The first day of 10 days quarantine for me and my better half – but we’ve no symptoms or positive tests – but yesterday we visited my 96-year-old mother-in-law in her care home – and she was (in theory!) negative – but today they rang us to say she is positive, so…

At least I can still taste my wines 🙂

2010 Jean-Claude Boisset, Auxey-Duresses Les Crais
A deeper yellow colour but far from gold. That’s a beguilingly attractive nose – ripe citrus and salted caramel. In the mouth such a lovely acidity – incisive wine. The flavour of many dimensions and a depth of creamy, salted caramel, like the nose. The barrel is obviously playing its part here, but oak-averse as I am, I can only say that this is completely delicious – give me a second glass. There was a third and a fourth too – none left for day two!
Rebuy – Yes

1997 Ponsot/des Chézeaux, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
An impressive 54mm of cork-length here.
Plenty of browning to this medium strength colour. The nose starts with deep, smoky, sweetly-turned-earth, dried leaves, a flash of espresso – but then it’s gone – and a graphite-style aroma. There’s not much aromatically in this Chambolle that you would associate with fruit or flowers! In the mouth, the style is broad with plenty of acidity – some 1997 sweetness and plumptiousness of texture. Waves of flavour sweep from the middle into the finish of this wine, plenty of bitters and vegetable references but without tipping over into vegetal. I find this wine captivating but don’t come here for cliché Chambolle!
Rebuy – Yes

As a warm-up, there was the last glass from the Pavelot, then the following, their two corks in fine shape:

2018 Jacques Saumaize, St.Véran Poncetys
That’s a deep nose, faint smoke surrounding a vibrant depth of ripe pineapples and minerals. Ouch – that’s so good! The pineapple fruit to the fore again but more importantly a zinging width of energy and then a long mouth-watering line of finishing flavour – more mineral and citrus here. That’s a beauty!
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Comtes Lafon, Monthélie 1er Les Duresses
There’s the start of a little tertiary dried leaf aroma, but above is still a pure and attractive dark fruit and flowers – almost blackcurrants. Very silky with a nicely direct line of flavour. Plenty on insistent concentration with wide waves of persistent finishing flavour too – here the blackcurrant returns, maybe a little blackcurrant leaf too. Fine acidity and a tannin that’s more suggestion than reality. This is still young, but it’s also delicious.
Rebuy – Yes

I opened the 1997 of this about 2 weeks ago and it was in brilliant form. Here the 1999 – unsurprisingly a little younger and less mature, but both drinkable (very!) and showing the extra class of the 1999 vintage:

1999 Jean-Marc Pavelot, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er La Dominode
A cork that came out in one – obviously bleached – but not, seemingly, to the detriment of the wine.
Clearly a lot of maturity in this colour but, all the same, deeply coloured. Impressive depth to this nose – a core of powerful, perhaps not fully open, fruit. I have the impression of both class and sulky – clearly less mature aromas than the ’97. Mouth-filling, plenty of tannin if you go searching it out, otherwise here’s a very sophisticated, balanced and concentrated wine. A suggestion of Savigny herb in the middle flavours. Mouth-watering freshness and still an accent of drying tannin – though you’ll no-longer find any grain. I would say just about starting to drink properly but with at least 10 years ahead of it – I’m very happy to have 6 or 7 more in the cellar. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

This weekend’s…

A strong couple of wines for this weekend’s successful re-run of the Hospices de Beaune 2020 wine-auction – only 1 month late – the auction that is, not these two wines! Some thoughts on the auction tomorrow when I’ve had the chance to peruse the full detail.

2017 Sébastien Giroud, Pouilly-Loché
DIAM10 for this wine…
A warm depth of faintly spiced aroma – but with a support that seems structural and fresh. Mouth-filling, lovely texture, flavours framed with a little salinity. Last time tasted I’m sure this was more open, today it’s direct and a little more mineral. Wide fishing, modestly mineral here too. Excellent, but already for keeping a little – give it a couple more years.
Rebuy – Yes

2002 Varoilles, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos des Varoilles
A cork where the worm of the corkscrew is clearly going to pull through the centre of the cork – the sides welded into place. So I go for the ah-so – still, a far from perfect choice as the cork, anyway, chooses the break in half. At least the last part comes out in one piece!
Some browning at the rim – it looks like there’s some measure of maturity here. The nose is lovely – deep, mature, turned-over earth and dried leaves yet still a little floral perfume too, lovely! Mouth-filling, open, layered, with a nice bite of acidity and a long width of finishing flavour – there’s fine density of flavour here, which, like the nose, has a nice floral lift to it. Really super – I remember a magnum of 02 Gevrey 1er Romanée that disappointed from this producer – doubly so, as I’ve two more in the cellar! Hopefully, given how good this is, that was only a cork issue. Day two the nose is less attractive – a little brett creeping into the aromas – fortunately, it still tastes super.
Rebuy – Yes