You may remember that I was mildly surprised by how good (or at least not bad) the quality of the Camus wines were: Well as the 2010 En-Primeurs are being rolled out, you might find you can buy this Chambertin for less than some ‘worthy’ producer’s villages Vosne, Chambolle or Gevrey – frankly ridiculous – assuming this Chambertin is any good of-course.

It turns out (in absolute terms) to be a very good wine indeed! It would clearly lag behind some other Chambertin, but this wine is indeed redolent of that vineyard, and the latest vintage is yours for only Euros 47 ex cellar. Remind me again of the cost of the Mugnier, Cathiard, Rousseau, Grivot (et al) 2010 villages…

1998 Camus, Chambertin
An auction purchase, but the bottles look in perfect condition – twirling capsules too – though I expected wax. Medium-plus colour with just a little amber at the rim. The nose has plenty of depth, understated leafy forest floor and a faint creamy edge to the muscled, dark-red fruit. With time the nose fills out with a hint of mushroom and an even clearer dark-red berry fruit. In the mouth this is full, reasonably intense and with a large-scaled flavour profile in the mid-palate. The length is understated but for all that, very impressive. The tannin is relatively faint but quite fine and still enveloping, perhaps adding to a little bitter-chocolate impression to the fruit in the mid-palate. And as a direct counterpoint? The Eugénie VR Brûlées is smoother, but has less scale and flavour dimension, it may be more elegant, but it seems there’s only so much you can extract from that terroir – despite charging almost 3x the price for it!
Rebuy – Yes

Fair to say I’m not unhappy to have 5 more of these in the cellar; I expect they will keep improving for at least another 5-10 years…

Putting aside the fact that this wine costs approaching the double of what yesterday’s Jean Tardy set me back, what price can you put on contentment, or rather lack of contentment? Here is a wine that leaves you contented…

2007 d’Eugénie, Vosne-Romanée 1er Aux Brûlées
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is deep and padded with a hint of musk, fine spice and a creamy crust to the dark fruit aromas. Soft entry, but it’s a little glycerol cushioning that provides the softness, not a lack of structure or flabby fruit; here is a beautifully delineated wine – for a 2007 – clarity of flavour and clean-lines from the understated cool acidity, and even a good base of minerality. There’s a late arriving bitter twist to the serious fruit and finally just a little fine tannic texture. It would be easy to knock ‘Château Eugénie’, and this is certainly very, very polished wine but here is also a wine of class and distinction – the combination of those two words is a rarity in 2007 – not the absolute energy of a 2008 or 2010, but there’s something a little zen-like here.
Rebuy – Yes

Slowly working myself into the new year – this is not such a bad start, but methinks, hardly a wine to search for – that said, Tardy remains attractively priced, or used to be anyway! Tomorrow I’ll go for another 07 Vosne 1er, but one that takes itself far more seriously – let’s see if it is warranted.

2007 Jean Tardy, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Chaumes
Medium colour. The nose has some herbal elements above an understated but quite complex mix of fruit; cherry, strawberry and eventually a long redcurrant note. There is a hint of spice too, though I’m not sure if it’s from the soil or the barrel. I find a herbal element on the palate too – not quite green, but hinting at green. The texture is reasonably smooth, and seems to have an element of weight – tannin is there as a faint rasp on the end of your tongue. Decent length in a red register. I expect this had a bit better balance 18 months ago; today it’s far from seemless, the acidity just seems to be approaching ‘sharp’ if not quite there yet, though sweet and sour with emphasis on the sour could certainly be used. Day three: (only stoppered and left at about 17°C) and this wine is suddenly delicious; all herbal references have faded to relative insignificance and the fruit has a beguiling, understated sweetness – how did that happen? I don’t know, but I’d buy it again now!
Rebuy – Yes