Of-course I need the excuse to open more bottles, so this weekend I chose (again) the football excuse 🙂

1995 Daniel Rion, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Beaux-Monts
My last bottle was a little bretty, but this is very fine. A deep, almost textured nose, pretty, sweet spice – just lovely. Sweet in the mouth too but with lovely freshness and dimension of complexity. Comforting and simply delicious!
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Chenu, Savigny-lès-Beaune
Fresh crunch fruit on the nise, some more herby aspects too, but attractive. The palate mirrors the nose, crunchy red fruit and an under-ripe element that turns to an attractive sprig of fresh mint – the combination is rather nice – particularly so when you consider the low price of this wine – I’m sure it was less than €10. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

1991 Jaboulet-Vercherre, Echézeaux
The last bottles from this half-dozen were poor – no better than bourgognes – so I thought ‘why not a bourgogne‘ with the football. Cold, this wasn’t bad, there was a little more depth and weight of texture than I remembered – such a shame then, that the nose was rather bretty. It tasted acceptable, but didn’t smell acceptable…
Rebuy – Still No!

2012 Clothilde Davenne, Saint Bris Vieilles Vignes
The list of Saint Bris that I would actually drink has doubled – to two! This is lovely, and far from a simple varietal wine. The nose is fresh with a certain sweetness; sauvignon but still sweetly attractive. In the mouth this has fine freshness and weight and a beautiful sweet acidity in the finish. Very tasty indeed! (My other ‘drink’ is from Goissot)
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Alex Gambal, St.Aubin 1er Murgers des Dents du Chien
Quite a deep colour, but the nose is more about sweet toast and caramel – honestly more than I would want, inviting as it is. Slowly, slowly a fresher, pretty aroma begins to come through. Plenty of weight on the palate, a good intensity of acidity too – sweetly edged with a suggestion of the caramel from the nose. Tasty wine, and one that will hopefully have a little less barrel with more time in the cellar.
Rebuy – Maybe

A couple of inspired choices from the wine-list of Ma Cuisine on Monday evening:

2007 Louis Carillon, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Perrières
What a young wine! The nose is a little cushioned, still with a suggestion of vanilla and the freshness of youth. In the mouth the 2007 acidity zings you along; good concentration and super intensity – lovely finishing flavour too. Top 1er Cru! Not for those who dislike acidity, but I simply love great 2007s…
Rebuy – Yes

1982 Hospices de Nuits, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les St.Georges ‘Cuvée de l’Espace’
Faiveley was the eleveur. Bright colour and a massive nose of bright, perfumed fruit – this stays for about half an hour before the perfume very slowly fades, but at the same time the nose becoming deeper fruited. Resolved and silky in the mouth – perfect pinot. Just a suggestion of metallic in the finish but that is gone with my beef bourguignone. The first two pours were brilliant, the last just a little older in the glass. Super.
Rebuy – Yes

Accompanying a few late goals this weekend, were:

1999 Fourrier, Gevrey-Chambertin
Fourrier is sometimes maligned because the wines are so pure and drinkable, whatever their age, but here is a big nose-full of earthy, forest funk – well, for about 15 minutes anyway. Slowly a beautiful pure note starts to shine through – fine cherry fruit. In the mouth there is a lovely energy and mouth-watering flavour. This is a wine that begs you to take another sip – so we obliged, of-course! Still in great shape, though judging from the litter of empty cases, perhaps it was also my last one!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Ramonet, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos de la Boudriotte (red!)
A bold and young colour, still. The nose remains quite heavily inflected with sweet oak – though it does fit with the equally sweet fruit! In the mouth, whilst undeniably delicious and with an impressively open-ended mid-palate and finishing complexity, here is also no shrinking modesty of sweet oak flavours. It IS delicious, but the sweetness of fruit and oak together makes this wine a less moreish than the Fourrier. A very tasty baby for sure, but I’d probably wait for its 10th birthday before opening another…
Rebuy – Yes

Here’s a wine that I’ve owned in quantity since at least 2000 – it was a great buy for about £15 per – ah, those were the days… In that time it has vacilated between tasty and youthful, to full but uncommunicative. Today is about as good as I’ve ever experienced:

1995 Jean Grivot, Nuits St.Georges Les Lavières
The colour is the typical heavy, almost impenetrably browning hue of most from the vintage. The nose though is fresh, bright, a hint floral and whilst the fruit is of the inky, macerating kind, it has pretty and individual notes – nice. Wide and fresh, there’s still plenty of tannic, but cushioning, texture – nothing dry or to be afraid of here. The flavour is of surprisingly juicy; mouth-watering fruit – almost with a little accent of mint leaf and chocolate too. Indeed, chocolate-dipped cherries. Not bad! Today, very tasty indeed – yum!
Rebuy – Yes