Still a deep and young looking ruby colour. The nose is a simply gorgeous blend of predominantly raspberry fruit plus other red berries and cherries. On release I remember this wine to be quite unforgiving and a bit acidic, 4 years has worked a little magic and the palate is now quite fat with lovely cherry fruit. Perhaps there’s still a slightly harsh edge to the acidity – which is not unlike many 1996’s today – but this certainly improved with aeration. Still a young and very classy wine, reminds me of a very good premier cru Savigny.
Regional
1998 de Villaine A&P Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise La Digoine
Light ruby with definite hints of maturity – looks quite ‘fragile’ in the glass. The nose is relatively muted with strawberries and raspberries pushing through the undergrowth. The palate is a lovely thick and sweet thing with red berry fruits dominating. Perfect acidity and almost resolved tannin. This wine is only spoiled by a slight bitterness to the palate. Starting to drink nicely now, hopefully the bitterness will diminish, though to be fair it’s much less obvious with food.
1999 Laurent Dominique Bourgogne Rouge No.1
Deep ruby with a cherry edge – this wine has the depth of colour you would expect from a much higher appelation. The nose starts with toasted oak and an almost ‘corky’ note. Given 20 minutes aeration, fortunately the corky note disappears along with much of the oak. What remains is a burnt wood note, a little spice, perhaps cinnamon and resin. Eventually there is also a cooked red fruit note. The palate is certainly quite concentrated with reasonable acidity and very good, fine tannins. At the moment it’s certainly quite hard to get at the fruit due to the wood induced structure. A wine that has been made in a very serious and expensive way, possibly a match for many village wines. I’d say this needs at least 4-5 years to reduce the impact of the wood – should be very interesting to see what the result is.
1999 Barthod Ghislaine Bourgogne Rouge
2000 Potel Nicolas Bourgogne Rouge 'Maison Dieu' Vieilles Vignes
2001 Fornerol Didier Bourgogne Rouge
2000 Gallois Dominique Bourgogne Rouge
Similar depth of colour to the Drouhin wine, though shaded to ruby. The nose is cherry and raspberry with just a hint of turned earth. The palate shows black and red berried fruits. Dood acidity and smooth tannins. Nice length to the finish. Similar softness to the Drouhin, though with a touch more concentration. A good wine.