Medium-plus ruby-red colour. The nose had a little bottle-stink, but that was gone in a couple of minutes. There’s a little of that beefy aroma that I disliked on day 1 of the 2001, but it’s better balanced with sweet, spicy red fruit, eventually nice creamy-edged redcurrant for the last drops in the glass. It’s a little tight and acid-forward, though the impression is of a wine that expands into an intense mid-palate. The tannin comes quite late to the scene and has a little rasp – though it’s understated. Tight and young but a bottle that looks like it has a decent future. Worth buying a couple.
2002
2002 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault Perrières
Medium-pale colour – certainly looks okay. The nose is wide, showing soft fruit and faint lanolin with an even fainter citrus veil – a faint caramel note eventually escapes the glass. Perfect acidity, a little linear in the mid-palate and a super acid-driven length. Not as ‘giving’ as 3 years ago, but understated excellence, still.
2002 Ponsot Morey St.Denis Clos des Monts Luisants
Medium gold. The nose hits you with mild oxidation and a pronounced mineral note. The palate is concentrated and mouth-watering – very long with the help of that acidity too. The oxidation is there in the flavours but on a lower level than the nose. Lots of dimension in the mid-palate but a shame the bottle is spoiled so…
2002 Parent Pommard Epenots
2002 de Montille Volnay Carelles Sous la Chapelle
2002 Gambal Alex St.Aubin Murgers des Dents de Chien
From magnum. Medium lemon-yellow colour. The nose is soft and sweet with a faint citrus edge over a note of ripe pear. In the mouth this has a soft texture and in particular has a lovely and impressively lingering, mineral intensity. The acidity is almost good and certainly leaves my mouth watering. This is a super little wine which I try to buy every year, great value.
2002 Drouhin Joseph Vosne-Romanée Les Petits Monts
A deep core of colour, just the last vestige of cherry at the rim. The nose is deep and dense if rather bashful to start, showing little more than dark flashes of toasty, sweet oak – fortunately this remains an undertone before fading as a dense and primary deep red note comes through that becomes finer with aeration – I can only summarise it as ‘very sexy’. After wine #2 this is altogether denser, softer and with riper fruit too. It’s brimming with intensity and concentration – it’s a real mouth-filler – showing a lovely expansion in the mid-palate before slowly narrowing in the good finish. In the background there plenty of soft texture from the tannins, but they will need a few more years in the cellar to shrink. Everything about this wine is more fun and lush than the Jadot Bèze, if rather less tight and precise.
2002 Angerville Marquis d' Volnay Taillepieds
(From magnum) Medium, medium-plus cherry red. The nose starts in a very mineral way with hints of cedar eventually giving way to red berries and a slow build-up of coffee. The concentrated palate bursts with explosive red fruits and plenty of grainy tannin – but there’s no hint of astringency – the acidity pulling you into a long finish that has a rather darker fruit complexion. Very accomplished and very tasty.
2002 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune du Château
Medium-plus cherry-red colour, no evolution of the colour yet. The nose started powdery and a little mildewy, it took over an hour in the glass to clean up and show high toned red fruits at the top and just a little blacker material below. Sweet, quite well textured and with lovely mid-palate intensity. The tannins are less grainy than many 2002’s and still reasonably well-covered. There’s plenty of good acidity to ride you through into an equally good finish – though there’s just a little finishing bitterness – this will resolve over the next 2 years. Still a relative bargain for the quality, I expect this wine will have a good long life.