This wine ‘only’ cost about €45 as an en-primeur – at that price it’s fantastic value. These vines are now owned by Dujac – I expect the 2005 vintage will cost at least €150!
2000 Thomas-Moillard, Bonnes-Mares
Medium-plus garnet-red colour. The nose starts wide with a deep red core. Time adds a faint cedar with a mint edge that’s subtle enough to add a nice additional complexity rather than an obvious unripe element. The palate offers quite some surprises; the slightly astringent tannins are just a little rustic, but there is depth, plus a shape and acid balance that you would never assume to come from the ripe 2000 vintage. The concentration is ample, and delivered in a fresh and lithe, rather than fat way. The finish shows good, if not amazing length, but there’s a lot of complexity and depth here. It’s a young, rather ‘old school’ wine, but one that brims with value. I’ll revisit ~2012.
Rebuy – Yes

For the 1999-2001 vintages these wines were an absolute steal, but from 2002 and presumably boosted by the stellar burghound reviews the prices crept ever-higher. I would estimate that 2005 is about 70% more expensive than 2001 – it’s still a good value package – but…

What a blow – to add to the higher cost, I decided to christen my cellar with the first bottle from this case; carefully opening the wooden case, I placed one bottle on the floor while re-sealing the case – then knocked over the bottle! concrete floors are not so forgiving, so despite no ‘fall height’ I am left with a wet floor and no Le Clos!

Now only 10 are left – this note from bottle 2:
2001 William Fevre, Chablis Le Clos
A young lemon-yellow colour. The nose is a little reticent but wide and with some citrus bite – slowly increasing in depth with time. The palate is well textured – even waxy – also, like the nose, it’s understated and tight though the perfect acidity and length go unquestioned. This is showing about 50% of what was on display about 18 months ago so I won’t touch another for 4 or 5 years. Should still be top-class in the future
Rebuy – Maybe

Drunk as a counterpoint to yesterdays Lignier – it’s not a great start (by comparison) leave it with me a while – I’ll come back in a couple of hours…

1999 J-F Mugnier, Chambolle-Musigny
The first bottle from a pack of 12 halves. Medium ruby-red, still edged with cherry-red. The nose starts just a little lactic, but the raspberry fruit soon dovetails to give a better creamy raspberry effect – the last sniffs are quite brown sugar… The palate is lithe, though seems rather less concentrated than the preceding Lignier, but it’s light on its feet with a medium finish – the acidity slowly lingers. These 1999’s were lovely on release but just now they are ‘only’ showing as ‘pretty good’. Much less compelling than the 2000 Lignier today. I’ll let them rest for 3-5.
Rebuy – Maybe

2000 Hubert Lignier, Chambolle-Musigny
Medium garnet but it still retains more than an edge of cherry-red. The nose impresses with lovely high-toned fruit over a deeper base – it starts with a twist of black, but gets redder and finer all the while – eventually I even find wild strawberry, a common descriptor for pinot, but one that I rarely find. This wine shows an impressive level of concentration to go with its smooth texture. There’s plenty of oak artifacts on the finish – vanilla cream – but it’s very long for a village wine and continues to impress as the glass empties. What differentiates this from other ‘beautifully oaked’ wines is the fresh, complex and compelling ‘Chambolle’ fruit on the nose – devoid of oak. I remember this being relatively expensive, but it’s a wine that I can say I wish I had more of. Smooth and ‘giving’ there’s definitely no rush to drink this.
Rebuy – Yes

2002 Alex Gambal, St.Aubin 1er Murgers des Dents de Chien
From magnum. Medium lemon-yellow colour. The nose is soft and sweet with a faint citrus edge over a note of ripe pear. In the mouth this has a soft texture and in particular has a lovely and impressively lingering, mineral intensity. The acidity is almost good and certainly leaves my mouth watering. This is a super little wine which I try to buy every year, great value.
Rebuy – Yes

How quickly prices can move. I bought the 1999 for under 60 euros – this 2001 is more like 90 euros from a Swiss merchant.

This 2001 is actually the result of my corked Jadot Clos de Bèze from the group of 1999’s last week; the seller of the Bèze was happy to exchange, but (of course) has no more Bèze – within 5 euro, this is now the same price! Anyway, I decided it would be good to experience this 2001 after the 1999…

2001 Robert Arnoux, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots
Medium, medium-plus ruby red colour. The nose starts with heavy, sweet oak that totally obscures any fruit. The palate is jam packed and quite well textured, but my first impression is the creamy coconut on a finish who’s duration is frankly amazing for a 1er cru, it’s even like toffee after (over) a minute. The overall stance of this wine is medium-weight and it really has first-class balance – though I couldn’t find anything to indicate the village, let alone the vineyard for the first hour if was in my glass. The most telling comment came from my wife – and she wasn’t tasting (yet) – “what’s wrong, why are you pulling a face – is it corked?” – I didn’t know I was being watched! Two hours(!) in there’s a finer red fruit note just starting to appear above the sweet, soft base. Unlike some very expensive names in 2001, this wine has very ripe, if understated tannin and is excuisitely made, but particular in style. Going forward from here is quite simple; if you want a very high quality wine to luxuriate in, drink this wine right away. If, however, you want to drink a very high quality wine that reflects its origin, then don’t even think of opening one of these before 2012 – or you will be disappointed – in fact, make that 2015!
Rebuy – Maybe

I suppose I should be happy that I would much rather drink (for instance) Potel’s Suchots than Arnoux’s – the Potel is that much more transparent, and ‘only’ about 60% of the cost – at least that would be my preference in the first 10 years of the wine’s life – after 10 years in the cellar, who knows…(?)

1999 Louis Jadot, Beaune 1er Les Theurons
Medium ruby-red. The nose is just a little reduced, eventually a mix of sweet, slightly dark oak and understated redder notes. The palate is fresh and linear with well-covered tannins. The acidity is a little tart, but there is quite enough fruit and a nice creamy edge to the fruit and acid-driven finish. Fresh but fun – I enjoyed.
Rebuy – Yes

2002 Nicolas Potel, Aloxe-Corton Les Boutières
This was lush, sweet and full of joie-de-vivre from barrel and also for it’s first 18 months in bottle – it was great fun – it’s now a different wine. It still retains that medium-plus cherry red colour and the nose is high toned and fresh though has now lost some bass notes. There is still sweetness and it retains a well-concentrated punch in the mid-palate, but today this wine has lost much of the lush foil to the acidity. It’s fresh and certainly not overly acidic now – but it’s more obviously tart than before. The last 5 or 6 can spend some time resting now…
Rebuy – Yes

Summaries:
There were no wines here that I regret buying, and none that I would regret having more of!

Wine 1 – Like a beautiful lady watched across a room that I didn’t manage to speak with. This was (as many guessed) the Mugnier Amoureuses. The comment about not speaking referred to the fact it’s so primary that despite the obvious joy the bottle gave, there is so much more in reserve for the future.
Wine 2 – Tight, precise and quite haughty, but I’m just wondering what she (for this is another she) will be like if she lets her hair down and takes off those glasses. This was the one that confused everyone, it’s the Bèze from Jadot. It has a little of the mineral intesity of a good Bèze but would be better approached in another 6-10 years.
[Note; I’m regularly disappointed by Chambertin/Bèze from all producers, but I find virtually all I have samples from 2005 to be fabulous!]
Wine 3 – A soft-focus picture of a big brown bear. This is the only wine where I had a measure of disappointment. It’s full-packed but in soft-focus way and really needs to sharpen up to compete with the other wines here. It’s Drouhin’s Petits Monts.
Wine 4 – This is quite a wine; masculine and muscular of stance, with an obvious winemaker’s signature. I think Pascal Lachaux has turned down the oak a notch since 99, but I was surprised how the style really stuck out in this group. The Arnoux Suchots (of-course).
Wine 5 – Despite the concentration there is perfect balance, this wine is the ultimate in sophistication – monumental – it’s the best wine I’ve drunk this year. It made a bigger impression on me than the 2004’s from DRC, I can only think of Louis-Michel’s 05 La Romanée that has made such an impression in the last 9 months! Shame I can’t find any on winesearcher with either Ponsot’s or Chezeaux’s label – it’s the Clos St.Denis VV.

Now onto some (relatively) simple 2002’s…
Cheers