Despite the weight of their bottles and the quality of the packaging, for years I’ve found the wines of Domaine Jacques Prieur far from the brightest pennies in the box, but sufficient people have told me to take another look that it’s perhaps time to try a bottle or two…
2005 Jacques Prieur, Beaune 1er Greves
Medium-plus colour, with flashes of purple. A super, super young nose of faint, creamy creme brulée over dark, almost jellied fruit – it’s rather exciting. In the mouth it’s superbly intense, balanced by gushing, but super acidity. The one down-side (for me) is that the dominant flavours are mainly dark, bitter-chocolate oak. Certainly plenty of power, and the lingering flavours end with fruit rather than oak, so I expect time will suck up most of the wood – if not all those toasted flavours – it might (one day) even taste like Beaune! I’m quite impressed by the gusto here and may add a couple to the cellar.
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Bertagna, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Les Dames Huguettes 
Medium, medium-plus cherry red. Frankly I don’t like the nose – it’s quite forward, but it’s mainly the bubble-gum notes of a less than satisfying Beaujolais. In the mouth the acidity is quite bright and the flavours are metallic. As it stands, it’s a big NO! I have to give it a chance, so most waits for day 2:  Another day and the bubble-gum is on a slightly lower order, but aromatically the wine is far from interesting.  Perhaps not so metallic tasting, but the acidity remains very tart – I don’t mind high acidity, but this is tart high acidity.  If represenative (and why shouldn’t it be?) a startling failure for the vintage.
Rebuy – No

My last Potel (99 Volnay 1er Mitans) was horribly corked so it would be hard not to improve! Very highly rated by Perry Mason from barrel, this is a wine that has been sullen virtually since release – every couple of years I pull one out for a test, the last was about the best showing. So…
1997 Nicolas Potel, Volnay 
Quite deeply coloured ruby-red and starting to gain a shade of amber at the rim. Wide, slightly ethereal aromatics with a submerged but dense core of darker fruit – very interesting. The full palate shows plenty of fine background tannin that’s edged with a little bitterness. There’s just enough acidity and the flavour lingers very well, hinting to cream – there was a slightly green cedary phase but then it was gone. A very fine 97 and a better drink than the d’Angerville 99 from yesterday.
Rebuy – Yes (at 97 prices!)

1999 Marquis d’Angerville, Volnay 1er Fremiet
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red core. The nose is dense, and just now will win no prizes for elegance – heavy plum notes dominate a nice dark confiture. Intense and nicely fresh, more mature flavours and a lingering liquid length. Tannin is only found if you roll the wine around in your mouth – it has some grain, but it’s rather anonymous. I finished every drop, but it’s far from in a lovable place today.
Rebuy – Maybe

2005 Heresztyn, Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes
Medium, medium-plus cherry-red colour. Width and dark cherry fruit with faint white pepper and a softer, warmer core. The palate has a soft texture, currently rather bright acidity but a very nice depth of fruit in the mid-palate and finish. It’s another 2005 that’s not an easy drink right now, but the quality behind will eventually repay the wait – though I expect it won’t be short wait.
Rebuy – Yes

Another Lignier, this time more differentiated by it’s label. I also see there’s a new website from this team.
2005 Lucie et Auguste Lignier, Morey St.Denis
Deep cherry-red colour, almost a little purple. Wide aromatics with slight white-pepper spice over a deeper but reticent black cherry. Excellent intensity of black cherry fruit, super acidity to balance and tannin that is submerged in the extract. It’s a powerful combination for a villages wine, a little mineral too but it’s also very linear and obviously closing-in on itself – faint black chocolate shows on the finish. Super villages but be prepared to wait.
Rebuy – Yes

2004 Hubert Lignier, Morey St.Denis
Medium, medium-plus colour still with some cherry-red colour. Deep aromatics, with dense darker cherry fruit thats not perfectly fine but has a lovely faint mocha halo. Mouth-filling, well balanced acidity and tannin that comes through on the mid-palate but has already faded before the finish. Actually the finish is rather good with small after-shocks of creamy flavour. Today the mid-palate flavours have a bitter edge that contasts well with the sweet fruit but was just on a little too high level to start – after an hour and with food I’d rather say bitter chocolate – nothing left for tomorrow, very nice.
Rebuy – Maybe

2004 Sérafin Père et Fils, Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes
Medium-plus colour, only just retaining a hint of cherry-red colour. The nose starts with full-on oak toast which slowly, slowly recedes to reveal black-shaded cherry, faint coffee and even some higher floral notes. Good texture and an ever-increasing intensity as you head for the mid-palate – the acidity seems not perfectly integrated though. Long, with creamy elements. Overall it is rather too oaky for my palate (to enjoy) and there’s eventually a suggestion of ash on the nose, but it’s certainly a good effort with no green.
Rebuy – Maybe – but too oaky for me…

If I didn’t get on all that well with the 06 Jadot Bourgogne Chardonnay, this is much more interesting. It’s actually about 20% more expensive than my highly rated Mugneret-Gibourg or Albert Bichot 04 Vosnes and both of those offer a more compelling current drinking experience – it won’t be everyone’s choice, but I found it really interesting.
2004 Louis Jadot, Vosne-Romanée
Medium ruby-red colour – already showing some older colour. The nose initially has none of the green 04-ness, though a little develops over-time, it is, however, on such a low level that it really is additive and makes from cedar at the top, down to its creamy edge at the bottom, with faint clove in the middle – a rather superior if not textbook Vosne nose; I’m very impressed. In the mouth it’s a long way from my expectation; there is only a hint of the ripe sweetness of the vintage, but the overall balance is reminiscent of a 1996 with it’s acid-forward stance. There is super dimension to the fruit too. This is far from an average ready-to-drink-now 2004 and very different to my 04 villages beau (from Mugneret-Gibourg), but this is an interesting mid-term cellar candidate – maybe 2 more bottles…
Rebuy – Yes