Of-course David sold his PTG so this is the last vintage – seems a good match for rösti and sausage I think!

2010 David Clark, Bourgogne Passetoutgrains
A little reduction hangs around for no more than 2-3 minutes – good! Round, with reasonable depth, the aromas give little of their mixed parentage away, though eventually I try to convince myself that the red fruit might have some gamay about it but you’d only spot it with 20:20 hindsight! The high-toned fruit in the mid-palate seems pure pinot to me – and lovely it is too. The tannin and acidity form good supporting roles; just a hint of bitter chocolate effect in the finish – most-likely barrel-derived – but the succulent flavours over-ride it. Lovely wine, brilliant PTG.
Rebuy – Yes

They say it’s not worth keeping PTG – and given how good this tastes today – why would you?

Earlier this year, I was so happy to see that BP&F’s 2010s had been shorn of their coats of toasty oak – instead I could taste and smell the wines. It seems from this wine, it may have been an abrupt change – this 2009 is everything that I found disappointing about those 2005-2008 wines…

2009 Bouchard Père, Beaune 1er Beaune du Château
DIAM 5. Wow – this has a real slug of overt toastiness on the nose – even after one hour it is the boss of the show – only the last drops in the glass begin to offer a cleaner red fruit note. In the mouth this has great acidity, well-controlled tannin and an extra (besides oak) width of flavour in the mid-palate – but oops, that’s oak creaminess too. This has an effervescent balance for a 2009 and plenty of sweetness to the flavour – but I think I need to turn to something else tonight if I want to see something from the Côte d’Or. This wine has a great record age 3 with me – maybe the other half of this will have magically transformed when I return tomorrow…
Rebuy – Maybe

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