I remember an apology (many years ago) ‘we only had labels from 2006 left‘ – no problem – it’s the wine that counts – eh?

2005 Camille Giroud, Volnay 1er Taillepieds
The cork broke into two – but had, otherwise, done a good job.
Plenty of (only modestly aged) colour. The nose is big, frank, and inviting – there’s a super depth of concentrated red fruit, topped with floral notes and a subtle anecdote of barrel. Like the nose, the flavour is just so concentrated but with acid-led energy too – fine texture but no fat. Long, direct and highly impressive. Open, but still very youthful. Half of this made it through to day two, and here the concentration and impressive balance remained, but overall the performance was tighter, still direct, but no-longer floral. Potentially great wine – but only if I can keep my hands off my last 2 bottles!
Rebuy – Yes

Friends from NZ in the house – we did 2 vintages together in Beaune, where we head later today. A bunch of the usual suspects, often drunk in these pages – for which I won’t offer any notes, but there were a couple of others that might be of interest:

2016 Burn Cottage, Burn Cottage Vineyard
Medium colour yet also quite a bright colour. Ooh, that’s such an interesting nose, fresh, full of whole cluster references but also lovely bright flower notes – that’s so inviting! Nice volume, fresh flavour, a little acid-led structure and fine finishing bitters. Ripe yet at the same time, less ripe – very floral – and attractively phenolic. I like it a lot, though the fine floral purity of aroma all-but disappears after an hour-or-so.
Rebuy – Yes

2011 Camille Giroud, Beaune 1er Aux Cras
One of the rare 2011s that I bought and this is showing beautifully.
Relatively pale colour, not totally bright/clear either. The nose – oh the nose, that’s so great – floral, complex fruit, some whole clusters, just gorgeous! The palate has good shape and volume, nice acidity too – not a wine of power or concentration, but jaw-droppingly delicious! A great 2011!
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Carrick, Cairnmuir Terraces EBM Central Otago Chardonnay
(EBM – Extended barrel maturation) A low yielding vintage – 3-4 tonnes per hectare (25 hl/ha) then 18 months in barrel.
Ooh, that’s a deep colour, but yellow, not golden. The nose too – pow! Very ripe, waxy lemon with a hefty whiff of pepper too – subtle it’s not – but it’s still good! Plenty of mouth-filling volume, that ripe citrus, with almost a spiced pear and a touch of caramel in the finish. I almost find a grain of tannin in the finish and slight bitters too. More than impressive for its age, but a long way from elegant if that’s what you’re looking for. Yum! A powerful and impressive wine.
Rebuy – Yes

Honestly, it’s taken me a few days to drink these – and with help too! The hot days of the last week-or-so have seen me reaching for bottles of water, direct from the refrigerator, rather than for wine. I’m predominantly in need refreshment right now, and if I were to cool the wine more then I would just drink it far too quickly than would seem appropriate for the cost of the bottles! Oh well – but you can at least see that I’m trying!

2014 Dampt Frères, Bourgogne Tonnerre Le Clos du Château
Open, attractive, very citrussy sweetness, even suggesting a little white flower blossom. I always like the mouth-filling volume and energy from this wine, and apart from one that had a bit of mustiness (probably) from the cork, all remain, bright and attentive. Long, incisive citrus fruit for a finish too. Excellent.
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Alice & Olivier De Moor, Bourgogne Chitry
Some of the first bottles seemed to have some aromatic padding, but this seems to be becoming more incisive with time – I like! Modestly mineral, melting flavour that has a becoming sweetness. Just a delicious wine!
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Domaine Faiveley, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Champ Gain
This starts with plenty of barrel – sweet, creamy, almost vanilla barrel – and a very unusual impression of banana – clearly not my ‘thing.’ I defer to my bottle of water. On day 2 (overnight in the fridge) this has improved massively – no oak, no banana and a fresh and direct, slightly citrus invitation now comes from the nose. I like the shape in the mouth – cut, definition, and fine energy. Growing in stature in the middle and already showing a great finish. I might not have loved the start, but the finish is more than promising. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Julie, Nathalie & Gilles Fevre, Chablis 1er Fourchaume
A nice, big, saline and citrus-mineral invitation. Thrilling, driving intensity – a juicily-mouthwatering waterfall of refreshment – just what I needed! Bravo – showing exceptionally – though maybe that’s the weather too!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Domaine Faiveley, Nuits St.Georges 1er Aux Chaignots
A wine that’s starting to show some maturity of colour. Ooh! What a nose! Complex, inviting, incredibly attractive spiced fruit. In the mouth there is much that reflects the nose – this wine is showing in such a flamboyant way today! Great energy blends with delicious complexity – it’s got so much more interest than the grand cru that it sits next to. Downright great wine today – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

My, my – I’m so enjoying 2010s right now!

Brilliant for the vintage

I’m not convinced…

2013 Arnaud Ente, Meursault
I tasted this blind. So fresh – both aromatically and in the mouth – like a spear of flavour. I decided it must be 2014 or 2017 from this profile, but there was also a twist of the spiced sun – could it be 2015? I’d already seen the big blue wax top so had Ente in mind, so really thought that he could produce a 15 like that – no I decided to stay with 2014 because I felt that there was a bit of age to this wine. It turned out to be 2013 – so young for that, but now that little extra ripeness makes sense even if it didn’t recall apricot – simply a great 2013!
Rebuy – Yes

2016 Georges Noellat, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Beaux Monts
Also tasted blind. A silky nose – with a bit of drive – yet also relatively compact. The last drops in the glass showing a volatile balsamic note. In the mouth, this is like the nose – drive to the flavour, relatively narrow – very good texture but no finish to write home about, not much oak showing though. My guess was 2016 – for the combination of concentration and depth of young colour – Côte de Nuits, quite well made – but probably a Bourgogne given the short finish. I was quite shocked when revealed.
Rebuy – No

Despite the hype over this domaine, I’ve not visited Maxime Cheurlin very often at Georges Noellat, despite liking both him and his dog! The main reasons are; 1) I find the wines in elevage too oaky for my palate and 2) given the very long elevage, my normal tasting time simply doesn’t suit evaluating the wines at that time – gas, oak, reduction – you name it. For those reasons I never found a lot of interest in the wines, though bottled wines tasted with him have always been lovely – but this wasn’t and it certainly didn’t warrant the tariff. I offered two different (good!) winemakers the chance to taste the wine – both thought a little volatile, one opined a Bourgogne, the other ‘possibly’ villages – both, like me, got the vintage.

Roumier Bonnes-Mares

A quiet night out in Beaune:

2017 Jean Chartron, Bourgogne Chardonnay Clos de la Combe
A precise and perfect example of how good 2017 can be. A nose of fine and inviting limestone citrus. A palate of drive and energy – mineral but zero harshhness – salivating, mouth-watering for the next sip – the bottle was gone in short order. Simply excllent wine!
Rebuy – Yes

2014 Cécile Tremblay, Bourgogne La Croix Blanche
Plenty of colour. A wild nose – almost textured with whole-clusters and still some reduction. The palate is just the same – more rasping texture and an unswerving, never diminishing reduction – a wine that’s certainly showing some rusticity of texture today, too. This was essentially a wine that I enjoyed without ever admiring. My experience of such wines is that they will be super in 5 or 6 years but for now, perhaps, I’d look elsewhere.
Rebuy – Maybe

2000 G Roumier, Bonnes-Mares
Faintly animale, a nose with lively freshness, and a growing complexity of dried fruits – on one hand, a little tight but on the other, such an invitation to drink. Bright, pure, dynamic, vibrating with saline, complexly fruited flavour. This could be greater, but not massively – it’s still very much a baby. Great wine that you would never ‘pin’ as 2000, such is the clarity with which the flavour is delivered, but I’d wait 5 years for another – unless forced…
Rebuy – Yes