I missed telling you about a couple of nice ones at the weekend:

2017 Roland Lavantureux, Chablis Vauprin
Plenty of colour here but there’s not even a hint of anything oxidative. Broad and fresh with a little caramel padding – the oak is still visible in this one. In the mouth – who switched all the lights on?! – such energy and fine architectural shape – then there’s the delicious flavour. As a purist, I should discount this wine because, like the nose, it still has some barrel caramel in the flavours – but it’s just so damn delicious. And hey presto – the bottle was empty – how did that happen?
Rebuy – Yes

2008 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Corton Clos du Roi
I think this is the last bottle from a mixed case of 2008s that I bought at the domaine about 10-12 years ago.
Medium colour. What an elegant, nay, beautiful nose! So perfumed. In the mouth there’s some fat – I’d go as far as to say generosity – and beautifully perfumed flavour. Blind, I don’t think that I’d ever guess this the be a 2008 – bravo – finesse personified!
Rebuy – Yes

Leftover boiled ham joint, diced and added to a fresh risotto – yes!

2018 François Gaunoux, Meursault Le Clos de Tavaux
Cork-sealed. A young colour with plenty of aromatic freshness. In the mouth, this is young – slightly structural – a good sign in this high volume vintage. Tatsy wine with fresh structure and just enough intensity. I think it will only get better if the cork plays along…
Rebuy – Yes

1984 Pierre Guillemot, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Serpentières
I tasted at the domaine on Tuesday, and when we had finished the range of 2021s, Vincent Guillemot pulled out a blind wine: Forward, in fact amazingly forward underbrush / sous-bois aromas, almost a cep-mushroom complexity to this but ultra-clean too – wow! If I’d been poured this wine blind in a restaurant and was told it was a 1970s La Tâche I’d have simply said thankyou! Vincent was making a point that the early commentary on 2021 was not that favourable – but only from people who had not tasted any wines! He didn’t tell me the vintage – I guessed that it was a wine from the mid-80s but not 85 as that vintage has a more obvious ripeness and ‘fat’ texture. I’d hardly ever tasted any decent 1984s so I guessed 1986! Not bad but still wrong. 1984 was a vintage with a lot of rot – but Vincent explained that his father had triaged this fruit to death – the result is in the bottle – bravo! When we parted he gave me the bottle to drink at home – he’d used a Coravin at the domaine. Back in Bern:
Very clean colour though obviously with a little browning at the rim. A nose that was exactly as on Tuesday – you could smell this before the nose was in the glass – so clean, so complex – so large-scaled! In the mouth it’s broad and obviously fresh but not in a sharp way – just a way that brings mouth-watering energy. Deeply flavoured wine – that even the domestic management enjoyed – and she doesn’t like ‘old wine!’
Timeless, brilliant wine from a long forgotten ‘poor’ vintage!

1997 Bouchard Père, La Romanée
My last bottle, but what a way to go out!
Ooh – that’s a beautiful nose – reeling me in with complexity. Mouth-filling – an extravaganza of flavour that’s even more punchy than the nose. A bottle about 5 years ago was still showing some youth – this much less so – but the bones of fine structure remain as does its freshness and seemingly endless, ravishing, finish. Captivating is a word that could have been coined to describe this wine – its actual age and vintage seem immaterial – it is (was!) simply a great wine. Bravo!
Rebuy – No Chance

Three very easy winners this weekend!

2020 Thivin, Côte de Brouilly Clos Bertrand
A deep nose, a wide nose, of pure dark fruit. I like this shape, direct in style but with fine texture and depth to its pure fruit – delicious!
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Thibert, Pouilly-Vinzelles Les Longeays
Broad, properly fresh but still ripe yellow citrus – faintly waxy. Mouth-filling, with just a little fat to this but it’s another wine with a fine, silky, texture. A width of beautiful, pure, clinging on for life, ripe citrus for a finish. Certainly a little padding but, frankly, ultra-delicious wine that just hints of the minerality to come with a couple more years in the cellar.
Rebuy – Yes

2019 Dominique Gallois, Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes
Dark colour. A sweet core of dark fruited aroma, perfumed too. Mouth-filling, structural yet beautifully fluid despite a couple of mm of cushioning, indeed quite direct shaped. Juicy, long, silky, intense – slightly old-vine creamy in the finish. Fabulous.
Rebuy – Yes

Week 43, 2022 – already! And you can see that my cold has improved – right? 🙂

2017 Domaine Verret, Bourgogne Côte d’Auxerre Les Gaudiers
Young colour. A nose that is incisive to start but still shows plenty of creamy oak in the background. Just as incisive in the mouth – this has a great structural shape, intensity and concentration of lemon-citrus fruit – but again a lot of creamy, almost vanilla oak which seems to add excessive sweetness. A wine that’s seriously great in parts but, too much, resembles a lemon pie with too much creamy vanilla – in my glass, anyway – normally, I don’t decline lemon pie!
Rebuy – No

2019 Berthaut-Gerbet, Vosne-Romanée
Such depth of colour! This nose is deeply, darkly, red-fruited, but with such fine purity to that fruit. Supple, perhaps with a couple of millimetres of cushion to the silky flavours. Sweetly ripe but not in the ‘make-up’ style of the Verret. Very modest bitters in this finish but no overt tannin – just a silky texture. A wine that adds dimensions as it warms and takes in air in your glass. Far too easy to drink for such a baby and just beautifully proportioned.
Rebuy – Yes

Disappointingly, I’m at home this week*: A cold that developed over the weekend has left me coughing like a horse – not a good look while trying to taste wines retailing for $1,000 a bottle – even when triple-negative tested! Only about 15 domaine visits to be rescheduled – I think I’ll probably be fit (and presentable!) to taste again by Friday.

But before I started losing any of my senses, there were two nice bottles at the weekend:

2016 Château Bonnet, Juliénas
Broad and exciting aromas – faintly with some development but that characteristic oxidative note of gamay/Beaujolais – like Marsala – is hardly yet evident. Broad, great energy and long finishing make this wine completely delicious. Despite not being anywhere like fully mature I’d still say à point!
Rebuy – Yes

2018 Maison Harbour, Santenay 1er Les Gravières Blanc
Hmm – here’s a generous, clean and attractive nose – a fine invitation. Mouth-filling, structural but also generously flavoured – there’s so much packed into this wine. Long, energetic and concentrated – large-scaled but never wearing. The second completely delicious wine of the weekend!
Rebuy – Yes

*Still, it means that I’m catching up on writing visit reports – 5 done today!

As Dan and Mike, in the comments, were interested. Here are some notes from a previous post plus some other bottles too:

2019 Berthaut-Gerbet, Bourgogne Hautes Côted de Nuits
Medium-plus colour. Perfumed with dark-red fruit. Nicely sweeping lines from this middle-weight wine, a wine that was drunk in one evening – elegant and pure. it really hit the spot
Rebuy – Yes

1993 Comtes Lafon, Volnay 1er Santenots de Milieu
A cork that came out like the wine was just 2 years old – a loud ‘pop!’
A wide, structural, interesting and super-clean nose. Like the nose a structural wine, wiry, some minerality here too. Just a little austere but beautifully boned – I wouldn’t hesitate waiting 2-3 more years for this, I have the feeling it’s not going anywhere fast!
Rebuy – Maybe

1999 Marquis d’Angerville, Volnay 1er Fremiet
Here the nose is showing some leathery characteristics – it’s not got the Volnay purity that I like. On the palate, however, this is lovely; more floral and elegant than the Lafon and simply delicious today – its structure is less obviously visible. Delicious but not the best aromatic.
Rebuy – Maybe

2018 Charles Lachaux, Vosne-Romanée
The current pricing of these wines is eye-watering but we took this from a wine list and tried to keep an open mind. We were rewarded!
Very modest colour – it could be a 2017. Aromatically captivating! What a fabulous and elegant, frankly ethereal, perfume – yes! It’s the same on the palate too – ethereal, intoxicatingly perfumed, elegant wine. It transcends AOC – it doesn’t have the weight or concentration of a grand cru but most grand crus don’t satisfy as this wine did – a little marvel!
Rebuy – I wish!

1986 Romanée-Conti, Grands-Echézeaux
The cork came out in one – not bad with this age!
Another wine with super perfume – more complex and more rugged than the Lachaux – but doesn’t quite transport you to another dimension like that wine. In the mouth, this is an old lady – all in place, easy to drink – not special (like the nose) just a fine and satisfying drink. On its way down, I think, but still very good.
Rebuy – no, it’s no-longer worth the tariff

2001 Georges Mugneret, Clos de Vougeot
I bought three of these on release. The first I opened about 5 years ago and it wasn’t a very interesting bottle. Has 5 more years made a difference?
Not a forceful nose but one with some pretty floral elegance. The flavour profile is similarly floral; the structure present though modest for a Clos de Vougeot. Not an amazing grand cru but certainly a delicious wine!
Rebuy – Maybe

2001 Louis Jadot, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
Like the previous wine, my last one of these was unsatisfying – in this case seemingly muddied and bretty – this was altogether better.
Airy, partly floral – good complexity with plenty of maturity starting to show. Engaging, open wine. Like the Mugneret a 2001 that’s very much on the elegant scale but delivers satisfying complexity, texture and length. That’s a lovely wine – I have much more hope for my remaining bottles.
Rebuy – Yes

2019 Françoise Andre, Corton-Charlemagne
A little on the young side – both aromatically and from the flavour perspective – just a little tight. Yet, engaging and fun to drink, all the same. The finish impresses. To see again but very good.
Rebuy – Maybe

2x 2017 Chablis
Great to compare and contrast the VV from Gilbert Picq with the wine of Laurent Tribut:
The Picq, as most of my wines from them, is just a bit young and tight – I feel the shape and love the clarity but a wine to be more patient with than the example that I set. To the contrary, Tribut’s wines often seem to have that little extra pizzaz at the same stage – maybe the lack of (stated!) VV in this case – but here’s a wine that is already drinking deliciously; structural and deliciously mouthwatering. For a villages – absolute class.
Rebuy – yes, one to keep and one to drink

2017-2019 Coche-Dury, Meursault
Not everyday drinking, for sure, but with occasional friends in town and a restaurant that sells locally for about 25% of retail, there are some opportunities here 😉
The first I tasted was the 2018; clearly a good wine, in fact a very good wine, but I didn’t really see the Coche-ness with this one. Delicious but a hard sell even at this price. No problem, a couple of weeks later it was sold out! So then came the 2019 – and wow! This is a beauty, subtly rippling muscle and signature reductive elements – now we are talking. But given that my acquaintances had drunk too many bottles of this, our host has removed it from the wine-list, worried that it will be sold out long before it is possible replenish stocks with the 2020s. However! They had done similar with 2017 and there is still some of this, only for an increased tariff, now €300! I can honestly say that this is also the real deal – precise and very Coche. Another beauty.
Rebuy? – I’d happily drink any of them but I’d only buy 2 of them!

2019 Jeremy Recchione, l’Ambroise
An interesting assemblage of aligoté and gamay (70%). Zero added sulfur
Still plenty of colour. A nose that’s not the height of interest but still intriguing. In the mouth this is quite direct and has a flavour profile that’s hard to pin down. Drinkable for sure but just a little anonymous in style – and you know that burgundy addicts like to be able to put their finger on a map when it comes to wines.
Rebuy – No

2016 Maison Harbour, Gevrey-Chambertin La Justice
A nice wax top to this bottle – I know some buyers don’t like this – but I do 🙂
Relatively pale colour. The nose and flavours are hardly even those of middle-weights but the fragrance and perfume in the flavours is lovely. As the wine reacts to the air, structurally it becomes just a little jarring, structurally, in the middle and finishing flavours – a nod to the difficult 2016 vintage – but still great perfume.
Rebuy – No

That’s enough for now – but later today I’ve a 2016 Juliénas to check in on 😉