2002 Nicolas Potel, Aloxe-Corton Les Boutières
Bottle 7 from 12. On opening I hardly recognise this wine – the colour still has that young medium-plus cherry-red hue, but the nose has a slightly ashy, oaky aroma and the flavours are quite strident – what’s needed is a little aeration. Et voila: 3 minutes from opening this is aromatically singing, creamy deep redcurrant, indeed so creamy it’s faintly lactic but it is really wonderful. At the core there is a hint of something a little more mature, the ashy element has become a hint of leafy undergrowth, but just a hint. Clearly the acidity is a little ascendant now, but the mid-palate concentration remains enough that the wine is not mortally compromised and there is still an edge of tannin too. A long way from real maturity and still showing sufficient density and energy to keep me coming back for more.
Rebuy – Yes

I don’t remember a burgundy cork with ‘Grand Vin de France’ on before!

1985 Tortochot, Gevrey-Chambertin Clos des Corvées
A beautiful, bright, medium-intensity colour. My that’s smooth! Getting ahead of myself, sorry. The nose on first pour is a little meaty, but only a few seconds are needed for that to clear and show a pretty and sweet strawberry over a slight undergrowth depth that eventually develops a jam tart (baked) fruit – it seems very clean. There is sweet depth, the (aforementioned) silky texture and there’s depth and intensity to the mid-palate that still shows more than a hint of a fine tannic spine. In a way I’m sad, but only because this wine deserves a wider audience than it’s getting tonight.
Rebuy – Yes

A good vintage and a perfect performance for a villages Gevrey – it seems that only 25 years are needed – though if I remember, the ‘juvenile’ 1990 was also performed rather well! Hmm, I guess the 1976 can’t be on the same level – can it? Watch this space…

I think I can only remember one other wine from this domaine:

2008 Roux Père et Fils, St.Aubin La Pucelle
Medium yellow colour. There’s a faint savoury lift to the fresh nose, it’s more pleasantly mineral than fruity. I don’t think the 33°C weather is fooling me, it really does have decent concentration and a nice texture. Very good acidity offsets slightly mineral (again) flavours – I like this very much, and I’m sure I still would even if the weather were cooler!
Rebuy – Yes

The weather remains hot – it’s now about 4 weeks of that – after a cold/cool start it’s become a mini 2003 (so far).

Bottles at home are (hardly surprising) of the freshest variety – that’s mainly bourgogne blancs about which I’ve written quite enough already. Just for a change this week I opened up a 2006 JC Boisset, Morey St.Denis Monts Luisants Blanc – it’s lost much of that rich, coconut inflected flavour but retains density and good underlying acidity. Drunk over two nights it’s less moreish than in its first flush of youth, but very tasty all the same – I’d still rebuy this….

After chickening out of opening the 1961, the 1962 seemed a different kettle of fish – higher fill, clearer and below the capsule it smelled more like mushrooms than oxidation, so….

1962 Maison Leroy Meursault – some oxidation for sure but plenty of white-chocolate, truffles and lanolin in the mid-palate and finish – caught just in time – okay not just in time, still alive, just about some warmth in the body but lots of redeeming features! Then there was a Jomain 2005 Puligny Perrières – very young colour and flavour – just a little tight but quite fine. Then Louis-Michel Liger-Belair’s 2006 Vosne-Romanée Clos du Château – medium-pale colour but super flavour and width – it drank very well indeed.

I’d rebuy both the Jomain and the Liger-Belair – no chance on the Leroy, but a better bottle. for the price paid – absolutely!

I’ve no idea what I can pull out of the bag next weekend!

A bit of fun today: Earlier this year I picked up two old Leroy négoce bottles at an auction. The one pictured (right) looks like it has no redeeming features – save for quite a nice old label; the wine is low in the shoulder, not perfectly bright and the colour is (optimistically) only light brown. Cutting the capsule you are met by the wonderful (not!) aroma of oxidation. I’m not going to extract the cork for a couple of hours.

Still, waiting in the wings is a bottle with less ullage, a brighter colour and only the smell of mushrooms under the capsule, of-course it’s a much younger wine – 1962 Meursault! I’ll see how it goes…

The last of my small collection of des Croix 2008s for ‘testing’:

2008 des Croix, Beaune 1er Pertuisots
Medium, medium-plus colour. There’s a hint of herb, but essentially the nose starts deeper and darker than the Cent Vignes, perhaps it’s that faint note of reduction, but this certainly has the classical 2008 darker fruit! As the wine opens it more clearly shows the family (cuverie) relationship to the Cent Vignes as the aromas become redder and an more floral – very nice indeed. This is much more about up-front intensity, a hint of oak and much more than a hint of acidity – this will need a little unwinding. I’d say about an hour of aeration is needed for a more balanced interpretation – it’s the Cent Vignes with more ‘bang’ – not necessarily better, just different. I have a slight preference for the CV but wouldn’t turn either of these down…
Rebuy – Yes