Another day, another Charmes. Laurent Ponsot tells me that the market has taken very well to his Ardea seals, and given three corked wines at a recent vertical tasting of his Clos de la Roche VV he remains absolutely sure that this was the only way to go. I still have a lot of problems to remove them from the bottle, but this wine was certainly worth a little travail…

2009 Ponsot, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose is quite different to yesterday’s M&P Rion; narrow, yet it plumbs impressive depth; redder with a note of cherry stones – blind, you would be unlikely to pick this as a 2009. In the mouth this has some fat, but there’s also a beautiful line of acidity that runs through the core of the wine. The crystalline fruit seems equally bright and quite fleet of foot too – nothing vaguely ponderous here. Quite long on a fading mineral note. Considering he’s such a late picker I have no idea how Laurent delivers such minerality in a vintage like 2009, but chapeau! Excellent wine that is far from the vintage stereotype.
Rebuy – Yes

2009 Michel & Patrice Rion, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose shows a heavy musky fruit of impressive depth and quite some layers. Lovely texture that has just a hint of fat followed by a growing intensity of flavour – the intensity is turned-up by having understated but rather good acidity – given three or four years and the shrinking of the fruit’s puppy-fat and this could have just about perfect balance. The last part of the mid-palate, heading into the finish shows a good whack of extract and just a hint of bitterness in the finish, a very good length of finish. Full, frank and yet cuddly today, this has everything to deliver a compelling performance, but I expect that performance is the best part of 15 years away…
Rebuy – Yes

1981 Robert Ampeau, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Lavières
Medium colour. The nose has depth and width – there’s still some fruit and sweetness of fruit, turned-over leaves and a hint of meat. There is a slight cushioning to texture and still a little velvet from the tannin – lovely acidity flows through the core of the wine. There’s plenty of flavour here, perhaps becoming a little higher-toned in the mid-palate but it’s not about to fall off a cliff. Very smooth, very yum…
Rebuy – Yes

2008 L&A Lignier, Gevrey-Chambertin Les Seuvrées
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose shows lovely depth; just a hint of musk and dark red fruits. Fresh, but not overly so this trips over the tongue delivering excellent dark-shaded fruit and impressive complexity – just a hint tart in the finish but compellingly-so. Chew and you can find a little tannin that sticks to your mouth with a hint of astringency.
Rebuy – Yes

1989 Cave du Dauphin, Bonnes-Mares
Medium colour. There is a hint of roasted to the fruit but generally this is not so bad, rounded with a faint pot-pourri note. The fruit is ripe enough and actually shows a good mineral tension; not the last word in intensity, but not bad either. The acidity is just fine and you can still get a few grains of tannin too. Probably not an exceptional Bonnes-Mares, but a nice enough bottle.
Rebuy – Maybe

An excellent wine I cannot deny and one of character too – but it’s priced as a premier cru – so I would rebuy only at the ‘correct’ price…

2009 Eugénie, Vosne-Romanée
Classic spice-bread on the nose. Clearly there is quite some extraction here, evidenced by that modern rarity – real tannin! Good underlying acidity and plenty of flavour too. This is a wine of real character; the tannins are forward but without astringency and the fruit flavour is equally boisterous. I like it.
Rebuy – Yes