Everthing that last week’s Bertagna Bourgogne wasn’t – really super!
2005 Bertagna, Chambolle-Musigny Le Village
Medium-plus cherry red. Impressive depth of dark, brulée-tinged fruit at the base, slowly becoming redder at the top. In the mouth you have silky texture, excellent acidity and a really super extra dimension of dark fruit in the mid palate. Faint oak texture and coffee on the very good length, but this texture will soon fade. Lots of oak for sure but there is enough power and intensity to absorb it.
Rebuy – Yes and I just did!

Drank directly after the Pavelot 2000, it’s another very successful effort, so-much so that it does highlight the finishing rusticity of those 2000 Dominode tannins – though at 50% additional cost!
2000 Roblet-Monnot, Volnay 1er, Robardelles
Medium, medium-plus colour. Quite a wide pamorama of high-toned and faintly spicy notes before the depth of faintly plummy, though not obviously over-ripe fruit. Mouth-filling, well-textured, perhaps the acidity is not so seemless, but there’s a nice freshness and tasty width of fruit as you go into the understated finish.
Rebuy – Yes

A new label in 2000 and a new domaine name as Hugues takes on more of the work.
2000 JM et Hugues Pavelot, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er, La Dominode
Medium colour. Plenty of depth and interest on the nose – black-cherry shaded. The balance is rather good – good acidity and fresh, darker fruit flavours. The tannins have a little bitter chocolate edge, but there’s real depth here – very successful for the vintage, little of the 2000 confiture on the nose and palate. Clearly a little rustic in the finish, but it’s got good length.
Rebuy – Yes
These were excellent buys at those long-gone prices – perhaps I should have bought more than 6!

1999 Jean-Marc Pavelot, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er, La Dominode
Still deeply coloured. A nose of coal and dark blackberry jam. Plenty of wine here; intense, lingering acidity and decent length. The tannin is present but it’s well-kept and the fruit at its core remains fresh, dark and primary, at the edge I sense some secondary flavours making an entrance. Very drinkable but still at least 5 years from the leading edge of maturity.
Rebuy – Yes

Despite the weight of their bottles and the quality of the packaging, for years I’ve found the wines of Domaine Jacques Prieur far from the brightest pennies in the box, but sufficient people have told me to take another look that it’s perhaps time to try a bottle or two…
2005 Jacques Prieur, Beaune 1er Greves
Medium-plus colour, with flashes of purple. A super, super young nose of faint, creamy creme brulée over dark, almost jellied fruit – it’s rather exciting. In the mouth it’s superbly intense, balanced by gushing, but super acidity. The one down-side (for me) is that the dominant flavours are mainly dark, bitter-chocolate oak. Certainly plenty of power, and the lingering flavours end with fruit rather than oak, so I expect time will suck up most of the wood – if not all those toasted flavours – it might (one day) even taste like Beaune! I’m quite impressed by the gusto here and may add a couple to the cellar.
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Bertagna, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Les Dames Huguettes 
Medium, medium-plus cherry red. Frankly I don’t like the nose – it’s quite forward, but it’s mainly the bubble-gum notes of a less than satisfying Beaujolais. In the mouth the acidity is quite bright and the flavours are metallic. As it stands, it’s a big NO! I have to give it a chance, so most waits for day 2:  Another day and the bubble-gum is on a slightly lower order, but aromatically the wine is far from interesting.  Perhaps not so metallic tasting, but the acidity remains very tart – I don’t mind high acidity, but this is tart high acidity.  If represenative (and why shouldn’t it be?) a startling failure for the vintage.
Rebuy – No

My last Potel (99 Volnay 1er Mitans) was horribly corked so it would be hard not to improve! Very highly rated by Perry Mason from barrel, this is a wine that has been sullen virtually since release – every couple of years I pull one out for a test, the last was about the best showing. So…
1997 Nicolas Potel, Volnay 
Quite deeply coloured ruby-red and starting to gain a shade of amber at the rim. Wide, slightly ethereal aromatics with a submerged but dense core of darker fruit – very interesting. The full palate shows plenty of fine background tannin that’s edged with a little bitterness. There’s just enough acidity and the flavour lingers very well, hinting to cream – there was a slightly green cedary phase but then it was gone. A very fine 97 and a better drink than the d’Angerville 99 from yesterday.
Rebuy – Yes (at 97 prices!)

1999 Marquis d’Angerville, Volnay 1er Fremiet
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red core. The nose is dense, and just now will win no prizes for elegance – heavy plum notes dominate a nice dark confiture. Intense and nicely fresh, more mature flavours and a lingering liquid length. Tannin is only found if you roll the wine around in your mouth – it has some grain, but it’s rather anonymous. I finished every drop, but it’s far from in a lovable place today.
Rebuy – Maybe

2005 Heresztyn, Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. Width and dark cherry fruit with faint white pepper and a softer, warmer core. The palate has a soft texture, currently rather bright acidity but a very nice depth of fruit in the mid-palate and finish. It’s another 2005 that’s not an easy drink right now, but the quality behind will eventually repay the wait – though I expect it won’t be short wait.
Rebuy – Yes