2006 Chablis Les Tisserandes
This is a cheap cuvée sold each year and bottled for the Co-op in Switzerland – I don’t know who by – almost always on a special offer and in this case for just under 10 Swiss francs – about £4 or €7. Each year I buy a bottle, but rarely more – in such a vintage as 2005 it was somehow watery and inconsequential – how could they have made a decent in in 2006? Don’t expect miracles at this price-point, but this is actually not bad. Medium pale green-yellow. A wide if faint, but interesting high-toned nose. Clean, well textured with a very nice crescendo of acidity coming into the mid-palate. Medium length. What helps this wine deliver is that acidity – it works rather well. If I have a party this is worth considering, though for my house wine I’d still rather pay the 50% extra and go for the Drouhin Chablis or the Jadot.
Rebuy – Maybe

Afterwards I drank a lovely 2001 Krossfelder (a Coop) Alsace Riesling that cost little more than this Tisserandes – it was intense, balanced and tasty – a far better wine.

1999 Nicolas Potel, Bourgogne Maison Dieu
Medium, medium-plus ruby-red colour. The nose is deep, with dark oak coating more distant baked red cherry, topped by higher-toned alcoholic notes. Initially good acidity starts to turn a little bright in the mid-palate and even faintly bitter as it runs into the finish – but I’m being picky here. To focus purely on the acidity ignores reasonably well grained tannin and ripe, oak coated fruit. This remains an above average and quite young bourgogne that is pretty well balanced and still needs a couple more years in the cellar – I decided it would always retain its oaky base, but to prove me wrong, on day two the remnants were largely free of it and very nice.
Rebuy – Maybe

1995 Dujac, Clos de la Roche
The colour is starting to take on a shade of mahogany, not perfectly bright – but see through. Aromatically it’s about heavy stems over pretty red fruit – cherry, strawberry and raspberry – and a little ‘raised’ balsamic impression. The palate is well textured and apart from a little extra width and intensity in the mid-palate, the wine is about understated, balanced delivery. The finish is almost good – no more. I think my last bottle was 3-4 years ago, the colour is a little older and the tannin is softer. Certainly very good, but my expectation is for outstanding.
Rebuy – Maybe

I must have been having a bad day, or perhaps it was the phase of the moon but I liked all of these when I paid a visit in May. M&M certainly seem to be on a roll. It was only the other day that I thought about it from a new perspective; if you can find a retailer of the wines and (important!) you like the style, it’s like having your own ‘personal shopper’ tasting dozens and dozens of things that you don’t have the time/possibility to do. The team at M&M taste lots and lots of wine and try to buy the ones they like – if you like what they like – bingo! I seem to be nicely correlated to their whites, the downside of which is that it can get expensive – the prices are not bad – so you buy more…doh!
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Morgeot
Bottled at the end of February. The nose is high-toned and shows nice depth. This is quite big in the mouth, there’s plenty of fruit extract and just the right amount of acidity to whisk you into a good finish.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Meursault 1er Charmes
It’s a nicely characteristic nose, some high tones over roast nuts. The palate has a nice, lean minerality and very good acidity to match. Fast on its feet, this is lovely – nice finish too.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Puligny-Montrachet 1er, Champs-Gains
A waxy, dense and impressive nose. Lovely minerality and super acidity that pushes long into a creamy finish. There’s a great extra dimesion in the mid-palate too. Just so communicative today – very lovely.
Rebuy – Yes like a shot…
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Puligny-Montrachet 1er, Caillerets
The nose is not so deep as the Champs-Gains, a little tighter but with a clear extra width. The action here is on the palate; mouthfilling then rather hauntingly and understatedly long. This has tightened since last tasted, the waves of attack are on a lower level. Still very, very classy.
Rebuy – Yes and did
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Gevrey-Chambertin
The nose is floral, bright and ripe – given time it shows redder and redder. Clean and linear with tannin that shows itself quite late. This is a nice fresh villages and recommended.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Volnay 1er, Clos des Chênes
A mineral nose with an undercurrent of red cherry. Lovely, with slightly plush concentration. The tannins are a little grainy but ripe and well-managed. Intense with a lingering finish. Worthy of the label.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Pommard 1er, Clos Blanc
An impressively complex nose, interesting and high-toned. Ripe, intense and again ripe tannin. Plenty of red-fruited, dense concentration. Very good.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Corton-Bressandes
A lovely, understated though ripe and slightly musky nose. Densly concentrated, super acidity with a real extra dimension on the palate. Good length too. A real grand cru at a bargain price.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Clos de Vougeot
The nose is very understated – not giving much away. The palate has a narrow entry that suddenly and impressively widens – bathed in ripe, decently grained tannin. There are many worse Clos Vougeots, though this is clearly giving little away today.
Rebuy – Maybe

2001 Bouchard P&F, Beaune 1er du Château
Last tried almost 3 years ago and it was very ‘awkward’. Medium ruby-red colour. Softly sweet red nose – primary but pretty. Medium weight, nicely transparent and with good acidity. This is altogether quite a charmer today – shame I held of more purchases as it’s all gone now!
Rebuy – Yes

1998 H&G Remoriquet, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les St.Georges
Medium-plus ruby/mahogany colour. The nose is heavily scented; deep, dense and dank, with wet wood and aged vanilla-cream cherry. Concentrated and rather well textured for a top Nuits from a vintage that enjoys more than a hint of tannin – there’s very little astringency. The acidity remains fresh and mouthwatering though with just a little bitterness at the end. The length is very-good rather than great. Overall, this is impressively open for what is a relative youngster though it’s certainly brawny rather than elegant – but isn’t that the epitomy of a good Nuits? Oh and at ~£20 in the sale – a bargain! For drinking now and over the next 10+ years.
Rebuy – Yes

By the way, did I mention that it rained when we got back from the UK? Here’s the ‘middle bridge’ in Basel, lunchtime yesterday…

2004 Comte Liger-Belair, Vosne-Romanée La Colombière
Medium, Medium-pale colour. Aromatically more impressive than you expect from the colour, deep with a faint edge of coffee – only turning redder and finer with a little tobacco and spice as you slowly drain the glass – no green notes. Light but intense in the mouth – it’s the slightly bright acidity that adds to the apparent intensity. Red berry fruit that slowly fades, good, understated velvet tannins. It’s precocious though quite well balanced, I’d be tempted to drink this younger rather than older. Tasty.
Rebuy – Maybe

There were many more on display, but this is the modest list of grand crus tasted, the others (including La Tâche, de Vogüé Musigny etc.) were quaffed before I could get to them.
1997 Frédéric Magnien, Bonnes-Mares
Oaky top notes underpinned by creamy deep fruit – quite fresh too – nice. The palate is very good, fresh and concentrated with some grainy tannin. Very good.
Rebuy – Maybe
1997 de Vogüé, Bonnes-Mares
A high-toned fresh nose with very precise fruit – rare in 1997. The palate also shows precise young fruit and is rather racy too. The tannins probably need at least another 5 years. Less friendly than the Magnien, but younger.
Rebuy – Maybe

1997 AF Gros & François Parent, Richebourg
The nose shows some high tones, faint spice and interesting but understated fruit. The palate seems less ripe than some but frankly has tons of complexity and dimension – this will need at least 10 years but might be worth an outside bet.
Rebuy – Maybe
1997 Jean Grivot, Richebourg
(Magnum) Basically blurred and stodgy, no better than this bottle.
Rebuy – No
1997 Dujac, Clos de la Roche
The nose is very stemmy – more so than even the average Dujac – but some nice pure fruit behind. I like stems, but not so overpowering. Overall there is a sense of disappointment as this is a rather blurred and muted bottle.
Rebuy – No
1997 Denis Bachelet, Charmes-Chambertin
The nose is understated, wide and fresh. The palate is likewise impressively fresh (for 97) and shows quite some grainy tannin. Nothing is pushed but this is very impressive – I’d buy some!
Rebuy – Yes
1997 Dupont-Tisserandotot, Charmes-Chambertin
Greeny oak on the nose. The palate is fresh but shows spiky acidity and tannin on the finish – not that great.
Rebuy – No
1997 Joseph Drouhin, Griotte-Chambertin
(Magnum) Quite a deep nose, not quite as good as most other vintages, but not bad. The palate is soft and supple and ever-widening with decent power and intensity in the mid-palate. A young and quite interesting wine and certainly not one to pass by.
Rebuy – Maybe
1997 des Chézeaux, Griotte-Chambertin
Much more fruit on the nose, in fact it’s so deep, pure and intense, it’s unlike any other wine here. The palate is concentrated and seems to harbour more dry extract than most others. The acidity is a little bright on the finish but it’s a minor blemish on a very fine face. The most ‘un-97-like’ wine in the show.
Rebuy – Yes
1997 Armand Rousseau, Chambertin
The nose is creamy with a little cedar (à la 2004), not bad. The palate is fresh and complex and medium weight but very long. Blind, this would be hard to place as a 97. This is very good.
Rebuy – Yes