2002 Henri Latour, Auxey-Duresses 1er Les Grands-Champs
Just a lovely nose – some leafy development and a faintly spiced red fruit – this is very inviting indeed. In the mouth this lacks the width and richness of youth – it’s much more direct, yet not particularly strident. An easy, tasty-drinking wine – but don’t look for plush fruit any more.
Rebuy – Yes

2006 G&P Ravaut, Ladoix Les Carrières
Yum – directly this is really yum. The nose has just a little development but has width and dimension – plenty of complexity here – lovely. Unlike the Latour, here is still plenty of youthful richness – yet the wine is completely open and tasty – dark red fruit, good energy and a lovely lingering finish that is just faintly sweet. Lovely wine – seemingly already à point!
Rebuy – Yes

After a few disappointing wines, these two really bounced back to show what enjoying burgundies is all about. Certainly the best bourgogne blanc drunk this year too:

2002 Nicolas Potel, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Petits Monts
This starts tight, but the nose opens up with direct, fresh, red fruit and spice – very inviting. In the mouth, this is sleek, has fine direct flavour, very good energy and decent complexity – it’s a wine of muscle and latent structure – young but very satisfying indeed. Young but very drinkable today.
Rebuy – Yes

2008 Dublère, Bourgogne (Blanc) Les Millerands
Medium-plus colour. This has a big nose, very Chassagne in style, with a little oak and a backing of modest reduction too. Lovely weight and energy in the mouth – fine texture and complexity here, again with a faint but becoming reductive flavour – this is lovely and punches way above its label – better than many younger villages wines. I think this may be my last bottle, if so, what a shame! How every white burgundy should be, but so sadly, rarely is…
Rebuy – Yes

Let’s stick with Chambolle – here another 2007, but this time a 1er cru…

2007 Patrice Rion, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
Whilst there’s a strong whiff of oak-spice, this has a lovely, interesting and layered nose – nice. In the mouth this is far from overblown – a good line of fine fruit flavour – unfortunately for this wine, the finish is quite oaky, indeed it’s borderline harsh. I have more in the cellar so obviously hope that this comes around – apart from the harshness it reminds me of Comte Liger-Belair – but on the current showing I wouldn’t be a buyer…
Rebuy – Maybe

2004 Lignier-Michelot, Chambolle-Musigny Gammaires
A merchant wine from Lignier-Michelot. As in many, but not all, 2004s ‘the character’ is taking on a deeper, slightly mushroomy bloom – my tasting partner instantly says peanuts (they know nothing of burgundy wine or the vintage) – and you know(?) that’s the first time I’ve noted what other people suggest about peanuts, it really does have a peanut element. In the mouth the character is discreet and this wine has good energy and flavour. I wouldn’t buy any more for the cellar, but I can drink and quite enjoy it.
Rebuy – No

Yet another reason that Denis might not have time for me later in the year! The Bachelet’s storage, save for shipping to Switzerland in April/May was direct IB from en-primeur purchase, followed by my own passive cellar for the last 10 years, which very slowly cycles between 13-19°C depending on the highs or lows of the seasons.

1999 Denis Bachelet, Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes
Ouf – that’s strong! The nose that is, and of brett too – it’s not just strong, it’s a big shame. In the mouth this has quite fine flavour, but it’s nae-on impossible to enjoy a wine without actually sniffing said wine. I know that with brett, every bottle is likely to be different, but it seems I should drink these up ‘just in case…’
Rebuy – No

2007 Lignier-Michelot, Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles-Vignes
Hmm – this is a very butch nose, large-scaled, just a little oaky and round, but really not a pretty thing. In the mouth this is also large-scaled, but with darkly-sweet fruit and some real interest in the mouth. From a flavour perspective, whilst good, it’s less good than the Bachelet and whilst the aromas are far from tempting, I can forgive that as potentially just a ‘phase.’ Overall, whilst the flavour is not bad, it’s currently a poor advert for Chambolle.
Rebuy – No

Regarding the Bachelet, maybe there’s something to be said for the quality of modern, ‘light’ filtration. Anyway, I was driven to try a glass of Lambrini after those – I hereby confirm that it was only the one glass…

Is a tasting-note better in a bite-sized twitter aside?

Mercurey, so often so-la-la or over-extracted/wooded but this is brilliant, crunchy raspberry + textured weight. Yum! pic.twitter.com/vtiZvxENwh

— 🅱️ill nanson (@billnanson) August 16, 2015