This really started with the ‘uncovering’ of an unopened 6-pack of Potel’s 99 Volnay VV – I opened one up and it was excellent, so what else lay in the cellar untested? I decided to call it a day once 5 bottles of the same vintage were rounded up – though in truth it was 7 bottles – 2 consecutive bottles were corked…

So here is the (alphabetical) list of wines that will appear over the next days:

1999 Premier Crus

• Robert Arnoux, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots …find…
• Veronique Drouhin, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Petits Monts …find…
• J-F Mugnier, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Amoureuses …find…

1999 Grand Crus

• Domaine des Chézeaux (Ponsot), Clos St.Denis cuvée Vieilles Vignes …find…
• Louis Jadot, Chambertin Clos de Bèze …find…

Here’s the first note – see if you can guess which is the wine:
Wine #1
Medium ruby red, still with a cherry-red rim. The nose starts a little diffuse but quickly tightens; it’s still a rather understated and bashful but has soft red fruit with the faintest cream rim – as you would expect (hope) from any of these wines, you can sniff this all day long as the intensity slowly builds into a perfect redcurrant as the glass empties. The sweet palate reflects the nose – it’s no powerhouse – intensity without apparent weight and almost perfect silky texture. There’s plenty of acidity but the balance is first-class. Absolutely everything about this wine is understated – apart from it’s class! There are no fireworks, but I’m still sad that I bought 6 and not 12! Young obviously, but a rewarding drink right now.

Like a beautiful lady watched across a room that I didn’t manage to speak with.

1999 Nicolas Potel, Volnay Vieilles Vignes
Medium-plus ruby red. The nose is a real stunner; full of individual red berries – redcurrant and cranberry. The palate has an understated entry which starts narrow, opening wider as you move along with the acidity into the mid-palate. Silken with well covered tannins and a nice length. Wonderful villages despite the short note!
Rebuy – Yes

This wine spawned a search for unopened 99’s in the cellar – to be opened, starting tomorrow…

Yesterday I opened a 1999 (note to follow) after spying the un-opened six-pack in a corner of the cellar. The wine was lovely – particularly the aromatics – so much so that my eyes were drawn to 3 other un-opened six-packs… it didn’t take long for me to decide what ‘had to be done!’ The big copper staples on the packs of Mugnier’s Amoureuses, Jadot’s Bèze and Chézeaux’s Clos St.Denis were prized free and the bottles will be left to stand in the cellar for 3 days. Over the next few days I’ll put up the unatributed notes and later add the labels – see if you can spot which is which!
[Edit: I found a couple of others too!]

1995 Jean Grivot, Vosne-Romanée Bossières
Medium garnet red colour. The nose started with a transient whiff of oak before settling into a wide, high-toned and faintly estery and sweet vista. The palate is soft until you reach the (still) forward tannin on the backend. Good mouth-watering acidity and reasonable length. Versus the last showing I find the aromatics less interesting but the palate is much more mature. No rush but this is coming closer to maturity.
Rebuy – Maybe

2003 Camille Giroud, Bourgogne
Now coming into the last bottles of this case – only 4 remain. Medium, medium-plus cherry red. The nose is quite 2003 in style yet shows beautifully delineated red and blue fruits and more unusually for 2003 there are violets too over a creamy base – so far it’s better than many grand crus from this vintage. The palate is less fine, but it’s sweet, medium intensity and quite well mannered. The fruit has really good density – more so than most bourgognes – chapeau. Shame that so few remain in the cellar – a real sniffer’s wine – and you don’t get to say that very often with a bourgogne!
Rebuy – Yes

1995 René Engel, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Brûlées
Medium-pale red with a strong amber caste. The nose started with a whiff of oak before settling for quite some time into a dirty, almost fixed sulfur motif. It wasn’t fixed as extended aeration brought a denser red fruit that eventually became more elegant and redcurrant in style. Good acidity with quite some extension in the mid-palate – this punch is delivered with little overt density but still impresses. The tannin has reasonably fine grain but still needs a little time to provide a perfect texture. This is not a powerhouse wine, but despite the initially disappointing aromatics there’s still some interest here.
Rebuy – Yes

2004 Nicolas Potel, Clos de la Roche
Medium-plus cherry-red colour. The instant aromatic impact comes from red fruit notes before a stronger, mineral/cedar element takes over. The less wine you have in your glass, the more wonderful it smells, lovely red fruits. The palate is very well filled with concentrated fruit and quite some intensity in the mid-palate. The tannin is not badly textured though there’s a short-lived trace of bitterness – but it comes at the same time as the earthy, dark oak appears on the finish so that bitterness seems to be more wood-based. That length is certainly grand cru without being too showy, though there’s a subtle creamy undertow there somewhere. Overall it shows good ripeness, and nice balance – if the cedar element becomes more subtle this will be lovely, but right now it remains – for me – a questionmark.
Rebuy – Maybe

2003 Domaine des Varoilles, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos des Varoilles
Deep colour. The nose is an impressively wide and sweet affair tempered by a faintly spicy and understated vanilla, slowly it releases flashes of red and black fruits. In the mouth it’s less sweet than the nose suggests, even just a little tart. The tannin is well textured but perhaps in the finish is just a little bitter. Understated acidity still leaves your mouth watering and there’s reasonable length too. This wine seems to have a miss-match of parts, but might be worth a bottle or two in the cellar.
Rebuy – Maybe

1999 Jean-Marc Pavelot, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er La Dominode
The first from the case. Medium-plus cherry red – still very young looking. The nose is broad and quite dense, a little meaty, just a little moist undergrowth too – not particularly fruit-driven – though an hour in the glass gives cleaner, higher toned dark mineral notes and finally a little tobacco mixed with red berries. Fresh with intense dark fruit, very linear and quite mineral. The texture is silky and despite the linear presentation gives the impression of some nice oak upholstery – a little grainy tannin adheres to the palate. Very young with a fine future ahead.
Rebuy – Yes