Wine #5
The other corked bottle in this group, so onto bottle number 2.

Medium-plus cherry-red colour. The nose is very wide and somehow silky. It’s very slow to evolve, but first you note dried cranberry fruit before a subtle blackcurrant confiture, the last drops in the glass are sweet and red. Like the nose, my first impression of the palate is its silken texture, the second is the length – impossibly long – no other of these wines comes close and it’s not about bitter oak, it’s about a subtle sweetness that clings to the palate. There’s a real, but measured intensity about the palate, driven by perfect acidity and tannins that are there only if you search for them.

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…

Wine #4
A deep ruby-red core right to the rim. The nose is a bit of a give-away; once the prominent dark oak fades – 5 minutes – you are left with a wide and spicy vista over deeper sweet and dark oak. It takes rather a long time – over 1 hour – before striking yet still spice-edged cherry fruit is revealed. After the last wine this is sleeker and certainly more polished yet is equally concentrated. The acidity is just a little brighter but the velvet tannins and the finish are certainly more oak driven and just show a little bitterness because of that – it’s long though. Complex and compelling, though this wine is the only one of these five to show a strong winemaker’s signature with its modern oak-driven style.

This is quite a wine; masculine and muscular of stance though with a clear winemaker’s signature.

The (alphabetical) list to choose from:

1999 Premier Crus

• Robert Arnoux, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots …find…
• Veronique Drouhin, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Petits Monts …find…
• J-F Mugnier, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Amoureuses …find…

1999 Grand Crus

• Domaine des Chézeaux (Ponsot), Clos St.Denis cuvée Vieilles Vignes …find…
• Louis Jadot, Chambertin Clos de Bèze …find…

Here’s the third note – which is it?
Wine #3
A deep core of colour, just the last vestige of cherry at the rim. The nose is deep and dense if rather bashful to start, showing little more than dark flashes of toasty, sweet oak – fortunately this remains an undertone before fading as a dense and primary deep red note comes through that becomes finer with aeration – I can only summarise it as ‘very sexy’. After wine #2 this is altogether denser, softer and with riper fruit too. It’s brimming with intensity and concentration – it’s a real mouth-filler – showing a lovely expansion in the mid-palate before slowly narrowing in the good finish. In the background there plenty of soft texture from the tannins, but they will need a few more years in the cellar to shrink. Everything about this wine is more fun and lush than wine #2, if rather less tight and precise.

A soft-focus picture of a big brown bear.

The (alphabetical) list to choose from:

1999 Premier Crus

• Robert Arnoux, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots …find…
• Veronique Drouhin, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Petits Monts …find…
• J-F Mugnier, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Amoureuses …find…

1999 Grand Crus

• Domaine des Chézeaux (Ponsot), Clos St.Denis cuvée Vieilles Vignes …find…
• Louis Jadot, Chambertin Clos de Bèze …find…

Here’s the second note – any ideas which it is?
Wine #2
After 4 months without a corked bottle, bugger – corked – now I only have 4 of these left. The colour is medium, medium-plus ruby red with just a little less cherry red at the rim than the first wine. The nose starts with a waft of dark, spicy oak but this is quickly gone to reveal a dark and understatedly spicy base. Time in the glass opens the wine out into a redder and finer vernacular without much in the way of density. Lithe and rather linear the plate shows forward acidity, but such is the superb intensity that this is kept quite in balance. What tannin can be discerned against the background of acidity and intensity has just a little astringency and the faintest edge of bitterness. The length is impressive, but it is rather ‘thin’ and an extension of the flavours I associated with the tannin, just a little tart too. The nose is now rather good, but the palate needs some time and currently shows much less ripe than wine #1.

Tight and precise with angular but compelling features – 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 really started with the ‘uncovering’ of an unopened 6-pack of Potel’s 99 Volnay VV – I opened one up and it was excellent, so what else lay in the cellar untested? I decided to call it a day once 5 bottles of the same vintage were rounded up – though in truth it was 7 bottles – 2 consecutive bottles were corked…

So here is the (alphabetical) list of wines that will appear over the next days:

1999 Premier Crus

• Robert Arnoux, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots …find…
• Veronique Drouhin, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Petits Monts …find…
• J-F Mugnier, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Amoureuses …find…

1999 Grand Crus

• Domaine des Chézeaux (Ponsot), Clos St.Denis cuvée Vieilles Vignes …find…
• Louis Jadot, Chambertin Clos de Bèze …find…

Here’s the first note – see if you can guess which is the wine:
Wine #1
Medium ruby red, still with a cherry-red rim. The nose starts a little diffuse but quickly tightens; it’s still a rather understated and bashful but has soft red fruit with the faintest cream rim – as you would expect (hope) from any of these wines, you can sniff this all day long as the intensity slowly builds into a perfect redcurrant as the glass empties. The sweet palate reflects the nose – it’s no powerhouse – intensity without apparent weight and almost perfect silky texture. There’s plenty of acidity but the balance is first-class. Absolutely everything about this wine is understated – apart from it’s class! There are no fireworks, but I’m still sad that I bought 6 and not 12! Young obviously, but a rewarding drink right now.

Like a beautiful lady watched across a room that I didn’t manage to speak with.

1999 Nicolas Potel, Volnay Vieilles Vignes
Medium-plus ruby red. The nose is a real stunner; full of individual red berries – redcurrant and cranberry. The palate has an understated entry which starts narrow, opening wider as you move along with the acidity into the mid-palate. Silken with well covered tannins and a nice length. Wonderful villages despite the short note!
Rebuy – Yes

This wine spawned a search for unopened 99’s in the cellar – to be opened, starting tomorrow…

Yesterday I opened a 1999 (note to follow) after spying the un-opened six-pack in a corner of the cellar. The wine was lovely – particularly the aromatics – so much so that my eyes were drawn to 3 other un-opened six-packs… it didn’t take long for me to decide what ‘had to be done!’ The big copper staples on the packs of Mugnier’s Amoureuses, Jadot’s Bèze and Chézeaux’s Clos St.Denis were prized free and the bottles will be left to stand in the cellar for 3 days. Over the next few days I’ll put up the unatributed notes and later add the labels – see if you can spot which is which!
[Edit: I found a couple of others too!]

1995 Jean Grivot, Vosne-Romanée Bossières
Medium garnet red colour. The nose started with a transient whiff of oak before settling into a wide, high-toned and faintly estery and sweet vista. The palate is soft until you reach the (still) forward tannin on the backend. Good mouth-watering acidity and reasonable length. Versus the last showing I find the aromatics less interesting but the palate is much more mature. No rush but this is coming closer to maturity.
Rebuy – Maybe

2003 Camille Giroud, Bourgogne
Now coming into the last bottles of this case – only 4 remain. Medium, medium-plus cherry red. The nose is quite 2003 in style yet shows beautifully delineated red and blue fruits and more unusually for 2003 there are violets too over a creamy base – so far it’s better than many grand crus from this vintage. The palate is less fine, but it’s sweet, medium intensity and quite well mannered. The fruit has really good density – more so than most bourgognes – chapeau. Shame that so few remain in the cellar – a real sniffer’s wine – and you don’t get to say that very often with a bourgogne!
Rebuy – Yes