the place and despite evident complexity and some additional dimension – not just oxidation! – in the mid-palate it’s frankly a mess. Poorly judged acidification or just an impossible vintage? I don’t know but it seemed to have plenty of acidity.
Rebuy – No

5 reds to follow…