AKA – birthday weekend!

Not ridiculous wines, nor ridiculous quantities, but some great stuff nonetheless. And my best wine of the year – so far – so not bad! Friday night started with a ‘Charmes’ double-bill:

2015 Albert Joly, Puligny-Montrachet Les Charmes
Only a villages wine, but this vintage is terrific, and this particular cuvée has a dirty secret – but that’s why I like it so much! Given the name, it may come as no surprise that Puligny Charmes is contiguous with Meursault 1er Les Charmes. To me, blind, I would always call this out as Meursault – and a lovely one at that. It’s relatively a great price versus the neighbour over the commune boundary and is just so delicious…
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Alex Gambal, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes (Mag)
I bought 2 of these – and two Amoureuses too – this the first to be opened. This is simply great wine.
Relatively still a young nose but floral and inviting, classic Chambolle. The palate has presence, clarity, wiry muscle and is delicious – if still quite a youngster. Simply excellent.
Rebuy – Yes

On Saturday night the Bollinger was excellent – and quite young tasting for an 1829… There followed a very good Bouillot crémant at the restaurant – currently my favourite in Beaune – La Superb. I tried for the Le Relais de Saulx but it was booked up more than 1 month ahead of time! We came home after a fine meal and I opened just the one bottle – despite a Liger-Belair Echézeaux and a Potel Chambertin lying in wait – they will get their time in the sun – but the Leroy was simply other-worldly!

1999 Domaine Leroy, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Narbantons
There was a time when this wine was almost affordable – though this still cost the same £40 en-primeur in the UK as the Engel Grands-Echezeaux. I assume that you have to pay at least 10 times more today – maybe 20(?) I compared those two, maybe 8-9 years ago and slightly preferred the Leroy over the Engel. But age has accelerated this wine into the stratosphere:
​A long cork – damp and red – wine-soaked through its considerable length. Deep, enveloping nose of dark, sweet, sous bois, tobacco, smoky mushroom, blackberry with cream – all in all very special! I’m not really the the type of taster who likes to list adjectives – but this wine forces you… In the mouth fine freshness, lots of intensity of flavour – young flavour, but super, super flavour, the stems on both the nose and palate bringing an unusual sweetness and roundness to the aroma and flavour. Mega wine, only a hint more length away from trouncing many Vosne grand crus in every possible dimension…
Special…

Pierre Vincent at Domaine Leflaive.

Tasting 2016s this morning, there was this chance to see what a whole hectare of Montrachet delivered in 2016 – due of-course to the frost of 27 April. Six producers assembled all their grapes from 1 hectare of vines so there was enough to vinify. Here, in the second part of elevage, they are packed into two stainless-steel tanks that total 530 litres – 5 hectolitres per hectare – so half a litre per square metre. From the 2017 vintage, Leflaive alone have almost the same volume of wine, packed into in a single bespoke barrel.

Notes in the October Burgundy Report, but the tanks of Montrachet weren’t being opened – Pierre would have needed six signatures 🙂

2015 François Mikulski, Meursault 1er Caillerets
A deep and, of course, young colour. The nose is of simmering blueberry – it’s certainly enticing! The palate starts slow and narrow, getting wider and wider, slowly wider. A little fine-grained tannin and flavour leaching from your gums. There is so much more about this wine than the easy, accessible, delicious flavour – beautiful mid-palate structure and definition – but for today the flavour is very much enough…
Rebuy – Yes

2015 François Mikulski, Meursault 1er Poruzots
Wide and fresh nose, faintly toasty, more faintly and classically ginger-spiced. Nice volume on the mouth, just a little structure followed by a good burst of fresh complexity with mixed citrus before the finish. The finish has sweetness and a good weight. A fine drink with lots to enjoy, just a twist more energy would have made it even greater!
Rebuy – Yes

For anyone who follows the tastings – or rather the successful wines – of the Tastevinage, the results of last Friday’s tastings are now available online.

You can find them here.

2002 Louis Jadot, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Petits Monts
Hmm – great aromatic volume here – obviously Vosne-spiced too. Supple concentration in the mouth, still a little tannic texture – good volume too – not pinched by any age or any tightness. Nicely finishing if now showing a more modest width. Tasty, moreish wine – Yum! Jacques Lardière once told me that he thought Petits Monts a ‘second division’ Vosne 1er – regardless – he did a great job here!
Rebuy – Yes

2000 de la Vougeraie, Clos de Vougeot
Medium-plus colour, with certainly some maturity of colour. The nose starts with a deep and earthy oak impression – this could have been reduction but it it was stable – it has the slightest cigarette ash impression – just falling short of too much though. It’s rather a complex and sweet nose for all that. Very nice volume in the mouth without any overt fat – this is structural and alive, lovely waves of acid-led flavour with still just a hint of finishing bitters. There is enough sweetness here to counter the acidity and leave something that is super-tasty – almost completely delicious. I’m torn between admiring and enjoying this wine – it’s a super 2000 and not fully mature. Easy to enjoy…
Rebuy – Yes

I felt fortunate at the time in managing to secure a mixed case from David from this, his last vintage – I think Berry Bros. bought-out just about his whole production! This is the first from that case, a mixed pack of 4 of these and 4 each of his Morey St.Denis and his Vosne-Romanée. There was one sacrifice that David had to make when selling his domaine to Yann Charlopin, it meant that the elevage for his 2012s needed to be a little shorter than for his other vintages…

2012 David Clark, Côte de Nuits Villages Vieilles-Vignes
Medium color. The nose of this 2012 CDN has pretty red fruits and even prettier floral notes. A sleek wine, rather than a big wine. It really has a floral perfume in the mouth too – with beautiful purity – though also lots of frank acidity. I like acidity and I like this wine very much, but I know plenty of people who would find this a little too much – though it’s not aggressive. The finish is still a little young – here the structure has to soften – hopefully that beautiful aroma and flavour won’t be sacrificed in the meantime. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

I suppose that given the title, you might be forgiven for assuming that sub-title could be ‘A Las Vegas Wedding!’

Boringly, this is actually about wine, but certainly not about boring wines…

1959 Maison Roger Moreau, Gevrey-Chambertin “Clos Saint Jacques”
I bought a few of these at an auction in Switzerland – maybe 10 years-or-so ago. What can we make of the label? There’s no mention of 1er crus, and only ‘Gevrey-Chambertin Appellation Contrôlée’ though on separate lines. So it could easily be a villages Gevrey with a (not allowed) cuvée/brand name of CSJ – or it could actually be a Clos Saint Jacques – I will never know…
The nose starts with a note that makes me think ‘corked’ but it gets cleaner and cleaner, despite a little bloody iron and balsamic. With air the nose also offers flashes of beautiful florals – not enough for my taste – but sometimes – you never know what you’re going to get. The palate has weight, concentration and plenty of sweetness. It’s tasty enough, if never quite as nice as the (more and more) excellent nose – yet it’s a wine that’s very easy to take another glass – and I do! First question: Is it a real 1959? The weight and bulky sweetness, plus the lack of overt acidity are consistent with other wines from that vintage. Is it Clos Saint Jacques – well that’s anybody’s guess, but it’s holding up in excellent fashion – certainly more than you would expect from a villages wine – real or adulterated!

2015 Louis Jadot, Bourgogne Chardonnay
On 33% discount in my local co-op, so a logical choice at only 10.95 Swiss francs! DIAM sealed.
The first whiffs of aroma are classically, clichéd white burgundy; a toasty depth with a little side-plate of melted butter – time adding some weighty, ripe fruit – papya-style. Cold from the fridge this is both delicious and textured like silk. Some weight of modestly fat flavour but with fine balance – but only so long as keep it cool – not so much of a worry now we’re heading into the Autumn. Delicious wine for the price – really – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes