A wine that I bought on release, that has yo-yo’d between drinkable and not very tasty at all. Time to check in again – first time in 6 years.

2000 Jean-Marc Boillot, Pommard 1er Jarollières
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is as good as it has ever been; close to ripe fruit has a coating of musky/creamy-ness – it’s actually quite interesting. The acidity and associated tannin is tart and a little astringent, but if you swallow quickly, it seems quite okay. I probably needn’t add more…
Rebuy – No

2006 Château de Marsannay, Gevrey-Chambertin
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose begins with deep but narrow aromas with a little mint-leaf and occasional but pretty flowers and cream. There seems not too much tightening of flavour yet – there’s still a little rasp of tannin and a reasonable width of flavour too. Good acidity, which helps further expand the flavours in the mid-palate, which also shows a nice floral aspect. Young, this is a more than adequate wine for the label!
Rebuy – Yes

2001 Joseph Drouhin, Echézeaux
Medium colour. The nose offers occasional floral flashes, there is little on show here, perhaps just a little warm brown sugar. Sweetness of fruit and just a faint sour edge to good acidity. There’s a nice core of flavour, still with a faint rasp of tannin and quite some complexity – like a creamy cinnamon flavour but it’s all in the mid-palate and finish. This, grand cru or not, is a wine of subtle complexity rather than intensity and/or concentration. There should be no rush to drink this, but this is hardly even a middle-weight of a wine – that said, it was lovely!
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Henri Naudin-Ferrand, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune
The label says ‘Orchis Mascula’ – not sure if that’s just a bit of decoration, or the name of the cuvée. Dark, slightly spicy aromas, hints of sweet smoke, almost certainly some stems – actually more and more stem aromas with air – but also approaching a floral perfume. A nice width of flavour, then the acidity comes to the fore – but no problem – a hint of tannin too as you head into the finish. An hour later and it’s rounder, better balanced and quite tasty with a clear strawberry flavour. Good wine – a second bottle in the cellar should be quite interesting with a few more years…
Rebuy – Maybe

And not corked!!!

I’ve been lucky enough to both drink and taste a reasonable amount of Comte Lafon’s wines, but I’m ashamed to say that I’d none in my cellar before I bought this. There’s plenty of white Lafon for sale at auction – no surprise in these times of p.ox – but the reds are much rarer, so it is with some irony that the first of this immaculate looking 6-pack turned out to be lightly corked – grrr, that’s two in a row – but what about the second?

1992 Comtes Lafon, Monthélie 1er Les Duresses
Beautiful medium-red colour, no obvious browning or bricking. The nose is highly engaging (this time!); a macerating, baked redcurrant note with just the merest hint of a creamy coating – interestingly there’s a little 2004-style pyrazine here too – of ~2/10 green meanie intensity – a level that adds interest, rather than turns the stomach. It starts with a narrow flavour profile, but it’s balanced, indeed fresh – a little time in the glass allows the shape of wine to fill out some. The fruit has just enough ripeness and a very faint astringency (still). I might be tempted to say that I’m drinking this a little young, but I’m finding much of interest here. At a good price I certainly might buy again.
Rebuy – Maybe

For interest, just like young oak can mask parts per trillion of pyrazines, it seems so can parts per billion of TCA – it was possible, but very much harder to discern the pyrazine component in the corked bottle, whereas (at my level of sensitivity) it was rather easy for this wine. Blind I would have 100% guessed it was a 2004, indeed, this actually has better colour than many 2004s!

I really don’t buy Fourrier any more, it’s become just a little too expensive, but 1999-2005 it was on my annual purchase list. With sausage and rosti coming up, it seemed that this 2003 would have been just the job, but (my first for quite some time) it is completely and utterly corked.

To quote Patrice Rion: “imagine all that work, spoiled…”

Drunk at the weekend (the bottle not me!), and like the Remy of yesterday, this was also the second, and last, of two – this time ‘almost’ as good as the first.

1969 Thomas-Bassot, Chambolle-Musigny
The nose needed just a few minutes to deliver its perfume of cushioned dark red fruit – perhaps not as ethereal as the first bottle, but lovely none-the-less. Once more a very clean and tasty wine delivering volume, dimension and still a little tannin. Very nice length, that’s still dominated by the fruit. What a lovely, elegant yet still robust wine.
Rebuy – Yes