At the risk of boring you, the hot weekend weather demands a cool bottle – or three – of Chablis. Unfortunately, this was a very unsatisfactory bunch. I feel a note to subscribers coming on – of the mea-culpa type – these 2020 pyrazines are becoming more and more invasive…

2020 Chablisienne, Chablis 1er Montmains
This was a bravo wine – pre-bottling – why else would I have ordered a dozen of them(?)
A nose of impact and good freshness but also of green-citrus skin and pyrazines. The palate is nicely structural in shape – those green-citrus bitters and energy are abundant but so are the more pyrazine style of flavours too. Ouch! So far, all bar one of my 2020 purchases – all of which I (obviously!) thought pyrazine free – are far from pyrazine free…
Rebuy No Only 11 more to go…

2019 Eleni & Eduard Vocoret, Chablis Les Pargues
Wine of the weekend but from a hobbled field! The problem with this wine today is the strongly visible oak – creamy, almost vanilla. Blind, I’m sure I’d be drinking something from the Côte de Beaune. If I’d wanted something from the Côte de Beaune that’s what I would have chosen, not a Chablis! On the other hand, this is delicious, perfumed, wine it’s just that the oak is wearing today. Wait for 3 years and I think it will be transformed…
Rebuy No

2020 Oudin, Chablis
A favourite producer – but! The cork was a little smelly but the tight nose seemed free of TCA. A muted aromatic, more of yellow citrus than the wine of the Chablisienne and only a faint suggestion of pyrazine. Tight, structural wine giving almost nothing away – but as it warmed in the glass the reason was apparent – faint TCA. After 3 such wines I cut my losses and instead of searching for a 4th bottle, I made some tea!
Rebuy – No

I don’t need to tell you that it’s hot – and tomorrow might reach 40°C in Burgundy – but at the weekend I was able to enjoy brunch atop the Niesen with its 2,362 metres of altitude – to be honest, I needed a pullover! For a place that I love so much I’m astounded that it’s nearly 4 years since my last visit – where did the time go during the covid-period?

Unsurprisingly, I’m a big fan of the mountains and particularly enjoy running the trials – that was until 3.5 weeks ago when I rolled over my left ankle at quite high speed – head in the clouds, eyes certainly not on the trail. That was me limping – and definitely not jogging – for a time. I just completed my second comeback jog today and think I’m now okay for alternate days of running. If there was anything ‘fortunate’ about my injury, it was the timing – I did this deed on the last possible day that I could cancel (for free) my hotel for the mountain race that I’d trained for in Sedrun on the 9th. I was the 7th-fastest old person (ie over 50) in the race last year and running the same time this year would have given me 5th place – I was in better shape this year – apart from, it seems, my eyes 🙂 Anyway, I can’t wait to get back into those hills…

But there was also wine:

2020 Gauthier, Chablis Vieilles-Vignes
Crunchy, structural, slightly green – but tasty as always – this house cuvée…
Rebuy – No

2019 N&G Fevre, Chablis Vieilles-Vignes
Not more concentrated than the last, perhaps slightly less structural too – but more directly tasty without the small hint of green. I like this a lot – as could be seen how quickly the bottle was emptied!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Nicolas Rossignol, Pommard Les Vignots
Medium coloured – and the colour’s starting to show a little age too. That’s a very appealing nose – almost touched with elegance despite a small graphite mineral accent. Even more elegance, and here is some silk to the texture too. The small note of graphite is also showing in the finish. I like the shape of this – it’s elegant yet has some proper structure. A delicious middleweight wine – yum!
Rebuy – Yes

Even stretching into the start of week 28 😉

2019 Raphael Chopin, Beaujolais Funambule
The no sulfur cuvée of declassified BJV
A year ago this was so impressively delicious and juicy – a bravo wine. A year down the line it’s still delicious but just a little less juicy so showing more finishing sweetness. No faults, just a bit less ‘bravo’ – still a very tasty wine!
Rebuy – Yes

And because of the hot weather, plenty of Chablis:

2020 Wengier, Chablis
A wine with the merest hint of the characteristic 2020 pyrazines – but there is more to find in the flavours. Structural and this is a punchy wine of some class. Very drinkable despite the green notes – if I was less sensitive to the greens it would be a definite rebuy for its proper Chablis minerality and punch – but I am, so…
Rebuy – No

2019 Alice & Olivier de Moor, Chablis Clardy & Rosette
Oof – now this has a more obviously bracing acidity than the 2020 (despite the reverse ‘averages’ of the vintages) but my palate quickly makes the adjustment to get with the flow of this super wine. So mouth-watering with great Chablis intensity. That’s a really excellent 2019 – and completely delicious.
Rebuy – Yes

2018 Céline & Frédéric Gueguen, Chablis Cuvée 1995
Not the oldest vines of the domaine but made as a separate cuvée as it’s the birthyear of both Céline & Frédéric!
After the previous two wines, here was a sense of calm – both aromatically and in the flavours too. We could be cynical and presume that to be the high yields of the vintage on full display – yet – here is a wine with good concentration and just a little extra citrus bitters as you head into the finish. Easy-drinking Chablis but still a worthwhile drink. For what it’s worth, I also find the 2019 Côte de Beaune whites are currently more interesting drinks than their 2018 counterparts.
Rebuy – Maybe

2012 Comte Georges de Vogüé, Chambolle-Musigny
The first bottle from this 6-pack. 2012s (in general, not just at de Vogüé) were brilliant, pre-bottling, with their fine structure and mega-appealing clarity of flavour. Then the vast majority tightened and were obviously for the long-haul. It’s nice to see that some wines might be re-opening:
Lots of colour. The nose has a bit of oaky funk about it but it’s also very forward and welcoming – air reducing the oak a little and accentuating the smaller complexities – that’s a great start. In the mouth I’m reminded of the structural shape of the vintage – I like! – but also the impressive middle and finishing energy on display from this ‘mere’ villages (yes, it does contain some 1er grapes.) Some was left for day 2 and the obvious clarity of the flavour has not been dulled, nor are there any unwelcome developments like brett. I am very happy with this first bottle!
Rebuy – Yes

First, something of a rarity – a Ponsot 1994.

Laurent Ponsot recounted to me this week that “In 1994 most of my neighbours picked a bit too early and had grapes full of rot. Me, (he said with a smile) I picked a bit too late and also had grapes full of rot! The wines were not very good and not something I wanted to put my label on, so I sent them all for distillation.” I pointed out that the de Chézeaux Griotte of 1994 proudly proclaimed him as the producer; “Yes, it’s true. I told the Mercier family (owners of his metayage parcels) what I was doing with my wines but they refused to follow – so for their contracted share of the crop, I had to deliver the bottles.”

1994 des Chézeaux/Ponsot, Griotte-Chambertin
The colour is not bad – certainly no browning here. An intriguing nose – a suggestion of the balsamic but there was no real oxidative character – despite a cork that crumbled into pieces and did, itself, smell very sherried! Still there was a certain hardness to the aromas that couldn’t really be described as an invitation to drink. In the mouth, slightly metallic – but not blood/iron – quite mouth-filling and with balanced acidity – but still, like the nose, with a certain hardness. I drank only one glass and returned the bottle to the fridge. On day two the aromas and flavours were more relaxed – this was a very stable wine with no obvious faults and it was certainly better on day two when I could manage two glasses! Because of its scarcity, Griotte is exceptionally expensive these days but this particular bottle was worth no more than €20 – and only for the experience – so if you find one, you have been warned!
Rebuy – No

1995 Jean Grivot, Vosne-Romanée Les Bossières
The 95s and 96s of Grivot – for a long time – could only be described as monolithic wines. Despite (selling!) merchants describing new approaches and ‘wonderful clarity’ in the early 2000s. then the mid-2000s, then again in the early 2010s, etcetera, etcetera, for me it was the same-old, same-old story. Only in the last 2-3 years have I seen the stirrings of real extra clarity and accessibility in the hands of Mathilde Grivot that make me want to return to taste new vintages. But let’s return to the 95s and 96s: After years of being uninteresting, in the last couple of years I have found many of these Grivot wines to be opening and really delivering some impressive performances – at last. Memorably there was this Richebourg but others have begun to deliver too, such as a 96 Nuits Boudots at a tasting, last week, of 1996s (to come for subscribers) and this 1995 too. Note, another rather spongy cork that was never, ever, going to be released from the neck in one piece!
Medium, medium-plus colour with a very subtle browning at the rim. This nose shows a small suggestion of both caramel and spice – maybe even a little cigar – it is a good invitation to drink, having no obvious faults. In the mouth nicely – but not overly – structural with good balance and whilst still underpinned by a little tannin there is no-longer any harshness to this experience. Decent length and nicely clean finishing – another glass? I don’t mind if I do. Finally, this is very good and another stable wine – like the Ponsot – zero problems with the wine on day 2.
Rebuy – Maybe

2020 Jean Chartron, Puligny-Montrachet
A direct nose with some stone fruit that was accented with florals. Such flavour energy and a growing intensity to this flavour too – really a mouth-watering and energetic wine – tension indeed. It’s lovely – topped off with a vibrantly tasty finish. Excellent villages and very Puligny…
Rebuy – Yes