2010 Nicolas Rossignol, Pommard Les Vignots
Deeply coloured. The nose is wide, dark and slightly glossy. The palate has plenty of width too, the black-cherry fruit is perhaps less dark than the nose – and supported by a ripe, faintly grained tannin. The mid-palate fruit is very lovely – super energy. This wine clearly has a little dissolved gas as it really benefits from a couple of hours open. A dark, and almost obvious Pommard personality but with real brio. Super!
Rebuy – Yes

Homemade boeuf-bourguignone was on the menu along with a brilliant lineup of wines from me and others – not a bad collection for just four of us! I didn’t make notes during the evening, but did look again at the bottles that remained next day – all still full of vigour. Some were whisked away for further ‘testing’ by guests so I don’t have a full set of notes…

We started with a bottle Henri Chauvet’s NV Brut Reserve Champagne. The last bottle from a number that I bought at the domaine about 8 years ago. I have to say that it tasted pretty good with the gougères!

1996 Grivot, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les Roncières
Wide but very shy nose – not much to talk about. Good depth and still some velvet tannin. The acidity slowly comes centre-stage, but there’s a lovely high-toned fruit and good energy that comes with it. Overall, a little closed and a little hard. But good flavours

1976 Thomas-Bassot, Clos des Ruchottes-Chambertin
Medium, medium-pale colour. The nose has an airy, high-toned and quite beautiful red fruit – this is aromatically beguiling – the loveliest thing I’ve smelled (from a bottle!) this year. Width, density and still some tannin. The fruit is high-toned, and behind is a more earthy depth. Good mid-palate intensity and very long on a mineral note. Nothing like as elegant as the nose but a super wine.

1983 Jacques Prieur, Musigny
Hmm. The nose is very similar to that of the Thomas-Bassot, with an extra depth – still only the second-best wine I’ve smelled this year! The palate is rounder than the last wine, with more depth too, but has a little more (refined) tannin – that said it is still more suave. The acidity is more covered by extract, so offers a little less obvious energy than the Ruchottes, but it’s a tasty wine. A super bottle, but to be honest, I’ve a preference for the Ruchottes!

2004 Ponsot, Clos de la Roche
Browning, medium colour. The nose is rather bizarre; a sort-of green pea / malo aroma, but quite unlike anything I’ve smelled before – I won’t be unhappy if I don’t smell it again! In the mouth is good acidity, plenty of energy and some quite nice fruit – unfortunately it is tainted with whatever makes the nose smell. It has nothing to do with the classic 2004/2011 pyrazine aroma, but regardless, it’s not a wine to have a second glass of!

2006 Jerome Galeyrand, Bonnes-Mares
Medium-plus colour. Here is a rather intense floral perfume – not obviously showing any stem character – if I’m honest, it’s not particularly enticing, but it has quite some power. Round, concentrated and with growing intensity. This is a Bonnes-Mares of brutal intensity but with a lovely flavour running into, and through the finish – quite tasty! This is clearly a bit of a monster, yet it is not just full-packed, it’s also rather balanced. It’s like a 2005 with hairier forearms and dirty fingernails. Not particularly user-friendly today but has everything it needs to grow old – I’m not if it will ever grow old gracefully though.

1977 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Corton-Charlemagne
An intense yellow-fruit core, but otherwise the nose is rather narrow and direct. In the mouth it’s rather narrow and direct too – you start by thinking a little dilute but the intensity mounts and mounts, the flavour is more mineral than anything else. Just the merest hint of fruit in the long, mineral finish. This a wine that you could cut your tongue on. Very, very enjoyable, though a wine that begs food!

1981 Prosper-Maufoux, Montrachet
Deeper colour than the Charlemagne. The nose starts with just a faint whiff of oxidation, but it fades and fades until it’s gone. The aroma grows and grows until it more than fills the glass, overflowing with a creamy, lanolin, textured impression – lovely. Much more mineral, high-toned fruity and silky than the nose suggests, and with real reserves of flavour – such depth and finishing length, a length that has some sweet caramel attached to it. Here’s a wine that doesn’t need food – just the time to contemplate it.

2005 Prieur-Brunet, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Embrazées
High tones with faint aniseed and a sweet but high-toned pear – unusual and far from typical Chassagne, but really appealing. There’s the power of the vintage but none of the bulkiness or lack of energy. The overall flavour profile is high-toned and energetic with a beautifully detailed and pretty finishing fruit – rather beguiling this wine – I absolutely love it.

I remember also:

2002 Nicolas Potel, Chambertin
Big wine but a little tight – was fuller and much more effusive next morning.

1999 Henri Gouges Nuits St.Georges 1er Les St.Georges
Whilst clearly still a baby, everyone remarked how open and enjoyable this wine was!

2011 Au Pied de Mont Chauve, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Demoiselles
Fresh, young, perhaps a little CO₂ spoils perfect focus, but everyone was purring….

2007 Jean-Marc Pillot, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Morgeot Les Fairendes
Here was a wine with that perfect focus – everyone was wowed…

Last tasted in April last year, and I’d say that this is a bit nicer bottle.

1992 Comtes Lafon, Monthélie 1er Les Duresses
Medium, perhaps medium-plus red colour. The nose begins rather deeply; a baked dark-fruit that slowly becomes redder and redder and shows a subtle but interesting pyrazine note – not quite like a 2004/2011 though. To start with there’s good power and acidity but the impression is a little ‘lumpen’. This wine needs about 30 minutes the stretch its legs, showing much more aplomb – even if the grainy tannin refuses to put on a suave suite – still, there’s no astringency.
Rebuy – Yes

ops – silly me – was I supposed to publish something pink and lovey today…? Maybe I’ll find some pink kittens for you later today 😉

Despite their lofty reputation, and the undeniable brilliance of their wines when tasting from barrel, I’d yet to have a ‘wow’ moment with bottles from this domaine. That’s not to say that I haven’t drunk many very good bottles! Well, here’s a ‘wow’, indeed, in-fact here’s the best wine I’ve drunk this year, and that’s despite the Matrot 72 Santenots…

1993 Michel Lafarge, Volnay 1er Clos des Chênes
Still with a deep colour. The nose is dark, mineral and full of energy, some leaves and some blood – it’s so precise it seems to have been cut with a knife. The dark flavours are wide, fresh and they grow in intensity – super-focused again. This silky wine leaves a beautiful mouth-watering finish. Short and sweet (the note) but brilliant wine!
Rebuy – Yes

I was hunting around the cellar for some bottles for this weekend – a blind tasting with friends of ‘old stuff’ – at least I will be opening old stuff! I found the bottles I wanted under others. As I was replacing the ‘others’, this wine was in my hands, and I simply thought – why not? If my weekend wines are anything near as good, I’ll be very happy…

The cork had remained a faithful seal, but it was a pig to remove, indeed it ultimately disintegrated despite my best efforts, efforts that aimed to combine a screw-pull worm and an Ah-So. So this was filtered into a decanter through an un-perfumed kitchen towel.

1972 Joseph Matrot, Volnay-Santenots 1er Cru
Medium-pale colour, but bright and shiny. The nose is simply brilliant; powerful, deep, and with roast fruit notes blended with faint bacon and not so faint earth. Wait (at least) 90 minutes and there’s a big smoky whole-cluster element with a finer, more acid-raspberry note too. Fat-textured, round, yet swirling around your mouth shows freshness. The acidity peaks in the mid-palate but without ever becoming spiky, slowly mouth-watering into the sweet finish. The fruit, like the nose, is a little baked but tasty. I can’t get over how impressive and powerful the aromas are here – it’s a rare wine from the Côte de Nuits that could compare – a brilliant performance, chapeau!
Rebuy – No Chance