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

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!]