The tasting I had at the domaine last week was a resounding success – a very fine selection from 2008, but it’s often interesting to compare your notes with a bottle at home. I loved the Perrières best, despite the Vaucrains being the ‘top wine’ (most expensive) in the cellar, so bought half a dozen.

2008 Jean Chauvenet, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Perrières
Bigger glass, more aeration; yet the fruit holds onto a creamy-vanilla coating which I don’t remember being so obvious back in Nuits in the (11°!) cellar. The fruit, however, is a summer pudding of black and to a lesser extent red berries and is quite captivating. Plenty of acidity which turns into real intensity in the mid-palate and towards the finish – plenty more of that summer-pudding fruit flavour as go into the finish. There is just enough concentration of sweet-sour fruit to avoid the acidity taking over. You really have to search out the tannin; I cool it down in the fridge and there’s that glossy dark fruit impression that I noted in Nuits – at least it’s the same wine then! Intense, even a bit cerebral – I love this wine.
Rebuy – Yes

And my note from the cellar(?) Well I suppose it could be the same wine – a bigger glass and moving from 11° to 16-18° really can make a big difference (excuses, excuses!)

2008 Jean Chauvenet, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Perrières
Deep colour. Lovely deep dark aromas to match, almost textured with a faint dark chocolate. Wide with lovely, lithe dark fruit and some velvet tannin in the background. Slowly lingering finish. Bravo.

It might be from my all-time favourite vintage, but anyone who can make Folatières taste like liquid rock must be working very hard – bravo!

2007 Château de Puligny-Montrachet, Puligny 1er Les Folatières
Medium-pale yellow. The nose has a ripe but sweet yellow lemon about it, but with a minerality that makes me reminisce about some almost finished Chablis Le Clos 2001! There is an undertow of sweetness but the real current (energy) of this wine is the citrus acidity that runs right through the core and into the finish, and it brings with it an intense mineral-led flavour that is actually very, very long. Good as the tension is in the 2008, this absolutely crackles with energy – hopefully a wine you can drink forever!
Rebuy – Yes

2008 Château de Puligny-Montrachet, Puligny 1er Les Folatières
Starts deep and very faintly of baked bread, but swirl and the nose has a nice freshness and the fruit behind is high-toned and citrussy . This is a mouthful of energy and joy – blind I might have guessed it to be the 2007 (I must compare!) as the obvious richness of 2008 is hardly visible. Roll the wine around your tongue and the acidity helps develop a fine and mineral flavour – there’s no fat or excess here, just a good mineral end-note. Quite linear, mineral and with a good intensity – it’s my kind of wine, but if this is the performance of a 2008, can I handle the 2007?
Rebuy – Yes

Last week, as you will have gathered from the snowy images, was a little chilly in the Côtes, but it was a good time to get a better understanding of the whites – even though many will not be bottled until February-April 2011. I think I tasted almost 200 wines with their producers, a significant majority were white; occasionally tasting with John Gilman and Anthony Hanson along the way – it’s a busy time in the Côtes!

2009 whites. I really find (as my vintage viewpoint suggested) a wide range of data-points. Some wines are a little like 2005, full and missing a little energy, perhaps from a rather late picking(?). Vignerons in that class tell me the wines will gain energy after their ‘collage’ or fining – hmm, let’s see. Yet there are stupendous wines which can be put in a context entirely of their own; Leflaive, Lafon, Fichet and Roulot – such a shame it’s always the expensive ones!!! There are also many excellent wines that you will savour without quite reaching the nirvana of those others I just mentioned. I would say read the tasting notes – whoever you get them from.

One that I opened on my return:

2008 Lucien Muzard, Santenay 1er La Maladière
A really interesting wine. First of all, too much CO₂; I had to re-stopper the wine and give it a good shake to liberate a few litres of gas – fortunately the wine managed to stay in the bottle despite sounding like champagne as I removed the cork (the second time)! ‘Cold’ from the cellar this is focused and just a little mineral, let it warm and it gets rounder and rounder and eventually a little flabby – I chose to keep it cool with the following result: Deep aromas of fruit, some hints of reduction that quickly fade, the nose opening in tandem to offer nice dark red fruits. This is nicely supple, has good concentration and plenty of fruit padding to balance the acidity. Nice length too. This is a large but well-focused wine – just don’t let it get too warm. Very good value too.
Rebuy – Yes

One large tranche of work behind me, it’s time to play with oxidation fire – but the dice roll and this is a good, or rather, very good one. Hooray! Fair to say, however, that my happiness is tinged with the sadness of even contemplating failure with such a bottle…

2000 Bonneau du Martray, Corton-Charlemagne
The first whiff is of an oak-based toasty bread, below is a very faint baked citrus note. Very mineral, very lovely width, and even a hint of plush-ness. There is a good mid-palate intensity that intersperses lots of complexity – a faint creamy brûlée lingers in the mouth, and for quite some time. Very good length and complexity, yet, an understated, underdeveloped wine. It is possible to get more enjoyment from a bourgogne today, but with much less to contemplate. The potential for excellent if it avoids too many radicals…
Rebuy – Yes