Did I say normal service would be resumed? Well Friday evening’s bottle didn’t quite go to plan – it was horribly corked…
(I hope tomorrow’s Mazis fares better!)

I find it hard to open Fourrier’s bottles now – mainly it’s due to the capsules – or lack of capsules. Since the 2005 vintage the domaine has topped their bottles with shiny red wax, and that offers me two problems: one, the wax looks much too pretty to break; and two, wax normally shatters and makes a terrible mess!
Maybe Jean-Marie has a new formulation or the 24° of my kitchen had a softening effect, but a knife easily removed the layer covering the cork – and no shattering, no mess!

2005 Fourrier, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Goulots
Medium, medium-plus colour – not that deeply coloured for a 1er cru from this vintage. The nose starts with a characteristic note that makes you think of oak, but as I’ve slowly learned with Fourrier’s wines, it’s more about reduction, as it fades, in this case, in about 30 minutes without decanting. Slightly heavy and powdery fruit morphs to beautiful red berry notes over cherry – primary but very, very pretty – more time will give a pretty creme-brulee background. In the mouth this is soft and rather silky – you will only find the tannin with serious rolling around the mouth. There is decent density of dark fruit that slowly melts and becomes redder as the nose also develops. It’s slowly lingering on slightly emphasised acidity. Versus the impact of virtually every 2005 villages and higher Gevrey tasted in 2008, this is more mellow and understated – what a difference a year makes – there’s a little iron and minerals, but in particular this misses out on the ‘I’ word – impact. The style of Fourrier still makes this eminently drinkable, but I expect it was all the more impressive 12 months ago. Time for a long sleep…
Rebuy – Yes
PS As an after-thought, I often think that Jean-Marie Fourrier should have been born in Chambolle, the style of his wines are more ‘poster-child(ren)’ for that village. For Gevrey I’m often looking for that slightly harder edge – perhaps a hint of danger – but, good as the wines are, you don’t find it at this address.

This wine made such an impression when tasted about a year and a half ago that orders were placed in more than one bottle size! Here’s its first outing…
2006 Nicolas Potel, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Fuées
Medium, medium-plus colour. So effusive once the cork is popped, it’s like you’re back in the barrel cellar with forward red and black fruit that is softened at the edges with a sweet, faintly brulee’d note – primary but very gorgeous. In the mouth it has lost some of that barrel ‘padding’, but you have good intensity, equally good acidity and a reasonable amount of structure; the tannin is there and whilst velvety, has the merest trace of astringency. Slowly lingering, this is super – it’s perhaps more structured than when last tasted (and ordered!) and I’d recommend that you leave it in the cellar, but the fruit is gorgeous.
Rebuy – Yes

1997 Robert Arnoux, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Reignots
Starts with dark, slightly dirty oak and some forest floor – slowly the forest floor fades to leave the oak and a slight roast coffee ground plus much fainter, greener herbal note – there is a little spiciness, but this is interesting, rather than captivating . Some sweetness though it is ‘balanced’ by acidity that’s a little tart and a lick of slightly astringent tannin. The sweetness is associated with the fruit, mainly red shaded in this vintage and hinting at cream too. There’s enough here to make me interested to try other vintages, but this wine is a poster-child to ‘not quite there 1997’. I gave it a bit more of a chance and left the last third for day 3 (day 2 I was out!) – hints of red berry, less oak and more balance. Still far from worth the normal sticker price, but there is now some interest here. Another bottle will rest in the cellar until its 15th birthday or-so.
Rebuy – No
[Actually, everything is relative – looking at winesearcher on the green dollar icon above, you can buy this for £35 – put it in a decanter for 2+ hours and I think it’s maybe worth that!]