Starting with two great 2017s then an almost equally great 2018 that still managed to annoy me!

2017 Claire & Fabien Chasselay, Brouilly Les Balloquets
A lovely fresh, crunchy, dark-red fruit. Energy and freshness here – really a deliciously mouth-watering flavour – practically juicy. A wine that disappears so quickly you will be left with both an empty glass and an empty bottle. Bravo!
Rebuy – Absolutely

2017 Alex Gambal, St.Aubin 1er Les Murgers des Dents du Chien
The penultimate vintage chez Gambal – it’s also the first Gambal that I’ve seen with a DIAM – and a DIAM¹⁰ too.
Hmm – that’s a great nose – though blind the modest spice might have me thinking ‘Meursault.’ Really fine energy in the mouth – detail, super clarity of flavour too – that’s great – it needs a little time for the oak notes in the middle and finish to fade but it’s a beauty all the same – and DIAM too – a wine for the ages. That said I’ve never had a bad wine from Gambal with cork either…
Rebuy – Absolutely Again

2018 Alex Gambal, Bourgogne Aligoté
Vines in the Hautes Côtes – but – back to cork – WTF! Yes the bottling was done after the purchase of the business by Boisset, and none of their labels use DIAM – more fool them, though I suppose more fool me too as I bought the wines!
A forward open nose – and impression of ripe but energetic pineapple fruit. For an 18 here is very fine freshness and energy – the combination is super juicy! Tasty and long too – but this 6-pack will mainly be finished in 2-3 years as the DIAMs are now gone!
Rebuy – yes for the wine, no for the corks

2011 Clavelier, Morey St.Denis
Not opened: Night one I fancied a glass but only one so decided to wait for Sunday. On the Sunday evening I learned that I was to be the chauffeur! Maybe next week 🙂

2013 Pavelot, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Sous Frétille
There’s a little depth to the colour but still quite modest. The nose starts tight but with air you have a growth of both freshness and clarity of deep and ripe fruit – airy and mineral almost textural too. Here’s a nose that just keeps getting better and better! Concentrated, silky with a shimmer of acidity that’s highlighted with a little salinity. The finish is long, mineral but quite narrow – persistent all the same. Not super-energetic but enough. A wine that started with a certain tightness but became more and more interesting as it relaxed in the glass.
Rebuy – Maybe

2009 Camille Giroud, Corton
There was much discussion as to what cuvée name should be given to this wine – because the grape contract stipulated ‘no climat’ – because with the climat you would have known who sold the grapes! In the end the wine was ready to bottle with no very good ideas – so a simple Corton it was…
A modest medium, medium-plus colour – for a grand cru anyway. A nose that’s alive with sweet dark sugar and an attractive dried leaf – modestly mature and certainly beckoning! There’s both freshness and intensity here, a wine that has plenty of middle concentration, then a slowly lingering finale – but oh-so-long. For an ‘anonymous’ Corton, this was simply great wine – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

2018 Céline & Nicolas Hirsch, Les Terraces
As the name suggests – a wine cultivated on terraces – young vines of Sylvaner in Chénas.
I really loved the 2019 of this that I tasted in my tour of 2019s in February, this wine I loved a little less. It actually smelled like crémant (spellcheck suggests cement here!) but without the bubbles. A sort of appley – almost oxidative style. It remains quite drinkable but the 2018 is a wine that I like much less.
Rebuy – No

Melon de Bourgogne is an assuredly old Burgundian grape – though you would be forgiven for only ever having come across it in your glass when labelled as Muscadet – or Muscadet sur Lie.

Le Melon, as the (rare!) aficionados call it, has all but vanished from Burgundy – only about 2 hectares remain in production – 60% with one producer (in two plots) just outside of Beaune and the rest in the Yonne, near Tannay. Not yet in production, Armand Heitz (of Chassagne) has also just planted a plot!

This is a late-ripening variety with recorded local roots in the 13th century. Philip II of Spain, who was also Duke of Burgundy, banned its plantation in 1367 – not disloyal just not good! – but even back then, the locals didn’t like being told what to do! There were still around 40 hectares recorded in the Côte d’Or in 1960 but 30 years later there was just 1 hectare left!

Partly responsible for this decline is that Le Melon is not one of the ‘allowed‘ grapes of Burgundy – as you may note from the label, above, this wine is an IGP Saint Marie la Blanche – the words ‘Burgundy’ or Bourgogne’ are not allowed anywhere near the label!

Anyway, 3 notes for you here and an ‘allowed’ grape or not, I’ll add a section on Le Melon here later in the growing season – when I’ve images of something worth photographing 😉

2018 Melon
Plenty of colour. A narrow nose but deep and suggesting a faint oxidative salinity. Wide, vibrant, yes a slightly oxidative style – almost apple flavour – a grain to the texture almost a grainy complexity. I find the finish rather spicy – it’s supposed to be the same as muscadet but not here – nop!

2019 Melon
A little extra green tinge to the colour. Also a deep nose but here it’s due to a faint reduction. Fuller, a faint impression of oak – extra freshness – nicer fruit here. There’s only 2% barrel elevage the rest is in tank – this rather creamy but I assume I’m tasting something other than those barrels.

2020 Melon
In bottle 1 month.
This the most higher-toned and floral nose – it’s very attractive and certainly the freshest. In the mouth too – vibrant, fresh, more saline and intense – lovely acidity here. Whilst I loved the creaminess of the last, the nose was slightly sullen – this is a great around wine though!

If you are interested in something a little different, just 7km form the centre of Beaune, you can buy this wine (and their other Bourgognes (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Aligoité, Crémant)) at their domaine shop, here

Last weekend there were no wines for me – but not because I was on the wagon – rather because I received my first covid-jab on Friday evening – Pfizer – so I let that do its thing before opening something a couple of days later…

2019 Yvon & Laurent Vocoret, Chablis
Whilst I personally prefer DIAM for whites, here is a winemaker with convictions – it’s cork but even for his entry-level Chablis, it’s NDtech cork! No cheap alternatives here.
A forward of aroma here – attractive and deep, reflections of fresh citrus. Good energy and not with the forward sweetness that many recent Chablis show chez Nanson – but still all the deliciousness of 2019 – I prefer this. Structurally sound, suggesting some salinity in the finish – that’s an excellent and delicious Chablis.
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Albert Bichot, Beaune 1er Champimonts
Plenty of depth to this colour and it’s now starting to show a little age. Creamy, some depth of more mature notes – and some, now, attractive last vestiges of oak. Ooh, that‘s a rather silky texture and there’s concentration here too. A width of flavour, sweetness of old fruit and still some (now) quite modest bitters – probably originally from the oak but still bringing a sense of dryness to the texture. The nose is getting better and better with time – freshening up and becoming more fruit-focused. It’s drinking but in terms of the submerged depth of tannin and those finishing bitters, still far from a fully ready or fully delicious wine. If I had more – I don’t know if I do! – I’d be tempted to wait for its 20th birthday. I’ll have to find something nicer for the weekend…
Rebuy – No