Standing tall – just before visiting the glass recycling!

2010 Camille-Giroud, Beaune 1er Aux Cras
On first opening, I’m surprised by how much whole-cluster character is showing – sort of cotton-wool / powdery / smoky / floral. These anecdotes gradually fade into the background, offering red fruits and occasional hints of balsamic. The palate is wide and has good concentration of flavour that really holds, indeed reprises, into the finish. The tannin has a little sticky-grab just now, but the flavour is just lovely.
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Michel Lafarge, Beaune 1er Les Grèves
Both the nose and palate start with slightly green-shaded herbal references. Time in glass helps to develop much more interest; aromas of dark-red fruit though not especially focused. In the mouth, there’s plenty of structure on display but just as much mouth-watering flavour too – indeed, quite stony flavour in the finish – an extra-long finish. When you don’t see the vintage, you will be impressed, sight of the label, however, redefines my expectations. This is a very lovely wine, but not one that currently shows what 2005 is capable of.
Rebuy – Yes

1995 Gerard Mugneret, Chambolle-Musigny 1er, Les Charmes
Wax-topped. Still pretty deeply coloured. The first few sniffs are of quite nice dark-red fruit but it’s disturbed by a little sulfite – air and 30 minutes cures the problem. The dark-red fruit remains and it plumbs fine depth – above high tones and a faint spice. Here is a wine that did an about-face with food: To start, the entry was lithe and narrow, lively acidity and still plenty of grainy tannin – though not astringent. With my first mouthful of food, this seemed to gain a little fat and the impression left by the tannin was much finer! Super extra dimension of high-toned red-fruit flavour in the mid-palate too – this is still showing a little masculinity but the flavours are really super. I would say that this is still a relative baby, needing at least 5 more years to lessen the impact of the wine’s structure – but there’s already sweet, beguiling, cool fruit for the intrepid!
Rebuy – Yes

First ski days of the new season with friends – I brought three bottles – one per night, right? Oh dear! Well at least there were three of us, so it was ‘only’ one bottle each. Brilliant opportunity to properly compare and contrast though!

2011 Morey-Coffinet, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er La Romanée
Medium-plus yellow colour. The nose starts mainly with toasty bread, however, it blows away relatively quickly to leave behind a mix of high-tones that include white flower blossom. It’s now really quite pretty. There’s a little rasp to to texture (CO₂ I suppose) but there’s fine depth and a wide panorama of flavour – I’m very-much enjoying this! As the glass warms the effect becomes (dare I say it) a little flabby, but keep it max.14°C and all is very well. Overall it has energy and focus with just a little minerality as you reach the finish. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2011 Vincent Dancer, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Tête du Clos
The nose on this, also starts rather toasty – and in this case with a faint reductive note too. The palate is just a little fatter and shows a rubber ‘flavour’ – there’s the reduction for you – luckily it soon goes – and the nose blossoms as it goes, showing more green-skinned fruit and herbs. Round, with a concentrated core of fruit, the acidity provides almost a crispy halo around the dense fruit. Sweetly finishing, those flavours tenaciously hold onto your tongue. Very, very nice indeed. Tossing a metaphorical coin, I have a very slight preference for the minerality of the Morey-Coffinet.
Rebuy – Yes

2011 Ramonet, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Ruchottes
The nose starts not quite so wide but there is an (auto?) suggestion of faint mint – no toast. The nose slowly builds density yet remains airy and fine. The palate has more density than the previous two wines, the acidity slowly, slowly making its presence felt and holding a good line into the finish. Clearly this has the most density and dimension of these three wines. I go back to the Morey-Coffinet for it’s minerality but it seems a little mean now in comparison. Very, very tasty wine.
Rebuy – Yes

These are classic 2011s – very very tasty, if not with the pure focus of the 2010s, and they need a closer eye on temperature than the 2010s too – if you want to avoid them getting a little out of shape…

A domaine wine, yet the combination of producer, vintage and village make for something potentially daunting – fear not, this was a willing party to my glass.

1999 Domaine Faiveley, Nuits St.Georges 1er Aux Chaignots
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose has a deep core of dark, faintly roast fruit – the rest is more subtle and understated, but for at least an hour there’s a little coconut-style oak in the mix. In the mouth there’s a clear base of grainy tannin but it is ripe enough – that said, it must have been quite a mouthful 10 years ago. The quality of the fruit is very good and has quite high-toned notes too. The flavours really widen-out as you head into the finish, and whilst there’s a bit of coconut flavour here too, it is very long indeed – grand cru length I would say. Whilst a relative youngster, this can drunk today, no problem…
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Hudelot-Noellat, Chambolle-Musigny
Medium-plus colour. The nose is now carrying a suggestion of turned leaves – a H-N classic – and some herbs over a relatively dense yet brilliantly transparent dark fruit. It’s still just a little tight. In the mouth this has just a modest impression of cushioned texture, but as much as anything that’s probably down to the significant concentration of what’s before us, that aside, it’s very silky. Deep red-fruit flavour with more than a hint of florals in the mix too, excellent acidity and a faint fur to the tannin. There are certainly more communicative 05s just now, but this is no shame to drink – at all. Impressive stuff…
Rebuy – Yes

2011 Bart, Chambolle-Musigny Les Veroilles
Deeply coloured. Frankly this starts with way too much CO₂ – you can smell (sense) it and taste (feel) it – it’s probably also responsible for a hint (not too much!) of reduction. I gave this bottle several shakes, releasing a lot of gas, and placed it in the fridge door – returning about 2 hours later. Okay, let’s try again; despite being rather tight, the nose has good depth and a fine high-toned top-note, there seems no obvious reduction, yet it is still a little deep and burly. The grainy texture of the palate tells me that probably there’s still some gas to lose here, but there are flashes of energy and fruit that I find quite impressive. I think, to be fair to the wine, if not the bottling decisions, I have to give this wine even longer to show itself. Oops – what a mistake – what shows on day 2 is a clear and dominating P note, one that is now reflected in the flavour too. For what it’s worth, the texture is much finer now and there is delicate, elegant and precise fruit flavour too. The acidity nicely supports the whole. Unfortunately, it’s no-longer to the taste of this taster. Shame, there’s a nice wine under there..
Rebuy – No