Drunk on the 10th of the 10th 2010 – as luck would have it, certainly it was a 10 out of 10 too!

An interesting bottle this. The label has the minimalism of the last Engel bottles, in fact slightly more-so, but the bottle is clearly not standard.

The large Château-Neuf-du-Pape-style embossing on the neck, is for Cave BB – a business still running as a wine merchant in Switzerland – and around the base of the bottle is embossed: Selection Baggli – Zolikon – Zurich. Engel did sell a lot of wine in barrel in those days, I’m just not positive if that’s what happened here, or whether Cave Baggli supplied the bottles. I’ve sent a mail to Baggli – perhaps somebody will remember…

I wish I could say that I got some info from the cork, but having decided to use an ‘ah-so’ cork remover, I really should have secured the cork with the worm of a screwpull too – too late I thought as the cork plopped into the bottle – bugger! Quickly everything went into the decanter – and very clean was the wine too – not just visually.

1982 René Engel, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Brulées
Medium, medium pale colour. Right from the start, there’s not a hint of leaf, soil or mustiness on the nose, just a frankly gorgeous blend of precise red berries, brown sugar and the finest ginger cake – wow! One hour on and the snose has lost some of those precise berries to a marzipan-type layer. To me this is a negative as I’m no fan of marzipan – to others, quite the reverse. The flavours deliver width, a plush texture, very fine acidity and an impressive density of sweet, slightly raisin-fruited flavour in the mid-palate. Approaching 30 years-old one might expect this to be described as an old grandmother of a wine – how very wrong that would be. It remains fresh, sensuous and complex. It is blisteringly good – thank-you Caves Baggli…
Rebuy – No Chance -but I would and without hesitation…

My next oldest bottles of this are some 1995 and a magnum of 1998 – it seems I have a long wait to harvest them!

1998 Dominique Laurent, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
Medium colour – a hint of salmon pink at the rim. There is a little tilled earth and a wealth of warm and eventually sharp red berries. Initially I though a suggestion of cigarette ash too, but it was transient and replaced with violets, more time brings a little dried leaf. The palate is silky-smooth, softly balanced and still betrays a suggestion of the vintage tannin – but only a suggestion. The flavours build in the mid-palate rather in the manner of a decent Lambrays vintage -subtle yet still impressive – behind remains a depth of dark, oak derived flavour but at this stage of maturity I can deal with it, even if I find it slightly distracting. Overall this is a really great Clos St.Jacques – really great! The next bottle in 3-5 years.
Rebuy – Yes

One quote from Jasper’s new book:

There is little as satisfying as a really fine bottle of Meursault in its second decade.

So I though – ‘why not?’

1993 Joseph Voillot, Meursault 1er Les Cras
Medium, medium-plus golden. There are few black bits floating in the bottle, but they sink without problem. The nose is a blast of matchstick – I guess a bit more sulfur in those days! – underpinned with a soft spice-bread note. The palate is very 1993, taught, wiry, intense and with very good acidity – add that to the usual minerality of Cras and you have quite a combination. The flavours also seem to have plenty of the matchstick aromas and there is a super extra creamy dimension as you head into a decent, more savoury finish. Not a Meursault to wallow in, this one ‘instructs’.
Rebuy – Yes

2007 David Clark, Morey St.Denis Les Porroux
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is a lovely mix of dark berries and cherries, a suggestion of reduction but nothing like his bourgognes. Width, softly textured and super balance. There is a lovely sweetness to the dark fruit and it lingers very well in the finish. There’s even a suggestion of tannin in the mid-palate too – a surprise considering the ‘light-but-nice’ poise of the domaine’s 2006. This is a very, very above average 2007. Super – really!
Rebuy – Yes

I know Jamie’s not a big fan of lenticels (!) but this one has no problems. The cuvée Lees is a blend of the lees of all the domaine’s red wines – Maranges, Chambertin etc. – so can only be a bourgogne. I think that 2007 was the first time they did this. Given the late malos and bottling of the 08s I think that this has been in bottle less than a month, clearly you need a long time for the fine lees to settle!

2008 Camille Giroud, Bourgogne Cuvée Lees
Stood up in the cellar for 4 days before opening – it wasn’t enough to make the wine shiny bright. Medium, medium-plus colour, The nose has a wild young-wine freshness and immediacy, given an hour or so there is a direct and perfect raspberry note. In the mouth this is wide, very complex, sweet and cushioned. The acidity has a a bit of a leading edge of sharpness (perhaps exacerbated by the suspended material?) but the padding largely covers it. Good length and very tasty right now, in fact in the right circumstances you might be forgiven for thinking it a much higher AOC. This bottle found many friends…
Rebuy – Yes (and I did)