Three of us decidied it would be a white wine night at the at the restaurant Le Chassagne. The service was both excellent and friendly, the wines were very well priced and the food was very well presented – but like our choice of wines, the food was good rather than great. The company was, however, ‘very fine’.

2004 Jean Chartron, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Clos de la Pucelle
Medium lemon-yellow. The wide, high-toned nose shows a little citrus interest and some faint oak artifacts – it’s quite interesting, but could do with a little more density. The palate is delicate rather than dense – I feel there is something missing – perhaps the yields were a little high(?) The good acidity brings you quickly into the mid-palate, and initially a rather coarse showing due to the oak treatment. An hour from opening and the wine is much more comfortable in it’s own skin and quite Puligny; clean but missing 1er cru intensity. Good but not great.
Rebuy – No
2004 Coche-Dury, Meursault 1er Caillerets
Medium lemon-yellow. The nose is quite high-toned with faint, but not excessive, estery notes over a base of mainly pear fruit. The palate is a little fatter than the Chartron, quite silky and also shows good acidity. There is some intensity of fruit, but despite some minerality it is delivered in a rather dense and unyielding fashion. Excellent length. This is a very good and very well proportioned wine, but I miss some engagement.
Rebuy – Maybe

I bought a six-pack of this wine ‘en-primeur’ – without tasting – you can do that with a relative degree of confidence with some producers. From the first sniff I’m thinking: ‘maybe I didn’t buy enough…’

2004 Bouchard Père et Fils, Volnay 1er Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. From cellar temp (15°C) the nose shows several layers; high-toned jellied black fruit at the top, earthier, leathery notes in the middle and lower-down. Leave the glass for a while and it fills with cream and a faint smoke edge – mmm. The palate is quite a departure from the norm in 2004 – lots of faintly grained tannin – but there’s quite enough intensity of black-shaded fruit to match. The acidity takes a little-bit of backseat to the fruit and tannin, just slowly making your mouth water. I might wish for a little more expansion in the mid-palate, but the finish is long with hints of mocha and a bitter young-oak edge. Not the easiest of wines to drink, but no green notes here. This very young wine needs at least three 3 years before revisiting – but it will be worth it – it has the potential to be excellent.
Rebuy – Yes

2004 Denis Bachelet, Côte de Nuits Villages
Deeper coloured and a little more purple than the Ecard Savigny that preceded it. The floral nose is wide and fresh with traces of cedar and a warm and sweet, slightly creamy and smoky depth. The palate is well concentrated for the appellation, flavour-packed and just a little sweet. Fresh acidity and grainy tannin combine to make this just a little more rustic than the Savigny, but the acidity pins you down for a reasonably long finish. That 2004 cedar note is also there on the palate, but in a modest fashion. It’s not the best example of this wine from the last years, but it’s a good example and as always, it shows lots of value.
Rebuy – Yes

I haven’t yet looked into the minutiae of the distinction, but one man’s Jarrons seems to be another man’s Dominode – as best as I can work out (without checking) Dominode seems to be an area within Jarrons – or could it be the other way around despite Dominode being so-much the larger…

This wine started quite oaky and a little flat – it wasn’t looking good, but patience paid dividends.
2004 Maurice Ecard, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Jarrons
Medium cherry-red colour. The nose starts soft, sweet and quite oaky – though not very toasty – over one hour from opening and you have high-toned estery notes over what is frankly a super, griotte-like red fruit nose. As with the nose, some time is required before real interest is found – it starts rather flat – so-much so that I wondered if there might be a little taint. One hour of patience reveals a light-medium-weight wine of elegance and real complexity; the acidity is quite fresh and the wine is lithe rather than fat, but there is an array of red fruits and a little raisin edge to the subtle but long finish. Tannin slips by virtually un-noticed. This is a world away from dense, blockbuster wines and I suspect it will disappoint some drinkers, but for me, despite the wait, it delivered.
Rebuy – Yes

2002 Bouchard Père, Beaune 1er Beaune du Château
Medium-plus cherry-red colour, no evolution of the colour yet. The nose started powdery and a little mildewy, it took over an hour in the glass to clean up and show high toned red fruits at the top and just a little blacker material below. Sweet, quite well textured and with lovely mid-palate intensity. The tannins are less grainy than many 2002’s and still reasonably well-covered. There’s plenty of good acidity to ride you through into an equally good finish – though there’s just a little finishing bitterness – this will resolve over the next 2 years. Still a relative bargain for the quality, I expect this wine will have a good long life.
Rebuy – Yes

I think this might just be the first 2005 that I’ve opened at home…
2005 Joseph Drouhin, Laforet Bourgogne Chardonnay
Medium yellow. The nose is sweet and high-toned with green-skinned fruit and pear. Wow – this has very good texture for the appellation and super acidity to match. The flavours are a little ‘stoney’ and mineral. There is good mid-palate intensity and a reasonable finish too. This subtly oaked wine – it’s about texture rather than flavour – this is very impressive for its label and just a little Chablis in style. Bravo.
Rebuy – Yes

The last wine from this domaine for a while:
Domaine Georges Mugneret, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Chaignots
Darker than the Gevrey that preceded it, and a shade lighter than the Vosne that preceded that. The nose is deep and dark, initially just a little monolithic, slowly it gives a peek of black cherry, cream, and faint coffee mixed with smoke. Seems to fill the mouth and has a super intensity to the mid-palate. Powerful and mouthwatering this shows a higher level of tannin than the Gevrey and it’s perceptibly grainier too – though certainly not misbehaved – it’s very well covered. The finish is longer with an edge of cream to the fine burst fruit. A super NSG.
Rebuy – Yes

Altogether more about it than the Gevrey today, but it’s a little more challenging to drink than the Vosne which would be my drink of choice for the next couple of years from this trio.

The young vines of the domaine’s grand cru Ruchottes-Chambertin have (for the recent vintages) been set-aside to produce this declassified ‘village’ wine. I thought the 2002 to be the the standard of a good premier cru but the 2003, whilst good, to be less successful. Here’s my first look at the 2004:

Domaine Georges Mugneret, Gevrey-Chambertin
This wine is lighter in colour than the domaine’s 2004 Vosne (that preceded it) – medium, medium-plus cherry-red. The nose is a little more reticent, slowly building a musky density with a mineral/cedar background, eventually some very smooth red fruit. The palate is also very smooth – you slip in almost un-noticed – the acidity is just about perfect, only slowly making your mouth water for more. Work the wine around on the palate and you notice the cedar/mineral element again and also there’s a little-tannin ‘grab’, otherwise they remain very well hidden. There’s a nice expansion in the mid-palate and a very understated but perceptible length. Today there is little about this wine that says it’s better than the slightly cheaper Vosne, and certainly it doesn’t show the same potential the 2002 did at this stage. Well made, and though that cedar thing is going on, it’s maybe a rebuy, but for (at least) the next two years or-so, I would reach for the better and cheaper Vosne in preference.
Rebuy – Maybe

For now, I’ll retain an open mind as to whether this is better than the 2003, but the 2002 is still much the better wine.

2004 Mugneret-Gibourg, Vosne-Romanée
Quite a deep cherry-red colour. Right from opening this has a deep, forward nose that begs further sniffing; concentrated red and black cherry with just a powdery edge and an undercurrent of spice in a cinnamon/clove type of way. The palate is well-textured, concentrated and (for a village) very concentrated. The acidity is fresh but not racy and there are fine, well-covered tannins. Understated length finishes a complete village wine. Not even a hint of green – Excellent.
Even on day two this has held together perfectly. A great way to start the year.
Rebuy – Yes

As soon as I finish this bottle (tomorrow) I will have to open up the ‘village’ Gevrey for comparison…