The back label of this bottle, Philippe Engel’s last vintage, has a poem from William Blake to toast him. 2004 Rene Engel, Grands-Echézeaux Medium ruby-red – I caught myself admiring the late-evening sun… Read More

Only one issue with this wine; the ‘cork’ really did need the strength of Samson to remove, at least with the chosen tool – the generally reliable L’Atelier du Vin lever corkscrew (pictured). 80 year-olds probably need not apply… 2008 des Chézeaux (Ponsot), Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes… Read More

So that’s three 93’s drunk and three I would buy again. Unfortunately, for those that don’t like to follow hierarchies, these three fit exactly the conventional wisdom – the villages is unlikely to get much better, the 1er should get better and certainly has more primary fruit and dimension. Read More

It’s a while since I met up with Marc, so we decided to open a couple of ‘lunchtime’ bottles together. I started at 7:30am by slowly easing out the cork from a 1972 Domaine du Clos Frantin Grands-Echézeaux – it smelled mighty fine. I popped in a stopper and… Read More

1994 Robert Arnoux, Echézeaux Bought at the domaine back in about 2003. A cork that falls into pieces, but is rescued by the ‘ah-so’. Quite deeply, dark ruby coloured. The nose straight away… Read More

Domaine des Chézeaux 2007 Griotte-Chambertin I’m rather hooked-in-to this wine just now – maybe I’ll write something eventually… 2007 Chézeaux/Ponsot, Griotte-Chambertin Medium cherry-red. The nose starts with a burst of enthusiasm, tightens for a couple of minutes, then relaxes; although it’s not so wide there… Read More

Profile: des ChézeauxDomaine des Chézeaux, 2007 Clos St.Denis (Très) Vieilles Vignes 2007 Chézeaux/Ponsot, Clos St.Denis Vieilles Vignes These are now over 100 year-old vines, the label says ‘vieilles vignes’, but the cork, (like the label on the Ponsot botting) says très vieilles vignes’. Medium, medium-plus… Read More