2010 Benjamin Leroux, Auxey-Duresses
Drank over two nights, this wine was lovely – a bit plumper if allowed to get too warm, but I only allowed that once! Medium-pale yellow. The nose has some depth of ripe lemon and even a few spice accents that might have me thinking of Meursault. Smooth and concentrated. The acidity wells up from the core of the wine and almost, but not quite, takes over. Fresh it is, but not mouth-puckeringly so. Good depth of ripe fruit in the mid-palate that has a sherbet edge to it the first hour it’s open. The texture gets smoother and smoother too, so there’s probably a bit of CO₂ sitting below the surface. Tasty, good value wine.
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Morey-Coffinet, Chassagne-Montrachet
This has the aroma of a patisserie shop bursting out of the glass, musky creme anglaise and some depth – I can’t really pick anything fruit-related. Textured, cushioned and with perfectly understated acidity but very efficient acidity. The flavours are also largely of creme patissiere – only at the end of the mid-palate did I think I’d spotted some deep fruit extract – but it was fleeting as the creme is the main note in the finish too. With aeration I can almost convince myself there is some minerality in the finish – almost. I quite like a bit of this in my 1er crus where the extra concentration of fruit/minerality acts as a foil – that level of buffer isn’t found here, so it’s certainly a fun wine, but was a bit wearing.
Rebuy – Maybe

A strong wine from ‘dee-joy-er roy-er’…

2010 Digioia-Royer, Chambolle-Musigny
Deep colour. The nose starts with a little cola from the CO₂, but as it fades dark fruit comes to the fore with a delightful aroma of black cherries and violets too. Despite the nose cleaning-up, the palate needs longer for the rasp of gas to leave. Dark flavours that hint towards reduction – though it’s far from obvious – with an extra depth of fruit flavour in the mid-palate, just accented with a little cream – seemingly from fruit not barrel, plenty of extract in the finish too. That said there’s a espresso-like bitterness in the finish, perhaps a hint of salt too – it is very well-judged oak after-all! An hour after opening, this is really very fine! Day two it’s a stream-lined, silky beauty – yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Buisson-Charles, Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is quite dark red cherry with perhaps a raspberry acompanyment too. A ripe entry with more succulent sweet fruit than you have right to expect in all but the warmest vintages. Succulent is the perfect word, I think. Like the nose, the fruit is a deep red cherry with a furry, slightly grainy hook of tannin. Outstanding Bourgogne.
Rebuy – Yes

The Poulleau from a couple of days ago was really good, but how good? Let’s contrast it to the wine of Thomas Bouley…

2010 Jean-Marc, Volnay Vieilles Vignes
Deeper colour than the Poulleau. The nose is a little spritzy/cola – CO₂. I give the bottle a few shakes to release the gas and leave it to rest for an hour. The fragrance improves to a deep, dark cherry-skin but never the cliché of floral delicacy that the Poulleau offers. Here is depth, density and concentration wrapped up in a super-smooth, beautifully mouth-watering package – just very lovely – though shaded to the dark-red/black spectrum versus the pure red of the Poulleau. Just very fine wine.
Rebuy – Yes

Overall, I prefered the aromatics and colour of the Poulleau wine, but here Thomas has delivered far better balance and concentration – same label, very different styles – but styles of wine rather than barrel etcetera!