Tasted courtesy of Martel of St.Gallen, in the Hotel Schweizerhof, Luzern – 10 March, 2015.

Nice location and a brilliant room to taste in. The glasses weren’t the best, they seemed to attenuate the aromas, but overall, nicely done. Here are a few wines that I haven’t tasted for a while:

2013 William Fevre, Chablis Champs Royaux
Deep aroma, with some ripe fruit at the base. Wide and with good freshness, a hint of richer texture but also of some minerality. Good balance here and nice enough intensity.
Rebuy – Maybe

2011 William Fevre, Chablis 1er Vaillons
The nose is round with a hint of salt over a suggestion of something riper. Lovely in the mouth, much nicer than the nose suggests. A fine direct flavour that lasts well on tasty acidity – indeed very tasty!
Rebuy – Yes

2011 Leflaive, Mâcon-Verzé
Half cheesy aromatic but something is more vibrant below – fortunately. Mineral, lithe and flows well over the tongue, intense too in the finish. More mineral than fruit but no shame there! The nose slowly improves in the glass making this an interesting proposition.
Rebuy – Maybe

2011 Remi Jobard, Meursault 1er Poruzots-Dessus
The nose shows something a little mineral and with a core of something fresh and fruity. Very fine direct flavour with slowly growing complexity and width – maybe it could be fresher-still given the vine location, but that’s being picky. There’s still a bit of creamy barrel in this finish, but it’s really a moreish wine of some quality!
Rebuy – Yes

Les Rouges:

2011 Arlot, Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos des Fôrets
There’s some weight of aroma – the nose seems a little tight in these glasses. Fresh, and with depth of flavour and a little structure. Lovely flavour in the mid-palate into the finish too, with just the merest suggestion of drying from the modest tannin. Good wine.
Rebuy – Yes

2011 Confuron-Cotetidot, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots
Ripe fruit blended with a forward pyrazine aromatic – ouch! Lovely cushioned texture with some modest astringency to the tannin and, again, a hard to miss pyrazine component. The finish is pretty and lingering though.
Rebuy – No

Of-course there were more than 2 bottles at dinner on Saturday, but what value is a eulogy on a ’29 Musigny with a dark past?

I only have young wines at the apartment in Beaune, but luckily they were yum!

2012 Joseph Voillot, Volnay 1er Caillerets
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is a little more pinot than Volnay to start, but slowly it adds a higher, floral dimension too – is there a hint of vanilla? Not sure… In the mouth there’s certainly some undertow of barrel vanilla but there is also a beautifully transparent and balanced wine, with just a little cushioning and gorgeous mouth-watering flavour. I have hardly any of this, so it was opened with some trepidation, but what a wine – simply excellent – and it got better and better!
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Comte Liger-Belair, Vosne-Romanée La Colombière
Medium, medium-plus colour, again. The nose is more Liger-Belair than Vosne with its floral notes that suggest whole clusters, but slowly there’s also a fine-fruited undertow to compliment those flowers. There isn’t the same weight of concentration as the Volnay, but there’s a beautiful, almost hauntingly direct line of finely focused flavour. Another wine that was simply excellent and kept evolving!
Rebuy – Yes

Ah, I remember when it was easy (financially!) to buy wines like these…

Quite a nice selection this weekend. I also like the fact that you never ‘know’ beforehand (with any certainty) what the result will be – who would have called that the Cathiard would be the support-show for the other two…

1995 Sylvain Cathiard, Vosne-Romanée 1er Malconsorts
Quite a deep colour. The nose alternates between pretty, older tones of dark roast fruit and something more of beef-broth – alternately nice/less nice. Good concentration of flavour still with a weight of tannin structure – plenty of shape to the tannin but they are not unlikeable. The flavour is good and quite long. This was a case that I bought through Sotheby’s about 2000 for £150 – that’s probably the price of a bottle now – but this vintage is a good drink, but not a great drink.
Rebuy – Maybe

1996 Guy Castagnier, Clos de Vougeot
Medium, medium-plus colour. Round and open nose with sweet plum and faint spice – this is very inviting. Sleek, smooth and with a little fat plus beautiful acidity and a very fine line of flavour. I’d say this is very ready and very, very tasty. Super wine – with a haunting finish. Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Gilles Remoriquet, Vosne-Romanée 1er Au-dessus des Malconsorts
Medium-plus colour. The nose is an absolute joy of pure red fruit and some padded, faintly spicy support – easily the most attractive of these three wines. Here is both the joy of consuming and the sadness that only 7 more bottles lie in my case! As a package, this is still a little behind the Clos de Vougeot – though it does smell even nicer. The structure is a little firmer and younger – indeed clearly adolescent – but it remains a wine of velvet tannin and remarkable mid-palate width of flavour. A beauty.
Rebuy – Yes