2010 des Croix, Beaune 1er Pertuisots
Not a lot more than medium colour. A wine that was impossibly floral-perfumed before bottling – today it starts only with fruit – but very fine and pure red berry fruit. Give it enough time and there are flowers too – a smooth lilac impression. Mouth-filling, full of acidic zip but that’s balanced with a modest fat to the texture. At this age the tannin is almost completely submerged – certainly, there’s no grain – just a width of gorgeous and precise flavour – a little fuller and seemingly more concentrated as the wine warms in the glass. I slightly prefer the cooler zip – but I’m splitting hairs. A beauty – bravo – and no rush for my magnums I think 😉 Day two, the wine’s a bit more direct and intense – a little spiced too – so, enjoy it at its maximum on day 1!
Rebuy – Yes

Truth be told, I haven’t seen any since Sunday – and that wasn’t in France!

Anyway, there was the sun in the sky this afternoon and what a beautiful red sky at sunset too! It seems the weather for hordes who will come to visit Beaune for this Hospices Auction weekend, will be fine – except for Sunday – that’s not going to be so good. Oh well! Still, it looks like beautiful weather for Beaune half-marathon on Saturday – a shame, then, that I’ll be in Bern – but a stubborn cough 3 weeks after the start of a cold (negative tested) has left my jogging shoes unworn – maybe I will get to restart this weekend.

It’s been interesting to catch up on the rumours, some new, and not yet announced changes of ownership around the côtes – maybe a note about such gossip at the weekend.

Anyway, this has been my single busiest week of visits with 21 – but I only seem to get further behind with the writing – well, the publishing anyway.

2020 is coming into focus for me now – the whites are easy but the reds have a stylistic complication. I’ll share more at the appropriate time. Anyway, importantly, I’ve so far avoided issues with the mobile speed camera parked in front of the Clos de Vougeot – unlike some of the winemakers I’ve visited. Talking of avoiding, I also avoided tasting at the Roi Chambertin today; I went but decided not to taste. The place (Tonnellerie Rousseau in Gevrey) was just what was needed – a more open and less covid-intensive set-up after last year’s cancellation – with plenty of winemakers in attendance too. Unfortunately, it was a backwards step in the tasting process – winemakers stood by a barrel with 2-3 of their wines on top – a mini Grands Jours de Bourgogne. If you want to taste seriously, you do the villages, then the 1ers and then the grands – which in this case would have meant continuously touring the barrels and never being able to taste three Corbeaux side-by-side. So I said Hi to a lot of people, ate a number of gougères and then left. You can’t win them all.

Just three visits tomorrow before heading home for the weekend. Enjoy yours, wherever that may be.

Some of this weeks snaps: