1985 Michel Voarick, Pernand-Vergelesses
What a nose; this jumps out of the glass, deep, musky, sweet, probably still plenty of dark oak – if you’d been told it was a Richebourg you wouldn’t be disappointed – not until you put it in your mouth anyway! The nose writes a cheque which the palate will never pay; there is a little fat and a nicely sweet lingering acidity that flows into the medium-plus finish. There is just a hint of tannin still and also some dimension to the mid-palate flavours. Overall this isn’t too bad but I’m left with the impression that I’m mainly sampling quercus, rather than Pernand. Fun and very much alive, if not quite my pre-eminent style-choice, yet it would be churlish of me to say anything other than ‘chapeau!’
Rebuy – Maybe

Plenty of new reading on my desk…

Here’s a wine that I bought for a song at auction – hopefully it’s drinkable as there are 11 more in the cellar! I have a number of younger vintages (05, 07 and 09 – I must like ‘odd’ vintages!) all of which seem to me a bit more stylish than this, though I don’t know if that is down to the winemaking, the vintage or subsequent storage of the ’95.

1995 Daniel Rion, Vosne-Romanée 1er Beaux-Monts
Medium-plus colour. The nose here is of just faintly roasted, spice-edged deep red fruit – not roasted enough to be off-putting but enough to be slightly sub-optimal for me – but it’s wide and involving and rather forward too. In the mouth this has a concentrated, velvet texture that if you really roll the wine around in your mouth becomes slowly a little astringent – but that’s your choice! Full flavoured with plenty of intensity and a very good underlying acidity – there’s almost a hint of almond flavour in the finish, bitter chocolate too, which is probably barrel-derived – but eventually majors of a mouth-watering mineral note. Highly drinkable despite a nose that punches you, rather than seduces you.
Rebuy – Maybe

1995 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Ile des Vergelesses
Medium, medium-plus colour. Just like the 2008 of this wine there’s a hint of musky vanilla to go with a lovely red fruit. Initially there is fat and a lovely balancing acidity – nothing of the harshness of many from the vintage – quite some intensity of red, slightly sweet raspberry fruit too. I’m very impressed by how sophisticated this is. Day two and it’s still a little musky, but the vanilla is gone, it’s also starting to show something more common with other 95s; whilst there’s no rustic or harsh tannin, the intensity of the mid-palate flavour is just hinting at the stridency of others from this vintage. All I can say id drink-up and be impressed; frankly it won’t put many tasters off on day two either. I’m happy that 11 remain in the cellar; a majority of which I’ll probably drink over the next five years, but just a few will be worth trying past their 30th birthdays…
Rebuy – Yes

And for followers of such things, since Sunday, US residents now have a chance to order ‘certain’ books locally!

I’ve seen some very ordinary notes (12/20) about ‘Cave des Dauphin’ wines – that was an old Savigny – in fact that’s all I’ve seen, I’ve no info about the name. I’ve seen wines under that name from the 1950s and as late as 1989 but know nothing more. A négoce? or perhaps somebody in Switzerland or Germany who bought barrels and bottled locally? I don’t know, but a lot of 1985 Clos St.Jacques and Beaune Grèves plus 1989 Bonnes-Mares was too tempting at an auction – how bad could they be (joke!)?

Well cosmetically how bad do you need? – the labels were virtually remnants. Anyway if you’ve any info, feel free to drop me a line or comment…

1985 Cave des Dauphin, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
The first task was successful – the cork came out in one piece. I poured a little and the colour was pretty good, and clearly as I swirled there was some viscosity – the glycerol clinging to the side of the glass. The first aroma was of soil but it was very quickly joined by dark molasses – very clean though. In the mouth this wine exemplifies why I see 1985 and 2009 as close cousins – there is depth, good flavour, ample sweetness and in this case a little glycerol-enhanced fat – what more could you want? Well maybe just the merest hint more acidity, but it’s nit-picking really! There’s still a little tannin if you search for it and a brown-sugar dimension to the finishing flavours. Clearly an ‘easy’ wine, but equally one that’s very easy to like and enjoy.
Rebuy – No Chance!

Drank over two nights with new friends from the 2011 vendanges. The first two bottles, and particularly the second, underline the loss to the world of the concept of aged white burgundy…

1978 Bouchard Père et Fils, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Pucelles
Golden. No hint of oxidation on the nose; there is some impact but it’s a little foursquare, hints of lanolin escaping from the glass. In the mouth – now we’re talking – good acidity and a lithe impression of restrained power. Decent length too. Belying its 33 years – this is lovely old white burgundy.

1984 Yves Boyer-Martenot, Meursault 1er Les Charmes
Golden. Hmm now this also shows no oxidation and has a little spicy honey on the nose. There is less direct impact versus the Pucelles, but the acidity is just a notch better and more impressive still is the way that the flavour grows in the mid-palate – many dimensions. This is first class old white burgundy. Yum!

1979 Robert Ampeau, Volnay 1er Les Santenots
I don’t usually decant older wines, but my ham-fisted attempt to remove the cork ensured that plenty of pieces dropped into the bottle – so I filtered through an unscented tissue into a decanter. The aromas were soil, soil and more soil – perhaps damp soil too – I initially thought brett but it blew off, so probably wasn’t. Given 20 minutes a very nice, almost creamy red fruit started to show itself – given one hour, this was very pretty indeed. The palate transformed a little less; always silky and with just a little fat for weight, the acidity was the only thing that seemed to change – moving from a little spiky to nicely smooth with aeration. Was a lovely wine, not too robust or rustic – a nice birthday vintage bottle for one of our (younger!) group.

1969 Thonas-Bassot, Chambolle-Musigny
Older bottles of villages wines are not quite a lottery but the odds of having a great experience are similar to tossing a coin, even when well-stored. We tossed well. This time the cork was removed in one piece; the aroma was disjointed and dark to start but in the glass you needed only ten minutes for it to transform into a beautiful musky, sultry, almost velvety dark red fruit – you had to be there! In the mouth there was both volume and dimension, sweetness and good length. A clean and very tasty wine indeed – I wonder if my second bottle will be so good…

And next day? No headache!

Doesn’t this wine have just the prettiest name?

2005 Potinet-Ampeau, Volnay 1er Les Carelles sous la Chapelle
Deep color. The nose starts with very little, but bit-by-bit opens with fruit that’s very 05; intense, certainly ripe but still pure, uncooked fruit – it’s very nice. Mouth-filling but without obvious puffery, just intense, clean and lithe muscle. Good finish – open and captivating. Yum.
Rebuy – Yes