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

Only one at home this weekend:

2022 Jane Eyre, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Aux Vergelesses
There’s some density to this red-fruited aroma, but it’s a compact, not-so-open style today. It sits well in the mouth, with slightly generous, cushioned red fruit – and clearly I’m drinking this too young, as, apart from some middle stony minerality, there’s a little too much creamy-caramel oak. The effect today is delicious, but I still prefer my wine to taste more of wine! I’d wait another couple of years before returning – but completely delicious, if a touch more ‘easy’ than I remember from tasting at the domaine.
Rebuy – Yes

A wine that I tasted blind, loved, and later bought. It was this wine that brought me to the young domaine of Alexandra de Vazeilles in Fleurie.

Now under new ownership, Bachelards became, for a short time, the pinnacle of the gamay grape, and the year I tasted their 2019s it was the greatest estate that I visited – including all the other visits in the Côte d’Or!

2014 Château des Bachelards, St.Amour
Exemplifying what DIAM can bring, 10 years in the bottle and not 1mm of colour ingress on the ‘cork.’ Also, a satisfying ‘pop’ as it exits the bottle.
What an impressively dark, young colour! The first aromas arediscrete but silky, dark fruit, even a little graphite, before hints of flowers. Fine width over the palate and an expanding flavour that is gently supported by a little creaminess. Very slowly, elegantly finishing – narrow but long – almost linear. Ageless !!
Rebuy – Yes

Weekend drinking…

2012 des Croix, Beaune 1er Les Grèves
A cork that easily snaps in 2 with the waiter’s friend, but the centimetre that remains on the neck is well enough lodged that the ah-so doesn’t move it down – it was easily removed.
Ooh! Deep, dark and a little, attractively, dirty – it does get cleaner and tedder – cushioned even – but those first notes were still very attractive. Mouth-filling, cushioned, enveloping flavour – and the hallmark of the vintage: clarity and delineation of the flavours – just as I hoped. And, today it’s quite open too – time to start testing some other 2012s!! Really super…
Rebuy – Yes

Simple, tasty wines…

Not quite an ‘antidote’ to Richebourg and Romanée St.Vivant, but two lovely wines that won’t break the bank:

My second (of 3) of the 2025 Beaujolais Nouveau from Château Thivin. Easy, perhaps softer than a couple of months ago, the finish more acidulated. But very easy, delicious drinking. Actually, versus many Beaujolais or Beaujolais Villages, you’re paying for the name here – even if only 15 Euros – that’s the double of many from the lower appellations – non Nouveau. But it’s still a tasty wine for cheaper than a Bourgogne Rouge. I might keep the last bottle to drink at the next presentation of Nouveau !!
The Marini, slightly rounder and riper than I remember, but how tasty is this. The perfect wine to drink a glass or two each day, for 3-4 days. Yum !!

Of course, it wasn’t just magnums of Beaujolais over Christmas, as I’d promised myself it was time to start drinking some of these…

1998 Fougeray de Beauclair, Bonnes-Mares
I’ve lost touch with this estate – I must try to reconnect this year. This, of course, with Bonnes-Mares from the Bruno Clair domaine. The vines returned to Bruno for the 2016 vintage, with a couple of barrels still put to one side for Fougeray. A wine that laughs at the proposition that ‘great wines are great from the start‘ – what BS! This wine was undrinkable in 2001; the sandpaper tannins of that vintage being particularly aggressive in this case – to start with, I really regretted buying this six-pack. But, at about 16 years old – my second from the owc – wow! That’s the thing about tannin, it polymerises and settles out onto the sides/bottom of your bottles – tannins always lessen over time. So for that second call of BS – if you don’t want to laugh in someone’s face when they utter the immortal phrase ‘I don’t think the fruit will outlast the tannin‘ – at least for 1er/grand cru – you can quietly laugh inside !! My last bottle of this was 5 years ago, when I gifted one to Marko de Morey. Unfortunately, I don’t think that he had the time to try it. I have just one more.
A good, robust cork – and it’s done its job well: Medium, medium-plus colour. A sweet-smelling, airy width of flowers with an accent of iron/blood. Mouth-filling, beautifully energetic and with a suggestion of fat. Lovely, buzzing with energy from a well-controlled acidity. There’s modest finishing intensity but of clearly immodest length. That starts just beautifully – zero faults. I’m very happy with this…
Rebuy – Yes

1999 JJ Confuron, Romanée St.Vivant
Bottle number 17 of my 18 RSVs from 1999. The DRC will be the last one – maybe next weekend – certainly it will come under the corkscrew soon. No note here as I’m making an RSV report – for my January Report. But is was a fine one, and one of the most backward…

1985 François Gros, Richebourg
Bottle 79 of 320. The rubbishly short cork manages to be extracted in one piece. Given the cork, I’m just happy that this was drinkable on day 1…
Medium colour. A modestly proportioned but clean nose of undergrowth and a small suggestion of rose perfume. Good acidity and energy – still plenty of structure too. The tannin framing good mid-palate flavour – amazingly still majoring on the barrel. The finish has decent complexity, including a hint of balsamic. Not a great Richebourg – that’s for sure – but a good experience. The remaining wine was completely dead on day 2…
Rebuy – No

1998 Jean Grivot, Richebourg
I’m still waiting for my 1999s of this. Also, this cork is of modest length, though better than that of the FG Richebourg – but it comes out in one piece.
Like the 98 Fougeray – it’s an attractive nose though of modest volume – it’s pretty and clean, and still has lots of attractive, young fruit. The first flavours reflect the nose – pretty and complex, still young, but the impact hardly impresses – just about all 1998s seem like this at the moment. All the action here is to be found in the finishing flavours – wow !! Still a young wine in many respects but the tannin isn’t a bit wearing. I’d be tempted to wait another 5 years for my last one…
Rebuy – Yes

Some nice wines and a shameful wine – or rather the cork – over the last few days…

1999 de Montille, Volnay 1er Mitans
This has been my goto ‘great’ vintage this year. Here’s a wine that captivates you from the start with its aromas – fresh and mature. In the mouth, we have volume and still some structure – but nothing to scare this palate – what length too. Bravo wine – impeccable wine !!
Rebuy – Yes

2020 Baluce, Beaujolais Vieilles-Vignes
From old vines in the Pierres Dorées, DIAM3 sealed.
Still with a deep and young colour. A forward nose of graphite minerality but also a roundness of faintly spiced dark fruit – this is very inviting. Round, supple and silky – quite a floral accent to this really attractive fruit – and plenty of concentration. Slightly easy until the broad and complex finish – That’s a great wine for (probably!) one-third the price of your average Bourgogne Pinot Noir !!!
Rebuy – Yes

2022 Mélanie & Daniel Boulard, Morgon Bellevue ‘Delys’
Magnum. This is the younger vine cuvée of the domaine’s Delys, with a mix of vines from the 1970s and 1980s – the older part is from 1926!
Despite its 14% alcohol, here’s a good width of round fruit aroma – not a bit alcoholic. In the mouth, good scale and concentration – round and accommodating – really much more accessible than I expected – 5 of us polished it off in no time !!
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Nicolas Potel, Volnay 1er Les Fuées
Magnum. My unused backup wine from last Christmas – so I was definitely going to open it this Christmas! The cork came out in one piece – but a stinky ‘corky’ cork. I poured with trepidation – the colour was lovely and still strong. The nose was just bizarre, and the flavour suggested cork taint. 5 minutes later, the aromas and flavours were overrun by the taint. In the context of double the volume (a magnum) and a normal-sized cork – this was almost unbelievably obliterated by TCA. I went from being happy with surprise when I found magnums of Potel’s 2005 VR 1er Petits Monts in my cellar when locating this bottle – being ‘less than happy.’ What great recompense for 18 years in the cellar…