What a lovely bourgogne! Lots of concentration, soft too but not in a negative ‘easy’ sense – I was told to try this with strawberries, but there are none to hand 🙁

And testing? Well, I wrote this (slowly!) on a Blackberry – I’ve seen worse photos too – might be useful next week when I’m in Beaune 😉

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…