Time is running – week 30 already. The weekend wines were all very worthy, fortunately:

2018 C&F Gueguen, Chablis 1er Vaucoupin
Open, and easy aromas – I think I may guess Chablis blind. In the mouth similar – a certain fluidity if concentration – but the extra 1er cru depth is sufficiently evident for the label. This is a wine that drinks very easily – it’s not demanding – bit it IS delicious – yum!
Rebuy – Maybe

2019 Berthaut-Gerbet, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Plantes
Not a commonly seen 1er but here is a very impressive invitation to drink – the aromas flex their muscle but with elegance and depth – very lovely. Sweetness of clean, balanced fruit, some barrel sweetness but that fades with plenty of air. Broad, fine and intense too – and simply lovely texture. This is very fine – and drinking very well already – I love 2019!
Rebuy – Yes

2021 Julien Brocard, Chablis Boissonneuse
My first from this 7(!)-pack.
Like another recent 2021, both the amount of colour and ripe concentration is obvious – yet, so is the fresh energy and juicy, delicious drinkability. Clasically Chablis and wonderfully delicious – more oomph than the 2018 1er above – a great villages.
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Camille Giroud, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Peuillets
I have quite a few vintages of this cuvée – I should start looking at them in a more serious manner!
Modest colour in our modern context but really without overt age. The nose is broad and faintly (warm-)spiced with a roundness to the red fruit – not overtly anything of age. Like most 2010s a juicy, mouthwatering fluidity over the palate that is just so satisfying. Versus 2010s from more renowned appellations, this has just a hint of austerity – call it a certain strictness. But the lip-smacking clean lines and still very modestly bitter bass-line in the finish has you searching for the next sip. That’s a very fine Savigny.
Rebuy – Maybe

The Dönnhoff has always been very tasty, moreish wine – actually a bit too sweet – but that doesn’t seem to slow us down drinking it 😉

2019 Zito, Gamay Noir
When I recently visited Bernard Zito, just as I was leaving he put this in my hands and said – tell me what you think. Apparently, it’s a blend of gamay from Beaujolais (Côte de Brouilly), Mâconnais and Côte d’Or.
I love 2019 Beaujolais so it was hardly a surprise that I was going to love this too – the nose is very aromatic and floral-infused – give it enough air and there’s a hint more structure and a slightly graphite-style minerality. In the mouth this has volume and energy – it’s completely delicious – full of crunchy red and darker-red fruit. Joyous wine!
Rebuy – Yes

2021 Gautheron, Chablis Emeraude
My first from a dozen purchased.
Plenty of colour – more yellow than green. There’s plenty of weight, indeed concentration to this wine – ripe fruit but still with all the requisite energy and chiselled style that marks it out as Chablis – it’s delicious too!
Rebuy – Yes

Or maybe I should have said Prehy, in Chablis – but the family, and, of course, the vines are from Irancy. Brice’s father was one of the first in the village to change to organic farming. These wines were bottled at the start of November and contain only pinot:

2021 Irancy Paradis
A modest red colour. Old vines next to Mazelots – all pinot fin. Almost a small smoky note of tobacco to this nose. Nice shape in the mouth – juiciness of red fruit – just enough ripeness. The last drops are almost a little juicy, creamy, peach in the finish.
Rebuy – Maybe

2021 Irancy Mazelots
Younger colour and a little more colour too. A more vibrant nose – seemingly quite silky too. Hmm – texturally lovely – width and velour. The fruit with a small creamy cushion – it’s from an old demi-muid. This is delicious, impressive wine – very lovely in this difficult vintage.
Rebuy – Yes

It was already week 28 2023!

The weather was warm so it was no surprise that the accent was heavily white:

2016 François Buisson (Buisson-Battault), Bourgogne Chardonnay
Always a winner – the recent tasting of his 2022 showed a winner too. You will think that you have Meursault in your glass – only when you compare to an actual Meursault, particularly from François, will you see that there is more headroom. Drinking excellently and still very young.
Rebuy – Yes

1995 Germain (Chateau de Chorey-lès-Beaune), Beaune 1er Les Cras
There’s some green, quite texturally green, on this nose – not pyrazine, rather ‘less ripe’ tannin – it’s like you can smell the tannins before you taste them! Then you, of course, you taste them! A wine that improves markedly with plenty of air – more than 1 hour – though it’s clearly wine from a different generation. Actually, this wine got better over a period of 3 days – until it was gone. A slightly masochistic pleasure but my pleasure all the same!
Rebuy – Probably not…

2017 Thibert, Pouilly-Fuissé Vignes Blanches
What an inviting nose! Wide, cool, and with the impression of minerality – something that’s amply delivered in the flavours. Clean-cut, precise with fine flavour depth and it’s absolutely delicious – that’s a great Pouilly!
Rebuy – Oh yes!

2020 Alain Geoffroy, Chablis 1er Beauroy
There’s plenty of colour to this wine. Aromatically, my nose is anticipating a little of the vintage green – but today I don’t find any – rather a richness and even slight sweetness of aroma. In the mouth this has good energy and even a hint of richness for Beauroy. Just a very good and tasty wine.
Rebuy – Maybe

Great, good or bad – I feel I’d be wasting this bottle by putting it in a blind line-up…

Referencing this recent post – there was a comment (and linked study) from reader, Siddharth Dasgupta – particularly relevant to the potential for inbuilt bias whilst tasting.

It’s something that you have to be aware of and I know I do sometimes find myself making apologies for small issues – relevant at the time of tasting – but perhaps not relevant in the context of an anticipated maturity window for wines of known (higher) potential at maturity – blind tasting is largely in the moment. So a few thoughts on my perspective:

Blind tasting has its place and it’s a great place for grounding – indeed challenging – your expectations but from my perspective, the whole idea of Burgundian hierarchies and appellations and climate and lieux-dits – not to mention the vintage effect – makes for the extra anticipation of drinking a Chambolle – or a Musigny! It is exactly this anticipation and how the wine compares to the construct that I have prepared in my mind for the wine and the vintage that is the most fascinating to me.

Of course, I may be more inclined to forgive some aspects of an expensive wine due to the reasoning cited above or I may be in another camp – one that will be less tolerant of issues – particularly outright faults – but it’s exactly this construct that can also highlight, indeed emphasise, my disappointments. Renown and your personal expectations can be a double-edged sword – and a sharp one at that!

Maybe my fortunate position as not just(!) a taster of thousands of wines per year – I like drinking them too! – gives me a different perspective to that of the average drinker – I’ve already tasted at more than 370 domaines since the 2022 harvest. But for me there’s even more pleasure and interest in comparing a wine with my expectations than the discovery of something blind – but both are important – it’s simply a question of the ratio of one to another.

Or how about coupling the two? – what about 20x Echézeaux from a single vintage? – That sounds good to me!

Feel free to ask – I may have some memory 😉

No ‘big guns’ but still some nice recent bottles to have graced my glass…

The levelling, or should that be the humbling, of blind tasting. Actually, no shame here, I simply (erroneously) assumed that all the wines were Burgundian!

I was just told they were 2021s, maybe with a 2020 and from village to GC level. My instant blind reactions:
1 bland nose, austere palate
2 nose only a bit better but with super middle and finishing flavour
3 similar to previous but with more intensity to the fine finish
4 paler, slightly bland perhaps as its oak is a bit more visible
5 aha – here’s the GC – the first with a quality and clarity to the nose and more depth of flavour with a superior finish
6 darker still – pungent but pyrazine green nose. In the mouth powerful, clearly the 2020 but too green for me – no!

You could say that I was surprised when the bottles were revealed as there were some wines not living up to their reputations. But mainly I was surprised because all – apart from the last – could have been 2021 burgundies!

It’s been a while since I introduced some real bottles to you – there have been many others of-course (below) – and, unfortunately, it will be short while before there will be more!

I now face two weeks of antibiotics due to tick-borne borreliosis – or Lyme disease. Fortunately, I don’t feel like I have any disease!

Amusingly, given that I spend so much time in the woods and hills on trails (jogging!) here was, it seems, a cat-borne tick to which I was introduced whilst sitting in the garden!

2016 Chablisienne / Château Grenouilles, Chablis-Grenouilles
A nose of waxy citrus – edged towards lemon – with an obvious mineral component too. In the mouth, we have a large-scale wine – generous to the point of rich – but silkily textured and sustaining a very long finish. I’d prefer less richness but it’s a very tasty wine all the same – as we could see by the lack of longevity for this (overly heavy!) bottle.
Rebuy – Maybe

2002 Nicolas Potel, Chambertin
Ah – remember the days? I tasted here pre-bottling and immediately placed an order: 6 Chambertin, 6 Malconsorts, 6 Petits Ponts, 6 Gaudichots and 12 Aloxe Boutières. Quite expensive I thought – at ~€1,500 – of course, that’s probably the price of just 3 Chambertin today! This, I think, the last of those 6. There may be a Gaudichots and a Malconsorts who survive – but probably not more…
Hmm – a nose to sink into – this Chambertin is ready! A round impression on the palate – depth and richness – quite a match with the Grenouilles! Tons of sweetness to this fruit and still framed with a tiny tannin – though most of the latter has clearly been transformed to sediment – or earth – as it’s quite granular. Such a delicious, wonderful smelling thing. A glass escaped outright (day 1) consumption to make it into day 2, where the aromas were less involving and more beefy – but the flavour retained its vigour and length. A super wine.
Rebuy – Yes

Some bottles of the last weeks where words escaped me 🙂