The last Bourgogne for a few days, and very tasty it was too!

2008 Sylvain Pataille, Bourgogne Le Chapitre
Medium-plus colour. The nose initially reminds me of the 2009 with a hint of cola, but this is relatively transient as a beautifully smooth and dark fruit comes to the fore. Quite round in the mouth but it’s understatedly concentrated whilst displaying an equally understated acidity. Long and mineral this is a wine that does everything without fuss but with great aplomb. Cut from the same cloth as the 2009, and certainly another wine to wait for…
Rebuy – Yes

Almost worked my way through the few 09 Bourgognes at home… This wine is a clear standout from the perspective of everything in the glass, though surprisingly it is still ‘pipped’ by the Bellene for absolute drinkability today – like the wine of Sylvain Pataille, this begs cellar time. Actually this really should be the clear standout; Cuvée ‘L’ is the code for the combination of the lees (at bottling time) of all C-G’s reds; villages, premiers and grands crus which is left in tank for a good few months more to settle out the fine lees. You would be forgiven for thinking (blind) that this could be a (slightly anonymous?) premier cru…

2009 Camille-Giroud, Bourgogne Cuvée L
Medium-plus colour. Ooh, depth, silky fruit and hints of violets. The texture starts with silk but quickly changes as the ripe tannin shows its face. Plenty of fruit and some minerality in the mid-palate too. Very good length. Clearly this is significantly above the standard suggested by the label, but given the contents of the bottle that’s surely no surprise. Another ‘Bourgogne’ that begs time to mature…
Rebuy – Yes

After the Maison Potel, here’s something made from riper fruit and certainly more concentration. Sylvain thinks so much of this plot that he only calls it ‘Le Chapitre’ – jamais Bourgogne! This is much more backward than Nicolas’s current wine from Bellene. Drink the Bellene, sell the Potel and cellar the Pataille!!!

2009 Sylvain Pataille, Bourgogne Le Chapitre
Medium-plus colour. The nose is hard to love at the start – it seems more like cola than wine – with time the cola slowly transforms to a musky, smoky, creamy red-black, almost blue fruit. Good concentration, plenty of freshness too. This wine is almost textured from the tannin but there’s hardly any astringency. Surprisingly (after the nose) this is far from the easy and sweet vernacular of 2009, it is a serious wine and I wouldn’t touch another for at least three years.
Rebuy – Yes