I bought one bottle each of this, the Vieilles-Vignes and the Clos St.Jacques to compare and then decide which to purchase more of – but within days everything was sold – so the bigger brother and sister are packed away for a date together in the future.
2005 Sylvie Esmonin, Gevrey-Chambertin
Medium-plus colour. The nose starts with blue and black-skinned fruit over soft base that very faintly hints to stems – slowly the fruit becomes a nice precise currant note with a passing mint-leaf aroma. Silky-soft texture that’s linear to start and widens a little before black-cherry fruit takes over. The finish is distinguished by a slowly lingering softly-sweet flavour.
Rebuy – Yes

Plus a day in the life…

Short and sweet for a very pretty wine:
2006 A et P de Villaine, Bouzeron (Blanc)
High-toned fruit on the nose. Lovely acidity that carries fresh, sweet fruit into a medium finish. A very pretty and understated wine. Lovely.
Rebuy – Yes

While I’ve been away, two articles of interest:

• Land shapes the wine
• More climate warming discussion – with JF Mugnier

2005 Remoissenet, Gevrey-Chambertin
(Half-bottle) Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose needs 5 minutes in the glass, but then it sparkles with lovely red berry fruit, though after an hour it’s closed down a lot, leaving only sullen darker elements and faint chocolate. Very smooth texture, decent enough acidity, lovely breadth of fruit across the tongue and just an added dash of creamy oak flavour on the finish. The tannins are currently buried; this is very sophisticated for a villages Gevrey that I might wish had an extra edge of acidity, but I’m being really picky!
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Philippe et Vincent Léchenaut, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits
A nice, bright medium-plus colour. The nose shows plenty of spicy, deep-toned oak and eventually higher toned, slightly diffuse red fruit. The palate is less dense than the best 05 bourgognes and certainly less sweet/ripe than the majority, but still with a decent intensity, if lots of oak flavour. Actually pretty good with food, less interesting without. Cheaper, but short of the quality of last week’s Jayer-Gilles.
Rebuy – Maybe

Two nice wines to contrast. Both are ripe and forward and both went through different phases but each retained a distinct personality – I suspect less from the winemaking as the underlying terroir. I would very happily rebuy both – if any were available at initial pricing!
2005 de Montille, Beaune 1er Les Perrières
Medium colour with hints of purple. The nose starts wide, high-toned and with a rather candied fruit – quite interesting – and particularly so as it starts to develop a distinct creamy edge that’s not totally obviously from the barrel. In the mouth it is lithe and beautifully detailed – again with a creamy tinge that expands in the long finish – actually one phase during the evening shows this aspect just a little too much, but it slowly subsides to a more considered level. There is a lovely core of acidity with the ripe fruit, precise on the nose and in your mouth. A beauty whose star shines, wanes then shines again over about 3 hours that it lasted.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Des Croix, Beaune 1er Les Bressandes
Medium-plus colour, also with plenty of purple. Deeper aromatics and initially a little reductive – yet only 10 minutes in the glass unlocks round yet full, ripe, dark cherry and higher tones – the aromas cling to the glass. Versus the Montille this is much rounder and fuller in the mouth – it also seems longer, but a fair amount of that flavour is barrel derived. Only about 30 minutes are required for this to fully unwind, yet despite its dimensions, this is a little less complex than the Montille today. Still a super wine.
Rebuy – Yes