The entry price for Bruno’s wines has significantly increased since (say) the early 2000’s. Even his Marsannays have caught this bug – well, all except one – his Marsannay Blanc. Should we take advantage of this (still) slightly unfashionable label?

2009 Bruno Clair, Marsannay (Blanc)
This may be a ‘cheap-er’ wine, but it’s clearly had plenty of oak thrown at it – lots and lots of toasty bread notes that initially smother something sweater at the core of the nose. You need at least 1 hour for the fruit to come through – though it lacks a bit of style. For the vintage this is quite fresh, and that’s despite the wood – eyes closed I could sweat that there’s raspberry in the mid-palate! There’s a decent core of concentration in the mid-palate, though it’s a little unyielding (similar to the manner of a 2005). As an aperitif, I think I’d prefer quite a number of Bourgogne Blancs, so why not bring on the food: I have to say it’s not really improved – there’s an added richness that’s not really to wine’s advantage. Overall, it’s the flavour profile that I’m not enjoying – there’s more than a hint of the savoury-ness of Fixin about this wine. It’s drinkable, but I wouldn’t consider buying any more.
Rebuy – No

There’s a vieilles-vignes cuvée from this producer, and then we have this one.

2010 Jean-Marc, Volnay
We have a deep shade of cherry-red here, which despite its colour, remains rather transparent. The nose – for a non-vv – is more profound and open than I anticipate, just a hint of musk surrounds the darker-red fruit – clean and very pretty this, and no obvious excess of CO₂. Modest tannin lurks if you want to search for it, otherwise it seems rather silky. Again, reflecting the nose, there is a fine and impressive depth of dark-red fruit flavour – it is clean and bright but not too glossy. A really and excellent choice this if you are looking for a basic villages. Highly recommended.
Rebuy – Yes

What a contrast with yesterday’s wine: here the cork is dirty and damp under the capsule and is completely soaked through with wine, it’s also very spongy and crumbly. It looks more like a wine from the 1960s/70s – not opened a day too soon it seems…

2000 Bruno Clavelier, Vosne-Romanée 1er Aux Brûlées
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose begins with a bang – perhaps a little over the top – with bright warm fruit and plenty cocoa/chocolate. After an hour the nose is (fortunately) a bit thinner but retains a warm spicy base of fruit. The flavours are pure, sweet Vosne fruit and the glass empties very quickly. Clearly this is less structured than yesterday’s Clos de Vougeot, perhaps with an extra width of fat too but it remains bright enough – and, it seems, it was just drunk in time!
Rebuy – Yes

Postscript: I think I worked out why the cork was in such bad shape – my usual glass stopper which I always use for the last 1/3 to 1/2 a bottle, simply would not fit in the neck. It’s my only experience like this – clearly a miss-shaped bottle-neck.

Such a beautiful long cork – really a thing of beauty(!) – I hope the wine is okay!

2000 Vougeraie, Clos de Vougeot
Medium, medium-plus colour. The aromas are deep, including baked dark red fruit framed with a faint leafy note. There is heft in the mouth to match the impact of the aroma; good acidity whisks you into the mid-palate and there’s clearly the dimension of a grand cru here, there’s also a bitter-chocolate flavour and slight astringency that comes from the oak tannins. If the tannins are a little astringent, the fruit has ample sweetness. Never a great Clos de Vougeot, but a tasty and worthy Clos de Vougeot.
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Camille-Giroud, Gevrey-Chambertin En Champ
Only medium colour. Round, with sweet, high-toned rather red fruit. Across your tongue this is a lithe wine of energy and slightly (only slightly…) forward acidity that holds onto the acid-cherry flavour in the finish – but there’s a ripe sweetness to the core of this wine too, so the balance is undisturbed. A little grainy tannin hides in the depths of this wine. Overall a very elegant style – whilst there is energy there isn’t outright power – very moreish and very pretty.
Rebuy – Yes

It’s 3 or 4 years since I paid this a visit, so…

1999 Guy Castagnier, Clos de la Roche
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is assertive, offering a depth of graphite mineral, very faint pyrazine and a lovely acid-cherry top note – creep up on the glass (don’t swirl!) and you have a heavier creamy note to add to the fruit and a subtle violet floral note too. Last time out, I thought this a very middle-weight wine, but the concentration and intensity seem quite obvious today; there’s dark red, quite fresh, fruit in the mid-palate and a slowly lingering finish. The lovely acid balance of the vintage is here, and still plenty of ripe tannin too – should you wish to search it out. Overall a taught, wirily muscled wine, that is more about the rock, than the fruit it bore. Enjoyed!
Rebuy – Yes

It’s fair to say that the market has moved on significantly since I bought these bottles; they were expensive even back then, but now they’ve reached a level where I’ve no interest whatsoever to chase them – but that doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in those that still I own 😉 I feel pretty proud of myself that these have rested, undisturbed, for ten years; being buried deep in the cellar always helps of-course!

1995 Dujac, Clos de la Roche
My last bottle was opened about 10 years ago, and that was a little cloudy – but this isn’t – maybe it was a very fine tannin which has since flocculated and sunk. A very spongy cork breaks into many pieces – it doesn’t smell very nice either, but fortunately the wine below seems untainted. Medium, bright colour. The first aromas are pungent stems, but very quickly this note becomes more modest and the overall impression more balanced, a little mineral and nicely complex – it’s super. Wow – this is an explosion of intensity and minerality – almost electric – very long finishing flavours too. I can see (taste) something in the mid-palate that reminds me of the smell from the cork (aldehydic) but it’s on a very low-level and because I didn’t mention it, nobody else noticed it – or at least chose to comment. The tannin is still there in spades – should you choose to search it out – but the wine is very well-balanced and drinking beautifully today – beautifully.
Rebuy – Yes

I’m sure I’ve opened and enjoyed one of these already, but yesterday’s CdN Villages was so good, I thought it would be a good counter-point…

2010 David Clark, Côte de Nuits Villages
Medium, medium-pale colour. The nose has more impact and intensity than the wine from Livera, a relatively heavy perfume with some strawberry references but quite engaging. Silky, slightly padded, the flavours reflect the perfume of the nose with some higher toned fruit flavours in the mid-palate. Just a little harder, punchier flavour as you enter the impressive finish. Another super wine, but today, I have to say, just a little less moreish and dynamic than the wine from Livera. Both are benchmarks!
Rebuy – Yes