A weekend in the mountains – plus some clear ‘wine-joy.’

2010 Francois Mikulski, Meursault 1er Charmes
I’ve never yet had a problem, but I see reports of advanced bottles from François – which is a shame because I love both the man and his wines – but this was in fine shape. A fresh wine of line and intensity with a rather classic, faintly gingerbread nose. The finish edged with a little salinity – it just drank beautifully – yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2009 Patrice Rion, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
Deep of colour, deep of nose… The aromas are dark-fruited, faintly oak-spiced but with sumptuous fruit and a suggestion of florality. In the mouth there’s real presence – concentration and very fine texture. Yum-flavoured with some modest spicy, faintly bitter oak artefacts – but really nothing of concern. A lovely bottle.
Rebuy – Yes

2001 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Corton-Charlemagne
Ouf – this is good! A floral note twists through complex aromatics that mix citrus fruit, a hint of secondary development and some salinity. Really plenty of concentration and fat in the mouth – and I normally consider this to be one of the more direct Charlemagnes – with fine balance and just a fabulous mid-palate and finishing complexity. This really is one of the best whites I’ve drunk for a long time – Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes – like a shot!

1993 Louis Jadot, Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos des Corvées
Ouf – again! A clarion of gorgeous, dark fruit – cherry – that slowly melts into a floor of dried leaves – just a beauty. In the mouth it’s a super wine with (today!) only modest tannic structure. It’s lithe, complex and oh-so-tasty – the palate is almost as good as the nose – and that’s saying something! Young, but ‘ready’ – great!
Rebuy – Yes

2011 Au Pied de Mont Chauve, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Vergers
A barbecue in the mountains – this bottle kept cool by burying it in the snow – let’s be honest – almost anything would have been good in this context. Yet this is a beautifully put together wine of fine aromatic, and a balanced palate with concentrated waves of fine flavour. I won’t aggrandise my recollection further as we certainly weren’t using tasting glasses – but a resounding ‘yum’ came from all who partook…
Rebuy – Yes

Belated, I know – but places to go, people to see – et-cetera 😉
It was a long-weekend, with an added Monday – so an extra bottle or two….

Louis Picamelot, Crémant de Bourgogne Les Terroirs
I love their blanc de blancs, but the shop had run out! This started in very anonymous fashion – okay, but certainly not special. With time in the glass it took on a little more interest – never anything particularly wrong with the wine, but completely un-involving. Some way behind the very fine BdB…
Rebuy – No

2013 Alain Geoffroy, Chablis 1er Beauroy
A bright wine – indeed quite perky aromatically and on the tongue too. A certain extra vintage sweetness, but no overt apricot or anything like that. It drank well for its modest price.
Rebuy – Yes

2013 Françoise André, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Vergelesses
Super wine. The nose is fine – not amazing, but fine. In the mouth there’s fine intensity, balance and freshness, but really the mid-palate to the finish are very distinguished indeed – a super, layered delivery of finishing flavour. Super wine. And with quite a few tartrate crystals left on the inside of this empty bottle too.
Rebuy – Yes

2013 des Chezeaux, Gevrey-Chambertin Clos des Chezeaux
Their 13 Lavaux was dark, very impressive wine. Their 13 Cazetiers was much lighter – good but a little modest for such a cru. Here we are back to deeply coloured wine with lots of interesting flavour dimension. Very good wine here – the nose has something a little powdery about the fruit, but half an hour after opening that’s fading in the memory. Very good!
Rebuy – Yes

2000 Louis Jadot, Beaune 1er Clos des Ursules
This must be about the 7th or 8th bottle from a full case – like all the others, this has a modest intensity but a far from modest complexity and overall drinkability. Lovely wine – also a better showing than the recent 2000 Clos des Lambrays…
Rebuy – Yes

2012 du Pavillon, Pommard 1er Les Rugiens
Ouf! Plenty of vanilla oak on the nose, likewise the palate too – I honestly can’t drink this when first opened – I leave it to ‘improve’ for 24 hours(!) The nose still has plenty of vanilla, but on a slightly lower order. The palate is also less overtly oaked, with a superb silky texture and really wonderful, palpable density of flavour. Potentially great wine this – but I must remember not to open another during the next 10 years.
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Mugneret-Gibourg, Bourgogne
The nose on this is a bit muddled to start with – but no worries – within about 1 hour, this is simply gorgeous; a fine, clarion-call of beautiful fruit. Medium bodied, but very finely put together. This is drinking superbly well right now – it just needs a little when first opening.
Rebuy – Yes

2013 des Chezeaux, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Cazetiers
Versus the recent 13 Lavaux of this domaine, this has more modest, medium, medium-plus colour. The nose starts rather undemonstrative and with a faintly toasted reduction. This cleans-up its act in the glass, becoming perfectly clean with a deep well of faint fruit but the top notes are very tight. After the nose, this is such a surprise in the mouth; super-open with ebullient, beautiful dark fruit – almost a blueberry and cherry blend – non-standard for sure, but utterly delicious. Clean, refreshing lines, you will have to dig hard to find the tannin. Silky, super-tasty wine, and roll it around over your palate and you will be treated to a fine finish – otherwise this an up-front, delicious wine that will comfort, rather than challenge you – today! Really super-yum.
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Albert Boillot, Volnay Les Petits Poisots
Medium, medium-plus colour. A lovely, fresh, silky, herbed but fine red-fruited nose – this is very attractive. Fresh and wide across the palate. Good complexity of dark-red fruit, very faintly accented with spice. Like the nose, there’s a little herb in the mid-palate, almost a suggestion of bitterness – but bitter-chocolate style, not a negative. Fresh and nicely finishing. Simply a tasty wine.
Rebuy – Yes