Drunk at lunch and dinner last week during the harvest in Beaune:
2006 Catherine et Claude Maréchal, Bourgogne Aligoté
Apparently made in a ‘hyperoxigenated’ way. Medium yellow. The first aromas are high-toned over a base of fruit that reminds me of pinot blanc. In the mouth it starts a little spritzy but slowly became softer in the glass. Blind, I didn’t guess aligoté. Reasonably long, relatively light bodied but with good balance.
Rebuy – Maybe
2006 Camille Giroud, Corton Chaumes
2 barrels, one new, made with 50% whole clusters from 90 year-old vines – sadly now ripped out and planted with chardonnay which may take the (more commercially attractive) Corton-Charlemagne appellation. Medium, medium-pale colour. The nose starts tight, slowly opening with red and blue-skinned fruit and an undertow of subtle stems – goes from strength to strength in the glass. In the mouth it starts with a little gas. It’s a narrow entry that suddenly widens into a very complex mid-palate and plenty of length – though much of that is still contributed to by the oak. A super ‘sniffer’s’ wine that kept improving in the glass. A super mid-term wine.
Rebuy – Yes
1998 Casanuova delle Cerbaie, Brunello di Montalcino
A deep and dark core of fruit on the nose, slowly you also get pretty red fruit and a hint of anise. Mouth-filling, plenty of tannin, but after the tannin hurdle it slides slowly into a nice finish. Very young wine…
Rebuy – Maybe
The bottle of Griotte from last week had some strange taint from the cork, this cork also had a similar smell though on a lower order – fortunately I couldn’t detect it in the wine. That said, I expected this wine to be a little better so maybe it was still influencing(?)
2006 Chézeaux/Ponsot, Clos St.Denis (Tres) Vieilles Vignes
Medium, medium-plus colour. A wide nose of delicate red and black berries, some high-toned alcoholic notes and a little dried cranberry. The palate needed time in the glass – a little prickly – becoming ever-smoother and and longer, showing the silkiest of tannins. I have to say that it impressed but didn’t ‘wow’ – normally I am wowed by this cuvée.
Rebuy – Yes

The accumulated wealth of (conventional) wisdom says that this is a dumb thing to do, but given the two remarkably open Faiveley’s in this tasting, I thought I’d give this bottle a try. Note that this is a négoce wine, not domaine.
2005 Joseph Faiveley, Volnay 1er Santenots
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. The nose is not exactly effusive, but it has quite some depth of dark dried fruits and a more herbal top note. Very good texture then quickly a grainy tannin builds and the acidity seems just an afterthought – yet perfectly draws you into the finish. The mid-palate flavour and finish are cracking – intense and very long – chocolate and a little strawberry shaded oak tannin is the diminuendo. Not as typically brutal as the Lafon version, nor indeed what you might expect from Faiveley, but a super wine.
Rebuy – Yes

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