2004 Nicolas Potel, Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes
A good, medium, medium-plus colour. The nose alas is a mix of cedary green and mushroom, there’s a pretty red fruit trying to peek through but frankly it’s drowned. In the mouth it’s nicely concentrated with good fat and a lovely red fruit base. The acidity is good but slides you into a finish where the green raises its head again. Such a shame.
Rebuy – No

Carillon is a benchmark for village Puligny, so given that I bought some M&M bottles and I finally got some Carillon delivered, this seemed a worthwhile comparison. By a ‘nose’ I gave the aromatic laurels to Carillon, but taking the package as a whole, I just find the M&M more fun right now and at least as concentrated. Based on the number of bottles I already bought, the result went in my favour, but both are easy recommendations!
2006 Louis Carillon, Puligny-Montrachet
Pale yellow. The nose starts with a waft of oak that subsides to brioche over an understated but slightly volatile pear-drops note. Good texture and lovely acidity, the fruit has a similar, slightly lifted pear fruit, but it’s largely buried by the toasty, savoury flavours in the mid-palate and a really good, sweeter length. The fruit is better – the volatility is gone – on day two, but the aromatics are slightly less good.
Rebuy – Yes
2006 Mischief and Mayhem, Puligny-Montrachet
Just a little deeper yellow. Wide, fruit driven nose – still some brioche but of a lower order than the Carillon, a little toffee too. Similar pear-fruit but just a little fatter texture. Good texture and a more creamy fruit driven experience in the mid-palate. The finish is very good, but it would be easy to miss the reprise it brings to another level. Less structured and today more ‘comely’.
Rebuy – Yes

2001 Sérafin Père et Fils, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Baudes
Medium-plus colour – still holding onto that cherry-red hue. The nose is deep with sweet, dark oak and just as dark cherry floating above. In the mouth there’s plenty of oak-derived sweetness, and it’s dark, well toasted oak that mirrors the nose – on the positive side, it’s so well done that I have no expectation that it will become ‘ashy’ with time. The mouth-feel is plush, and the acidity helps push the mid-palate’s burst of interest well into a long finish. Hedonistic, yet despite trying to discount my lack of favour for the style, I still can’t get over the fact that I feel the chambolle-ness has been lost. Expertly made, very tasty and I expect will have a good, long life. I only miss the sense of place, I suspect that others may disagree.
Rebuy – Maybe

2004 Vincent et Denis Berthaut, Gevrey-Chambertin Clos des Chézeaux
Medium cherry-red. The nose starts with a dark oaky element intertwined with plenty of the 04 cedary green thing – after five minutes you have lost the dark part, it’s even eventually asparagus! In the mouth The fruit is sweet, but it’s really pushed into the background by the slightly mouth-puckering effect of the tannin/acidity. There’s plenty of that cedar thing in the mouth too. It may have a future, but it’s hard to see it.
Rebuy – No

In most respects, initial impressions of this wine were of the Chambolle Charmes ‘plus’ – shame there was some dodgy cork-taint…
2006 Chézeaux/Ponsot, Griotte-Chambertin
The colour is just a little darker. Aromatically I started with some concerns; the cork had a bad, rancid, almost volatile smell to it, some of that showed up as ‘inner mouth perfume’ as Burghound would say – far from perfume though – but fortunately it was only very faint on the nose. Mouth-filling, plenty of very fine tannin and a width of fine red fruit that’s both sweet and lingering. It’s quite a long way from the stunning depth of the 05, but then there is enough of that strange taint that I won’t rate it and would certainly send it back in a restaurant. I didn’t open a second one right away to see if it was better…!

2006 Chézeaux/Ponsot, Chambolle 1er Les Charmes
A relatively pale young wine – medium cherry-red colour. The nose is quite tight – some depth but little width, only slowly does a little definition and a pure red note start to build, eventually there’s also a floral aspect. Super texture, the tannin slowly builds in the mouth to give a little ripple of grain, astringency and also a little bitterness. Acidity is finely balanced and there is very good intensity to the fruit, fruit that seems to become sweeter with time. Not completely full of ‘charm’ at this stage, but everything is in place – wait at least 5 years before returning.
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Pierre Bourée, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
Deeply coloured – purple at the rim. The nose starts with plenty of oak that has a hint of toast but no more – it’s very wide and covers dark-skinned fruit. It slowly evolves, but never shows the complexity and stems of the 2004. Mouth-filling, again there’s oak flavour and some well grained tannin too. The acidity starts a tiny bit forward, though only exacerbates the superb length – those flavours are a lot to do with oak and are eventually just a little bitter, but this is very impressive. Quite some concentration in the mid-palate and certainly it’s a little rustic, but it’s clearly full of wine – better than some GC’s! This will need several years for the wood to move into the background, but it’s a real quality effort that shows personality. I initially bought three, but am now going back for a couple more – clearly built for the long-haul. As a post-script, day two shows little obvious oak, still no stems and a better balance. All good signs – okay, maybe I’d have liked a little stems…
Rebuy – Yes

I had a glass of a more than worthy 2005 Corton (note tomorrow) next to this. The Corton was long and more elegant though didn’t have the oomph or chutzpah of the Bourée!

Currently the only ‘other’ négoce St.Jacques I can think of outside of Dominique Laurent’s – though I’ve heard of a Patrice Rion(?) – drop me a line if you can think of others…
2004 Pierre Bourée, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
A rare négoce bottle of Clos St.Jacques. A deep core of already ruby-red colour – quite deeply coloured for a Bourée. The nose is the usual interesting blend of smoky Bourée stems a faint undertow of cedar, earthy Gevrey notes and another faint undertow of mushroom – the last droops in the glass hold a lovely pure redcurrant note. In the mouth there’s good texture; the plentiful tannins are not so astringent and are very well covered. There’s clearly plenty of concentration here, though the acidity shows a little too tart for the first hour, hence, defining the wine and becoming the major aspect of a very long finish. Density and complexity on the mid-palate is very good. This is a very young wine that improved in the glass such that the acidity was much less forward (maybe I was just ‘used’ to it) after an hour or so, but it is also today, slightly compromised by low levels of the 2004 green but there’s is plenty of wine here so my remaining bottles will stay at least 10 years in the cellar – if the green fades into the background it will be an excellent wine.
Rebuy – Maybe