With beouf bourguignone, a really interesting set of wines – the Thomas Frères wines coming from an undisturbed Zürich cellar. Wines were served blind…
1966 Thomas Frères, Tastevinage Cote de Nuits Villages
Pronounced, wild aromatics – you have the impression that this could be a young ‘natural’ wine. The palate is all-over the place: decently concentrated and each sip seems differently balanced to the the previous one – clean flavours though. Frankly brilliant for the age/label but sadly it was rather ignored given how good some of the others were…
1967 Thomas Frères, Fixin 1er Cos de la Perrière
This was, quite simply, the wine of the night. Beautiful aromas of fine fruit with a graphite note in the background. The palate was mineral and complex, not really showing it’s age – I may have guessed early 1980s. I wonder if Bénigne Joliet has recaptured this grand cru quality in his last vintages(?)
1968 Thomas Frères, Chassagne-Montrachet (blanc)
The wine we started with – I guessed it was a good condition late 1970s wine. Gunflint, lanolin, power rather than elegance but with great acidity and balance. Excellent.
1993 Jobard, Meursault 1er Genevrieres
Took a little while to open in the glass, but here is an elegant and rather complex wine – lovely aromatics but a very faint musty note in the mid-palate takes away the ‘excellent’ badge – merely very, very good.
1999 Vincent & Denis Berthaut, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Cazetiers
I really loved the aromatics here – I guessed it could have been a Bachelet Charmes from the nose. The palate did not deliver the best equilibrium because the acidity was not completely smooth. Because of that, it was another wine (like the 66) that was a bit unfairly ignored. I could sniff it all night though.
2002 Bart, Chambolle-Musigny Les Varoilles
Another wine that smelled gorgeous – I guessed Chambolle, but chose 2006 as the colour looked rather young. The flavour reflected the the aromas too – very excellent wine this for a villages.
2005 Pierre Morey, Meursault Tessons
I really didn’t like this to start with, the aromas were brash and boorish, I’d have guess a non-Burgundian ringer. Yet, over about 25 minutes the aromas gradually became finer and the flavour less solid. It ended up a quite drinkable but still not covetable.
2007 Comte Liger-Belair, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Chaumes
Jump out of the glass aromas that speak of Louis-Michel’s vinification but with very, very pretty raspberry and wild strawberry fruit. The palate really surprised me because it is rather more mineral and complex than is the reputation for Chaumes – lovely fine acidity too – just a beautiful wine.
2007 Morey-Coffinet, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Farendes
Young colour. The nose shouts Meursault 2010 to me – oops! It really doesn’t smell like Chassagne to me, but it does smell very, very nice indeed. The entry to the palate was frankly a bit loose / unfocused but as the wine slipped into the mid-palate it was very, very impressive with lovely intensity and something of a peacock’s tail of energy and flavour.
A great night…