Lovely red berry nose, though slightly ‘spikey’. The palate is relatively sweet with a nice depth of fruit. Good, though slightly tart acidity. A little rustic but still worth leaving for a while. Good
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Villages
1997 Dugat-Py Bernard Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles
1999 Potel Nicolas Côte de Nuits Villages Vieilles Vignes
Medium-plus ruby colur, still showing a little cherry at the rim. The nose shows deep notes with coffee and cherry tart, higher up redcurrants and raspberry. Excellent acidity coupled with mainly red fruit. The tannins are still a little grainy but this is already a lovely drink, the concentration shows that there is no rush though.
1997 Potel Nicolas Volnay Vieilles Vignes
1998 de Villaine A&P Mercurey Les Montots
Mr DRC himself from his private estate. Medium ruby colour, slightly browner at the rim. Nose for the first few moments has some oak, but this is quickly gone, replaced by very strong fruit, black rather than red, with some blueberry. The palate is sweet with great cherry & damson fruit. Good but a tad harsh acidity coupled with nice length. The tannins suggest that I’m drinking this far too young. Given the piercing fruit on both the nose and palate, I’d suggest this is fine rather than merely good, but wait at least 3 years to re-taste.
1998 Mortet Denis Gevrey-Chambertin
Dark garnet/purple. Very toasty oak nose (oh dear!) – I can’t really get past this. Soft and supple in the mouth, despite being quite dense. Straight from the bottle this is deeply disappointing to me, there seems to be balance of acidity and tannin, apparently with some fruit too, but I can’t get at it for the wood. One hour (of occasional swirling) later, the nose is starting to exhibit the creaminess of French oak – more wood, but at least it’s becoming more subtle! I’m also starting to pick up black cherry. As we move on to the 3 hour mark, there is a transition through ‘real toast’ smells to something much more opulent and interesting. So after 24 hours under vacuvin we are starting to get somewhere; the oak is just in the background now, black cherry and even blackcurrant, a little spice and the smell of soil. Palate is still nice and supple, but the acidity seems a bit more aggressive. Very long creamy oak finish. This wine has excellent potential, though I won’t try another for at least 3 years, and it’s likely I’ll still have to decant a couple of hours before consuming.
1997 Jadot Louis Gevrey-Chambertin
Medium-full ruby. A deeper toasted oak nose and dare I say it slightly shitty aromas. There is a little sweet spice, but the wood is in charge here. 5 hours later the wood is gone leaving pretty black cherry fruit. The palate has more depth with high, though more controlled acidity than the Pommard, and the fruit is more black cherry. Length is good. More intense than the Pommard today, but younger – leave for another 2 years.
1998 Mortet Denis Gevrey-Chambertin En Motrot
Dark garnet/purple, subtly darker than the the base villages wine. Again toasty oak on the nose but a little less pronounced with black cherries in the mix. The acidity is more pronounced than the above, with black cherry again on the finish. After an hour of swirling (as above) the toasty oak seems more persistent than on the ‘basic’ G-C, and is ‘lighter’ in the mouth. After 3 hours we have lost most of the ‘toast’ and have a more silky mouthfeel than the ‘basic’. Okay, moving on 24 hours (under vacuvin) the oak has not been subdued quite to the same extent as the ‘basic’ but is now (to me) ‘acceptable’. The nose has less blackcurrant aspect than the ‘basic’, otherwise it seems a little more concentrated with some liquorice hints. The palate is smoother with better integration of the acid. The finish is long and mainly fruit driven rather than creamy oak. Now it’s really an excellent wine. I don’t have any more of these, though would wait a similar time to re-test if I had.
1997 Jadot Louis Pommard
Medium ruby colour, already turning brick at the rim. The nose is all high toast oak for the first 15 minutes, gradually turning sweet, completely fading after 4-5 hours to reveal cooking dark plum notes. The palate has high acidity and a little tannin. Fruit is of medium intensity, but the acidity, which just avoids coarseness makes for a burst on the finish. Medium length. Very good for the vintage and with a strong hard cheese like Comte, the acidity is perfectly balanced.