I must have been having a bad day, or perhaps it was the phase of the moon but I liked all of these when I paid a visit in May. M&M certainly seem to be on a roll. It was only the other day that I thought about it from a new perspective; if you can find a retailer of the wines and (important!) you like the style, it’s like having your own ‘personal shopper’ tasting dozens and dozens of things that you don’t have the time/possibility to do. The team at M&M taste lots and lots of wine and try to buy the ones they like – if you like what they like – bingo! I seem to be nicely correlated to their whites, the downside of which is that it can get expensive – the prices are not bad – so you buy more…doh!
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Morgeot
Bottled at the end of February. The nose is high-toned and shows nice depth. This is quite big in the mouth, there’s plenty of fruit extract and just the right amount of acidity to whisk you into a good finish.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Meursault 1er Charmes
It’s a nicely characteristic nose, some high tones over roast nuts. The palate has a nice, lean minerality and very good acidity to match. Fast on its feet, this is lovely – nice finish too.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Puligny-Montrachet 1er, Champs-Gains
A waxy, dense and impressive nose. Lovely minerality and super acidity that pushes long into a creamy finish. There’s a great extra dimesion in the mid-palate too. Just so communicative today – very lovely.
Rebuy – Yes like a shot…
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Puligny-Montrachet 1er, Caillerets
The nose is not so deep as the Champs-Gains, a little tighter but with a clear extra width. The action here is on the palate; mouthfilling then rather hauntingly and understatedly long. This has tightened since last tasted, the waves of attack are on a lower level. Still very, very classy.
Rebuy – Yes and did
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Gevrey-Chambertin
The nose is floral, bright and ripe – given time it shows redder and redder. Clean and linear with tannin that shows itself quite late. This is a nice fresh villages and recommended.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Volnay 1er, Clos des Chênes
A mineral nose with an undercurrent of red cherry. Lovely, with slightly plush concentration. The tannins are a little grainy but ripe and well-managed. Intense with a lingering finish. Worthy of the label.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Pommard 1er, Clos Blanc
An impressively complex nose, interesting and high-toned. Ripe, intense and again ripe tannin. Plenty of red-fruited, dense concentration. Very good.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Corton-Bressandes
A lovely, understated though ripe and slightly musky nose. Densly concentrated, super acidity with a real extra dimension on the palate. Good length too. A real grand cru at a bargain price.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Clos de Vougeot
The nose is very understated – not giving much away. The palate has a narrow entry that suddenly and impressively widens – bathed in ripe, decently grained tannin. There are many worse Clos Vougeots, though this is clearly giving little away today.
Rebuy – Maybe

2001 Bouchard P&F, Beaune 1er du Château
Last tried almost 3 years ago and it was very ‘awkward’. Medium ruby-red colour. Softly sweet red nose – primary but pretty. Medium weight, nicely transparent and with good acidity. This is altogether quite a charmer today – shame I held of more purchases as it’s all gone now!
Rebuy – Yes

1998 H&G Remoriquet, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les St.Georges
Medium-plus ruby/mahogany colour. The nose is heavily scented; deep, dense and dank, with wet wood and aged vanilla-cream cherry. Concentrated and rather well textured for a top Nuits from a vintage that enjoys more than a hint of tannin – there’s very little astringency. The acidity remains fresh and mouthwatering though with just a little bitterness at the end. The length is very-good rather than great. Overall, this is impressively open for what is a relative youngster though it’s certainly brawny rather than elegant – but isn’t that the epitomy of a good Nuits? Oh and at ~£20 in the sale – a bargain! For drinking now and over the next 10+ years.
Rebuy – Yes

By the way, did I mention that it rained when we got back from the UK? Here’s the ‘middle bridge’ in Basel, lunchtime yesterday…

2004 Comte Liger-Belair, Vosne-Romanée La Colombière
Medium, Medium-pale colour. Aromatically more impressive than you expect from the colour, deep with a faint edge of coffee – only turning redder and finer with a little tobacco and spice as you slowly drain the glass – no green notes. Light but intense in the mouth – it’s the slightly bright acidity that adds to the apparent intensity. Red berry fruit that slowly fades, good, understated velvet tannins. It’s precocious though quite well balanced, I’d be tempted to drink this younger rather than older. Tasty.
Rebuy – Maybe

There were many more on display, but this is the modest list of grand crus tasted, the others (including La Tâche, de Vogüé Musigny etc.) were quaffed before I could get to them.
1997 Frédéric Magnien, Bonnes-Mares
Oaky top notes underpinned by creamy deep fruit – quite fresh too – nice. The palate is very good, fresh and concentrated with some grainy tannin. Very good.
Rebuy – Maybe
1997 de Vogüé, Bonnes-Mares
A high-toned fresh nose with very precise fruit – rare in 1997. The palate also shows precise young fruit and is rather racy too. The tannins probably need at least another 5 years. Less friendly than the Magnien, but younger.
Rebuy – Maybe

1997 AF Gros & François Parent, Richebourg
The nose shows some high tones, faint spice and interesting but understated fruit. The palate seems less ripe than some but frankly has tons of complexity and dimension – this will need at least 10 years but might be worth an outside bet.
Rebuy – Maybe
1997 Jean Grivot, Richebourg
(Magnum) Basically blurred and stodgy, no better than this bottle.
Rebuy – No
1997 Dujac, Clos de la Roche
The nose is very stemmy – more so than even the average Dujac – but some nice pure fruit behind. I like stems, but not so overpowering. Overall there is a sense of disappointment as this is a rather blurred and muted bottle.
Rebuy – No
1997 Denis Bachelet, Charmes-Chambertin
The nose is understated, wide and fresh. The palate is likewise impressively fresh (for 97) and shows quite some grainy tannin. Nothing is pushed but this is very impressive – I’d buy some!
Rebuy – Yes
1997 Dupont-Tisserandotot, Charmes-Chambertin
Greeny oak on the nose. The palate is fresh but shows spiky acidity and tannin on the finish – not that great.
Rebuy – No
1997 Joseph Drouhin, Griotte-Chambertin
(Magnum) Quite a deep nose, not quite as good as most other vintages, but not bad. The palate is soft and supple and ever-widening with decent power and intensity in the mid-palate. A young and quite interesting wine and certainly not one to pass by.
Rebuy – Maybe
1997 des Chézeaux, Griotte-Chambertin
Much more fruit on the nose, in fact it’s so deep, pure and intense, it’s unlike any other wine here. The palate is concentrated and seems to harbour more dry extract than most others. The acidity is a little bright on the finish but it’s a minor blemish on a very fine face. The most ‘un-97-like’ wine in the show.
Rebuy – Yes
1997 Armand Rousseau, Chambertin
The nose is creamy with a little cedar (à la 2004), not bad. The palate is fresh and complex and medium weight but very long. Blind, this would be hard to place as a 97. This is very good.
Rebuy – Yes

The interesting thing about slowly writing up these 1997 notes, village by village, is that you notice that things get slowly better as you head further north. It was a rare red wine that stood out in the Côte de Beaune, but certainly more common as you head north. Shame then that I missed the wines of Morey and Gevrey – particularly Gevrey as the rest of the tasters found the Gevreys to be the outstanding village. There are the dregs of a few grand crus that will make the last instalment (probably) tomorrow.
1997 Jean Tardy, Chambolle-Musigny Les Athets
A high-toned, rather nice nose. The palate is understated, with faintly astringent tannin. Has good length though. Quite nice but not the full package.
Rebuy – No
1997 Louis Jadot, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Baudes
Lovely red fruit on the nose, high tones too. Plenty of dimension on the palate, excellent attack coupled to plenty of grainy but ripe tannin. This is very, very good.
Rebuy – Yes
1997 Thierry Mortet, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Beaux Bruns
Soft but fresh red fruits on the nose. The palate is very good, fresh and tannic. This is interesting and full of personality.
Rebuy – Yes
1997 Ghislaine Barthod, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Cras
A little oak then tight red fruit at the base. Rather bigger in the mouth than the Thierry Mortet, with lots of tannin but more than enough dimension to match. This is rather good.
Rebuy – Yes
1997 Georges Roumier, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Cras
Redder and faintly estery aromatics after the Barthod. The palate is less explosive but on the positive side shows a little more complexity. In the end I found this a very nice wine.
Rebuy – Maybe

Drunk over about 5 days…
2001 Antonin Guyon, Chambolle-Musigny
Medium ruby red. The nose starts with a little deep oak and mainly red shaded fruit – just a little heavy and cumbersome. Slowly the oak fades (about 90% gone) and the impression becomes more high-toned and just a little more refined – by day two it’s quite fine. The palate is quite concentrated and dense with lightly grained tannin and just a hint of bitterness – but this seems derived from the faint toasty oak. The finish is faint but long. Overall this is no shrinking violet, rather a relatively powerful wine that could do with a little more delicacy. Certainly has a long life ahead.
Rebuy – Maybe
2002 Antonin Guyon, Chambolle-Musigny
Medium, medium-plus core of cherry-red colour. The nose is forward, deep, faintly oaky, a little savoury and initially a touch reduced. The palate is effusive and rather intense – pulled along with wouth-watering but balanced acidity. It starts better than the 2001 started, but not as good as the 2001 finished. Given enough time (about 90 minutes) the nose is dark, wide and soft, with brown sugar and eventually a fine red berry. The palate becomes more elegant, though like the 2001 is edged with a trace of dark, bitter oak. Overall I marginally prefer the balance of this to the 2001.
Rebuy – Maybe
2005 Antonin Guyon, Chambolle-Musigny Clos du Village
It’s from a monopole walled area next to the 1er cru of Cras – from barrel tasting it had a super extra dimension versus the ‘straight’ villages Chambolle. I was concerned on opening – the cork smelled of taint, as did the headspace – furtunately not a trace on pouring. A super nose; its deep cherry fruit with an edge of cream reminds me directly of the taste and smell from barrel. The palate has fat and a silky texture, perfectly cut by the acidity. This is very long, majoring on mineral rather than fruit notes. The cream on the nose is there on the palate too. From any other vintage you would assume this to a be a top 1er – at least.
Rebuy – Yes and I did.

1997 Robert Chevillon, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Vaucrains
Plenty of oak still on a nose that narrowly avoids reduction. Where the aromatics don’t involve, the palate delivers more; good dimension set against a furry tannin. Overall this is almost good but no more.
Rebuy – No
1997 Jean Tardy, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Boudots
The nose has the 97 sweetness though unusually it’s coupled with a rather herby presentation but nice high-toned red fruits too. Actually quite appealing. The palate was grainy and red – I didn’t really think of much more to say…
Rebuy – No
1997 Daniel Rion, Vosne-Romanée
It’s a nice nose of dark fruit, ripe, but not overly so. The palate has real depth, length and good balance too. I rather liked it and would buy at a decent price.
Rebuy – Yes
1997 AF Gros & François Parent, Vosne-Romanée 1er Aux Réas
Understated nose that slowly becomes redder and quite excellent. The palate is furry, slightly prickly and comparitively disappointing.
Rebuy – No
1997 Gérard Mugneret, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Brulées
High-toned nose, understated but very nice. The palate is rather linear, but lots of dimension and almost good length. It’s actually almost good.
Rebuy – Maybe
As noted, the Cathiard is also a rebuy from Vosne.