2004 Bouchard P&F, Beaune 1er du Chateau
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is deep and oaky; dark, sweet oak rather than overt toast and there’s not a trace of vintage cedar. In the mouth it is similarly dominated by the oak. Certainly there is decent, sweet intensity behind the wood and a more than lingering finish – it really is very long – but frankly on day one, whilst it’s a tasty oak beverage, I can find little to suggest Burgundy, let-alone Beaune! This is usually one of the best value cuvées you can buy from any négoce so I gave it a chance: Day 2. The nose remains deep, a little musky – not so much oak but still hard to spot the fruit – perhaps dark-skinned plum, but on the negative side as it warms in the glass you get a hint of ash. In the mouth it now has a higher-toned dimension and plenty of sweetness. The length is unchanged and I’m happy to report that it shows more of a creamy than vanilla edge. This is significantly improved, even if I still wouldn’t guess Beaune! If you want to drink Beaune, then decant this at least 5-6 hours before drinking. If you just want a delicious glass, pop and pour.
Rebuy – Maybe (for those who have a better oak tolerance, but not for me)

Found in Leclerc supermarket in Beaune – was relatively cheap, but how much(?), I don’t remember…
2005 Guy Amiot, Chassagne-Montrachet (Rouge) Vielles Vignes
For the vintage it’s a modestly coloured medium, medium-plus cherry red. The nose has some depth, and pulls you in with faint toasted bread and bouquet garni. Intense, with slightly grainy tannin and with good understated acidity followed by another dimension of dark fruit and a little oak on the mid-palate. The finish is savoury with a long undertow of creamy dark fruit. If not totally sophisticated it balances with real personality. This is a wine that delivers on both personality and value. It’s really rather good.
Rebuy – Yes

It’s been a while since I saw the chaps of Pierre Bourée, but last Saturday I visited for the first time their WiFi enabled and air-conditioned ‘Table de Pierre Bourée’. Heading North it is on your right-hand side, just before the main traffic-lights of RN74 in Gevrey, though it has one problem – it’s hard to spot as you head-by because of the cars parked on the pavement in front. It seems to have another function in the village too – the day I was there, first one person came to ask if there was a hairdresser nearby, later another asking the whereabouts of the doctor – clearly you have to multi-task in Gevrey!

Inside is very nicely done for a ‘simple’ eatery, and if you choose to go through the back door and down the steps to the cellar you’ll find racks of bottles you can buy and a coopering and bottling display.

As for food, it’s one menu – a Burgundian menu – gougères that were just a little better than I can make(!), the best jambon persillé that I can remember eating and beef bourguignonne. A quartet of local cheeses, but is Brillat-Savarin local? – I don’t know. Dessert is actually your choice of ‘grand cru’ coffees – my choice was Ethiopian ‘Moka’. So how much do you pay? – well it depends on how much and what you drink.

The wines are all kept at 14°C in a wine refrigerator, and my choice was the ‘simple’ accompaniment of five wines for a tariff of €29, as follows:
2005 Pierre Bourée, Bourgogne Blanc
Medium yellow. Deep aromas, quite forward and with good depth. Whilst it’s a little plump, the balance is very good. It’s far from steely but it’s nicely clean.
Rebuy – Maybe
2004 Pierre Bourée, Marsannay Blanc
Made from purchased grapes. The nose is just that little bit finer and again with good depth. This is very tasty and has a nice lift to the acidity in the mid-palate. I liked.
Rebuy – Yes
2006 Pierre Bourée, Bourgogne
The only 2006 red that’s currently bottled. All the gapes come from the Côte de Nuits, mainly a mix of Gevrey and Brochon. The colour is medium-pale. A strikingly perfumed, wide nose – even at this level the stems are included. The taste is far from concentrated, but it is very interesting and wide. This is unlike any other bourgogne I can think of – really very pretty.
Rebuy – Yes
2002 Pierre Bourée, Côte de Nuits Villages
From purchased grapes. Medium-pale colour. Sweet stemmy perfume – and it IS perfume – lovely. Silky, subtle, delicate and complex. Super for ‘what it is’ and very clean. I bought some.
Rebuy – Yes
2004 Pierre Bourée, Gevrey-Chambertin
The nose once more brings the stemmy perfume, edged with slight cedar, width and depth. Fuller, with ripe fruit. The acidity is a little forward and initially seams not so well integrated, but with the food is absolutely fine. This is showing much better than when I tasted it about 2 years ago.
Rebuy – Maybe

In summary; it’s a nice place to visit and the food tastes super – even though there’s only one choice – though they did tell me that a group rang ahead and said it wasn’t quite Burgundian enough, so could they please add a snails course! Although they are only open from 11am-4pm, larger groups could ring ahead and enquire about the possibility of an evening opening.

In the end though, it’s not simply the food or the place that I would recommend it for, it’s the wines. You owe it to yourself to try these perfumed and complex reds to see if they are to your taste – when done well at the entry level, there’s really nothing quite like them.

Many 2005’s are a shadow of where they were 6 months ago, so despite not all being in bottle yet, it’s lucky that some are now filtering through:
2006 Antonin Guyon, Pernand Vergelesses
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is reasonably wide but with a good depth of powdery cherry fruit. In the mouth there’s a really super balance between the sweet, ripe fruit and the flowing acidity, so much so that tannin is an after-thought. The finish is narrow but sneakily long and shows a faint creaminess. A lovely wine and excellent value.
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Domaine Louis Boillot et Fils, Gevrey-Chambertin
Medium-plus colour with plenty of purple at the rim. High tones of violets over blackberry fruit and faint earth. In the mouth it’s got reasonable concentration but lovely flavours of black cherry jam edged with faint oak toast. Fine balance and a subtly penetrating length. Not the ‘flash’ of many 05’s, and far from the best value too – but it’s still a beauty!
Rebuy – Yes

Another long-weekend – shame it’s almost the last of the year (with public holidays) despite us being only in May. Not much wine drinking, more chauffering but I’m looking forward to this week and 10 scheduled visits in the Côtes Thursday to Saturday…

2000 Nicolas Potel, Savigny 1er Les Peuillets
The colour is becoming quite mature. On the nose it’s instantly about warm confiture with a powdery core of red fruit. Soft, relatively concentrated and shows a good burst of interest in the mid-palate and decent density – it needs just a hint more acidity for me but the length is good. Overall an interesting and tasty if not covetable wine.
Rebuy – Maybe

2005 Roger Belland, Santenay 1er Commes
A cork amalgum seal. Richly coloured. A super nose – immediately dark and wide with a faint twist of dark oak, then in an instant has lovely red-edged fruit and a dried cranberry note – yum. The palate is actually much more acid-forward than when tasted in November – it’s a harder drink now. I chose to leave it stoppered for 2 days (actually I didn’t plan 2 days, but I was ‘out’ the following night!); on the third day the aromatics still deliver with just a hint of lactic but very nice – more importantly the balance on the tongue has improved a lot. This was a good buy, but will really need at least 8-10 years of slumber.
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Jean-Pierre Charton, Mercurey 1er Clos du Roy
A good medium-plus colour. High-toned, faintly blue fruit aromas that slowly take on more width. Cool, high-toned, but slightly black-shaded fruit. Forward acidity and minimal tannin. Fresh, medium-weight and very well made – I’d leave this in the cellar for another 2-3 years, but has a lovely freshness now…
Rebuy – Yes