2006 Camille Giroud, Corton Chaumes
The first from a case of 6. David Croix’s first wine with whole clusters – 50%! It was an homage to a great wine of whole bunches the night before. The last vintage for these 80-year-old vines before they were pulled out to replant with chardonnay – it’s now Corton-Charlemagne here – a no-brainer of a decision from a financial perspective! A clean cork – but one that broke in half. The rest extracted as a single piece – good!
Hmm – young in the mouth, perfumed too – not a bit gothic – that’s very lovely. There’s still plenty of structural finishing tannin – it’s still a Corton, after all, but the flavour is fine though – but the nose is just getting better and better – that’s really super… The floral perfume in the glass – it’s coming into the flavours too – I’d decant today – the finish is comfortable and long too. I think that I’ll wait another 3-4 years before opening bottle number 2 !!
Rebuy – Yes

1998 Dominique Laurent, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
A decent cork which started to move (down!) before the ah-so cork remover was fully in place – but I still managed to get it out in one…
Modest colour. An equally modest nose; the aromas are old, but not too old, faintly of white mushrooms. A silky, quite fluid entry with a small generosity and a tasty depth of flavour – widening over the palate into the finish. Still some finishing bitters – but not too bitter! Holding very impressively with a width of roast flavours like coffee and chocolate, holding really impressively. I honestly wouldn’t guess the vintage – the acidity is not so strong – I might even go for a 1997 blind! The finish haunts the palate – it has great length. Something of a stealth wine and beautifully put together…
Rebuy – Yes

2024 Chablis Terroirs de Fye
In Chapelots part of Montée de Tonnerre, but the villages part.
Modestly deep colour. Clarity – what a lovely nose this is – accented by the fruit but also mineral and saline. Fluid, mouth-filling wine but with a complexity that matches the aromatics. Really great – a wine that was drunk all too quickly !!
Rebuy – Yes

2003 Michel Juillot, Corton-Perrières
All of the previous bottles have been ‘average.’ This one is surprisingly above average – almost good !! Plenty of colour. Faintly spiced, sweet macerating dark plum aromas. Large in the mouth, with plenty of richness and fine texture. The finish is large in scale and with plenty of finishing bitters – perhaps too much bitters for the age of the wine – but I’m happy taking another sip – and I haven’t said that about many other bottles of this !!
Rebuy – Maybe

2022 The Odd Couple,Santa Rita Hill California – Sandford & Benedict Vineyards
And people laugh at the length of some burgundy wine names! (Retired) Flying winemaker David Lloyd and friend of Burgundy Report’s wine – one of many. A resounding pop as the diam leaves the neck of the bottle.
Medium plus colour – soft red fruit aromatics with a warm, rounding oak spice. Filling the mouth well. There’s a small textural cushion but with good fluidity and clarity to the red fruit – like the nose, framed with the light oak-spice and a finishing sucrosity, maybe partly from the barrel. Plenty of very fine-grained tannic bitters in this finish. Tasty but missing the x-factor…
Rebuy – Maybe

2022 Thenard, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Île des Vergelesses
Trescases, NDtec cork – about as long a name as you will find in Burgundy 🙂
Darker colour. The nose is wider, with darker fruit – also a small accent from the barrel, but not spiced – these aromas with a bit more detail and incision plus a modest floral perfume. Much larger in the mouth, with sweet, creamy barrel flavours too – I’d wait a couple more years before opening the next one. Wide finishing wine – I like the texture and the personality more here. This is a simply excellent young wine – I love it!!
Rebuy – Yes

Lucky enough to taste – pre-bottling…

2024 Bourgogne Aligoté Sous Chatelet
Vines from 1937
Fresh to notes – a little yellow citrus. A small touch of gas, but still vibrant and zesty. I might not guess Aligoté, but I recognise how much I love it – super and intense…

2024 St.Romain
Broader, fuller, more cushioned aromas – lovely. Also some gas. Long, mouth-filling, juicy wine – again in a zesty style, but here with extra depth of flavour. So long and delicious…

2024 Meursault Vireuils
Linear styled aromas – faintly spiced, faintly aniseed. Gas, with slowly melting flavour – at first incisive and the support is more generous, but still mineral behind. The longest of these with a certain calm to the finishing notes…

Today, it’s hard to look past the aligoté !!

It can’t always be Romanée St.Vivant – well, not for that many weeks, anyway 🙂

2017 William Fevre, Chablis
A satisfying ‘pop’ from the diam seal.
Starting reticent, but these aromas have a nice zesty citrus skin complexity – the dis/advantage of the diam instantly clear, it’s just a matter of perspective. Clean, pure and young, with only suggestions of mature notes despite being an ‘older’ wine. Wide, mineral, modestly juicy with an underlying delicious energy. Not the impact of its youth, but still a super wine – and this finish, I love it!
Rebuy – Yes

2012 David Clark, Côte de Nuits Villages
I still have a fair quantity of David’s wines in the cellar – this is not a special showing though. A fine, strong cork.
Lots of colour here – though not a young colour. Dark. Mineral, railway sleepers aromatic. Nicely mouth-filling with a silky cushion from the concentration – the flavour is fine and fading, though far from demonstrative. Subtly long with emphasis on the subtle. Half elegant, half leaving me asking for more – but there’s the nice purity of the vintage.
Rebuy – Maybe

2021 Laurent Tribut, Chablis
A robust and sweet-smelling cork…
A generous width of aroma – of cushioned, modestly ripe citrus. In the mouth, we have good scale and a slowly melting, slightly saline accent to the rounder, more generous flavours than was the case 3 years ago. The middle to finishing flavours are wide, mineral and have a tiny note of barrel caramel. Very, classy, delicious wine – yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2021s from Chablis, in general, no-longer show the effervescent citrus energy of their youth – they have become rather classic as they age in bottle i.e. they are much less the acquired taste (citrus acidity) of their youth. I’m glad that I recommend so many of those young wines – this is really such an enjoyable Chablis vintage right now!

The old label to the left – this wine. To the right, the new label – to drink another day…

2019 Jeremy Recchione, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits
‘Only’ 13% – modest for 2019.
Deep colour with pure, silky, dark fruit aromas – apart from a little supporting smoky roundness, there’s nothing to suggest ‘no added sulfur.’ Wide, fluid, beautifully textured wine – clearly with fine concentration. Like the nose, here are dark fruited flavours – juicy and lingering on a super line of acidity. Love this energy and width of finishing flavour – different dimensions of finishing flavour. Just a small finishing grain of tannin. What a supremely fine, delicious Bourgogne!
Rebuy – Yes