Boisset Jean-Claude – 2005
For close to the full two and a half hours’ journey-time to Nuits St.Georges it rained, then it rained some more. What with that rain and a 9:30am first appointment I was sorely in need of some kind of ‘pick-me-up’ – my rendevous with Grégory Patriat turned out to… Read More
interesting wine in a new(ish) beaune restaurant
I had a very nice lunch in Beaune last week, and it provides me with an opportunity to give you a nice new restaurant tip and also to mention an uncommon, but tasty wine. The restaurant was called Clé de Voûte. If you enter the ring-road around Beaune from… Read More
and that was 2006 – my awards
So that was 2006! Not such a bad year (provided you have no association with a ‘war zone’), many good wines were drunk and they easily outweighed the number of disappointments. The 2005’s tasted throughout the year in barrel were harder to taste than (for instance) the 2002’s but… Read More
Chassagne-Montrachet: Village Profile
It’s still Chassagne to most people, but to give it its fuller, grander title, we should say Chassagne-Montrachet. Head up the ‘Rue Principal’ and you see before you a village dominated by the bare rock of the quarry that towers behind it. Take the sign for the village centre and… Read More
Beaujolais’ Niveau
Now when was it that Beaujolais started to become unfashionable? In the 1980’s it was still high on a wine buyer’s list of priorities; typically pigeon-holed as ‘light and fruity’ but, without doubt, still ‘worthy’. Then came the ‘marketing coup’ that was Beaujolais Nouveau. Sales went through the roof and,… Read More
Puligny-Montrachet: Village Profile
At the core of the white-wine-centric Côte de Beaune are Meursault & Puligny-Montrachet. Sadly for Chassagne-Montrachet and St.Aubin, and despite the quality of their wines – the former’s grand crus included – those two villages are often relegated to the afterthoughts of consumers. Meursault was, for generations, the most sought-after… Read More
a mix of 2004’s, late 2003’s and a hint of 2005’s
If I take a random selection of wines from good producers, then compare 2003 with 2004 then nine times out of ten, I prefer the 2004’s – and the more 2004’s I taste the more my impression is of a similarity to 2001 (for the sophistication of the tannins) but… Read More
Round-up of wines tasted
No slurping or spitting! No slurping and spitting; these wines were (in the main) really drunk, and mostly at home with food and friends between July 2005 and October 2005. … Corkwatch: 4 from 104 = 3.8% for ‘corked’ – best result for a while, apart from 2 being… Read More
12. Drinking the stuff…


If you are sufficiently interested, there is a significant body of blah, blah that you could read in order to augment your knowledge of the region and perhaps oil the process of buying of Burgundy. In the end, however, it all comes down to you, your glass and a bottle… Read More