A label that states Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots Appellation Contrôlée – like the Leroy here, you are supposed to know that it’s a premier cru, there is no mention on the label.

Anyway were are in a black hole of labels here; André Cathiard, Sylvain Cathiard, Cathiard-Molinier. To the best of my digging so far, André is the father of Sylvain and grandfather of Sebastian who now works with his dad. Concurrent with the labels of André Cathiard (and even Sylvain some years) you could find the labels of Cathiard-Molinier – which were otherwise identical and for the same appellations. I still see the C-M wines in lists from vintages post 2000. I can only assume that for various tax reasons (and maybe for sharing the proceeds with the extended family) these continue as separate legal entities – If you know better then please let me (us all) know.

1989 André Cathiard, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots
This wine retains a very healthy and quite deep (medium-plus) ruby-red colour at the core. The nose has some high woody notes – but relatively elegant wood – a darker more mineral core and fruit with a little raisined aspect. Impressive intensity is the opening gambit, again with clean, though slightly raisiny fruit – plenty of sweetness too. The acidity has a slightly harsh leading edge, but this is quickly broached to leave a complex, tasty melange of flavours that include a mineral – almost coal – type flavour. Long finishing too. Still grainy tannins that could do with resolving. Full marks for personality and complexity, some demerit for a hint of rusticity – but it’s actually still a young wine. I’m won over by its character and complexity – I drank rather more of it than I normally do in one evening – it’s a really engaging bottle.
Rebuy – Yes

Here are a couple of other label examples:

A new member to the family this weekend; Elsa the 14 week-old Rhodesian Ridgeback – that’s as big a photo as I can ‘do’ as I’m useless at getting images from a phone-camera! We’ve had a ridgeback before that almost made it to 15 years of age, 6-8 months old was the only problem time; when she was teething she virtually ate the kitchen, and I don’t mean food! Elsa’s currently in the UK but should be in Switzerland in another 10-14 days – time to find a 6-8 month-old ridgeback-size cage!

Anyway, onto wine. I celebrated the new arrival in the family with another bottle from the 1995 vintage. This was bought about 8 years ago, before the producer got a lot of limelight and his prices tripled. I opened it in the cellar (14°C) and left it there for 2 hours before bringing it upstairs and pouring. The first two mouthfulls seemed a little simple, but the wine was only limbering up:

1995 Sylvain Cathiard, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Malconsorts
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour – no obvious signs of age here. The creamy-fruit nose reminds me a lot of the Bachelet ’99’ Gevrey VV from last week; there’s just a little more depth and a ‘harder’ red berry core – it’s very nice indeed, though not the usual Malconsorts spice. In the mouth there is plenty of understated concentration and similarly understated tannins though those tannins seem to keep you under surveillance the whole time the wine is in your mouth. I’d suggest another year or two in the cellar. Cooly confident fruit that has more than one dimension and lingers well on smooth acidity. After 3 hours there’s a hint of spice aroma – but the bottle is almost gone…
Rebuy – Yes

After a 1995 that needed to work on its charm, here’s one that did exactly that – it took about an hour:
1995 Jean Grivot, Nuits St.Georges Les Lavières
The colour has quite some garnet maturity, but it’s bright and appealing. The nose starts a little meaty, but with about 45 minutes of aeration it centres itself on slightly spicy red-skinned plum – but not in any way heavy. Likewise the palate is quite stodgy for about 1 hour, but little-by-little it becomes fresher, helped by penetrating but smooth acidity that amplifies high toned dark red fruits on the palate. It seems to slowly sweeten, the tannin is background but encases everything in a very thin astringent coating – actually quite a nice effect. Slowly lingering with a trace of warmth. I slowly warmed to this, it was quite aloof and even unknit when opened, but was worth the wait.
Rebuy – Yes

From one Pommard to another – less love from this bottle though:
1995 J-M Boillot, Pommard 1er Jarollières
There’s some age in the colour, but the core is still a nice red. The nose is meaty, only a little leafy and eventually gives a very pretty redcurrant note. There’s a lift to the acidity, it’s even a little raw to start with, but it’s moderated with aeration. The concentration/intensity is reasonably good and whilst the tannin is well in the background it still manages to add a note of hardness. The overall impression today is a sweet/sour stance though the acidity provides a decently mouthwatering finish, yet is a long way from seamless. The jury’s out on this one – I’d leave it in the cellar another 3+ years as a starting point…
Rebuy – No

What a transformation by this wine! Okay it was only an en-primeur ‘sample’, but back in early 2003 this had great fruit and a wall of ripe tannin that could almost have fit to a Richebourg – it had so much personality that I simply couldn’t refuse to make an order – it’s amazingly different today:
2001 de Courcel, Pommard 1er Grand Clos des Épenots
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour at the core, just fading to salmon at the rim. The nose is a sweet mix of tea, coffee, forest floor and dark plum fruit. Immediate impact in the mouth, but then it smoothly melts across the palate without apparent tannin (how did that happen?) – at the start you have to look very hard to dig out the tannin, though slowly it starts to exert a little grip with faint fut finely grained astringency. The acid balance is lovely and a bitter mocha note follows long into the finish. It’s a wine of real character, young, but with more than a nod to some semi-mature flavours. A really personable individual..
Rebuy – Yes

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?