1999 Bachelet, Gevrey-Chambertin VV
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour. A gorgeous nose; creamy red fruit of lovely depth, just a little brown sugar rounding it out – seems very much a Bachelet (barrel) signature rather than ‘Gevrey’ (the ’96 Charmes is very similar) time adds a little darker cherry. The texture is silky, there’s penetrating acidity without it being over the top, the mouth-watering flavours have very good dimension and a sugared impression that mirrors the aromas. Like the nose, there’s a very slow development of darker cherry flavours. Never more than medium-bodied, this is a super-elegant bottle – a shame that I only bought 6, way back when – an outstanding villages…
Rebuy – Yes

1999s
I’ve only had half a dozen 99s this year so far, but none have been closed. Grander wines have been tighter and have benefited from aeration, but none have been stubborn and importantly no bottles have been ‘wasted’. They are far from mature, but they have provided me with quite some drinking pleasure. I may try a bottle or two more…

Lastly – want to know what to do with a Chèvre à deux becs?

1999 Fourrier, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Combes aux Moines VV
I have to preface this note with the fact that the paint was worn from the end of the capsule, there were signs of seepage and the label was rather dirty – none of my other wines from storage have been in such condition. It’s a singleton, and hopefully (cosmetically at least) a one-off so maybe not representative. The colour is medium ruby-red. The nose starts with an impression of oak (despite Fourrier using very little), some sous-bois and a hint of brett – only the last drops in the glass show some very fine berry fruit. A forward personality in the mouth – good acidity and intensity without great weight. The flavours linger well, it’s smooth but the mid-palate is a little lumpy. My thoughts are mixed; this was certainly tasty, very tasty, but aromatically disappointing. If this bottle and that brett is representative, I’d be thinking of drinking a majority of bottles in the near future for their personality and keeping just a few back for longer term, I wouldn’t be buying more.
Rebuy – No

The abused capsule and leaky cork:

I keep driving past this Clos and seeing the constant work going on there – and I don’t mean just the vines: In the last year or so, workmen have largely repaired the walls of the Clos – last week a pair were ‘re-pointing’ the stonework of the entrance gates. I thought Mr Mugnier was joking with me when he said he might restore the mini-colosseum building as a gite, well I don’t know if it’s really a gite, but it looks in much better shape than the Acropolis now!

Anyway I’m on a very good ‘run’ of wines that I would rebuy, but thankfully so – these are all wines that I bought (typically) en-primeur – if they are no good I’ve clearly been wasting my time ‘practising’ these last years! Anyway, lots of parallels between this wine and the previous day’s 2006, but this is on a much higher plain – except perhaps if you want to drink it today!
2006 JF Mugnier, Nuits St.Georges 1er Clos de la Maréchale
Relatively deep colour with purple hints. The nose starts with sugary dark fruit of real depth, though less width – slowly it adds a creamy coating and eventually red berry notes begin to peek through. Fresh impact and plenty of extract too; the wine/wood tannins are smooth and impart an acceptably bitter note through the core of the wine – the sweetness of the dark cherry fruit is quite enough to balance, mixed with iron and minerals. The tannin and some of the bitterness are the main items of note in the finish, though these will fade and bring to the fore the creamy fruit that plays second fiddle today. It impresses now, but it will clearly impress more in the future.
Rebuy – Yes

I may change my mind if the weather turns hot, but I think a couple of 99 Gevreys might be nice in the next days; Fourrier Combe aux Moines and Bachelet VV anyone?

Well I was on a decent run, so why not another 2000? I’d put this behind both the Vougeraie Clos de Vougeot and the Clavelier Brulées, but it’s still a very nice wine:
2000 Clos des Lambrays
Medium ruby-red colour – looks great in the glass. The nose has a little more truffle than the Clavelier, some brown sugar and higher tones – pretty, but less pretty than the Brulées. In the mouth it’s nicely sweet, reasonably concentrated and provides a lingering sweet, mouth-watering finish that has more than one dimension. There’s still a little bitter oak in the finish but it’s only a minor distraction today. It needs at least another 2 or 3 years to reach its apogee, but it’s still a very tasty bottle.
Rebuy – Yes

Having failed to land the ‘Best Job in The World‘, I suppose I should open some wine. [As an aside did anyone see the Johnny Cash bio on UK BBC2 the other night? – stunning.] Anyway, after the two 2000s from Vougeraie, what better time to benchmark a third?

I found this aromatically superb at an en-primeur tasting and whipped out the plastic without hesitation – seven years later it’s time to take a look. The longer corks of the Vougeraie wines look much higher quality, and as if they were only recently bottled – by comparison the wine-soaked Clavelier corks would concern me if I was planning to wait 20 or more years (see below). Overall this Brulées is less fat than the Clos de Vougeot, but clearly with more freshness and youth on it’s side – it’s more ‘classic’ too. Clearly I don’t have enough Clavelier in my cellar!
2000 Bruno Clavelier, Vosne-Romanée 1er Aux Brulées
Medium ruby-red colour. The nose is round and delicately sweet and, at its core, retains that gorgeous crystalline dark cherry fruit of my original tasting – for the vintage that’s a rare treat. Good acidity also for the vintage and just enough fat to give a silky texture. You can find a little tannin if you’re prepared to work for it, but frankly, why bother? The fruit remains quite primary and shows a subtle creaminess as it lingers. Also a little bitter chocolate in the finish too that harks to oak. Young, but a beautiful drink today.
Rebuy – Yes

2000 Vougeraie, Clos de Vougeot
I wasn’t going to rush to open one of these, but given the relatively poor performance of the 2000 ‘Cras‘, I felt compelled to. Medium, medium-plus colour. Warm, ripe aromas with a hint of spice but without any loss of elegance and still a decent focus. Nicely mouth-filling, excellently textured and with understated, though sufficient, acidity. Decent depth of fruit and the faintest residue of tannin – only one complaint; there’s a hint of cola flavour that I don’t think appropriate for Clos de Vougeot. The finish is elegantly long. Neither a powerhouse nor a wine of mind-bending dimension – you might say not a great grand cru then, but this is a beautifully judged middle-weight that is in a very nice place at the moment. Most villages wines now cost more than I paid for this – I’d buy a dozen without a moment’s hesitation if I could pay the same price!
Rebuy – Yes