Following on from the very successful Potel Boutières, a couple more from 2002:

2002 Pascal Chevigny, Vosne-Romanée
This was a domaine on the ‘wrong’ side of the RN74 that runs through Vosne, but I think it’s no longer producing. A sturdy, if completely unbranded, cork.
Plenty of colour, and no real impression of age to go with it. Now that’s a very good nose; slightly spiced – as it should be – and with a fine floral perfume of excellent purity – a great start. In the mouth forthright – so long as you hold it in your mouth and swirl – the tannins seem almost a little rustic. Simply drink and you have the impression of silk – so I suggest the latter. Lovely mid-palate depth of flavour and fine acidity. This is very accomplished and also holding-up very well. Excellent, provided you don’t look too closely.
Rebuy – Yes

2002 des Chézeaux, Gevrey-Chambertin
Another sturdy and much tighter seated cork than the Vosne – but out in one piece!
A little age to this medium-plus colour. A nose with plenty of fresh volume – more of a width than a depth, and less floral than the Vosne – but still a good invitation – here with just a touch of leafy, Gevrey-earth. Ooh, that has a nice intensity of fresh cherry – red, acid-cherry. The acidity is more to the fore than the Vosne – not unlike the Aloxe from Potel a few days ago. Mouth-watering, delicious and possibly the best of the three 02s – including the Aloxe which had nicer mid-palate fruit but not so good aromatics. Excellent villages, still in excellent, quite youthful shape.
Rebuy – Yes

There was a different type of value proposition when I was ‘peak buying.’ Following my tasting of Nicky’s 2002s in Nuits St.Georges (with his business manager Xavier) I ordered (from memory) 12 Aloxe Boutières, 6 Vosne 1er Suchots, 6 Vosne 1er Malconsorts, 6 Vosne 1er Petits Monts, 6 Vosne 1er Gaudichots and 6 Chambertin. Due to a mix-up there wasn’t any Suchots waiting for me when I came to collect, and the stock had all been sold – c’est la vie – but I still ended up having to pay more as my Petits Monts all wore Malconsorts corks(!) – so I ordered another 6 – i.e. the proper Petits Monts! The result still seemed expensive at ~1,500 Euros (before the extra PMs) but the bottles have brought me so much pleasure – and it goes without saying, such an order would be massively more expensive today…

This may be the last of my Boutières, and it’s been super-interesting to follow this wine through the age-curve; starting deliciously, lushly fruity, then the wine narrowing as it approached 10 years old, finely acidic but hardly with the foil of lush fruit any more. Today it’s much more drinkable than 5-6 years ago:

2002 Nicolas Potel, Aloxe-Corton Boutières
The nose is a little compact, almost suggesting, but never quite delivering a little brett. The palate is a dream – the fat of youth is long-since lost, but here is a fineness of acidity and a clarity of fine red fruit that I can only describe as succulent – oh that’s so good! The texture has some depth of concentration and clearly there’s acidity here, but anyone who appreciates 1996s and 2008s will find this a very easy wine to drink. Simply a great buy – I’ll be sad if I never find another stashed, hidden away, in the cellar.
Rebuy – Yes

David Croix is one of the few that I can think of who makes this cuvée today – stupidly I’ve never bought any – still I’ve plenty of his Beaunes, waiting for the right day!

Well, what a turn-up!

1995 J-M Boillot, Pommard 1er Jarollières
I think I bought a dozen, or so of these in an auction – in around 2008. They were a good price, but frankly, not a single one have I enjoyed. Many have been strongly afflicted by brett or the impression of bacterial spoilage. Not this one! To start with, a great cork – robust and, obviously, a great seal.
Plenty of colour, though with less overt age showing than last week’s excellent ’98 Bonnes-Mares. A fresh brambly nose of width plus a certain invitation to drink – that’s a surprise – and certainly not any overt impression of maturity! Mouth-filling, muscular and showing very good energy. The concentration – the depth of flavour – is impressing me. A little iron in the finishing, slightly saline and impressively long flavours. This is super and with plenty of time on its side. Some of the previous bottles have been so bad that I couldn’t for a second recommend the wine – but if this was my only experience I’d be raving. Even on day two – often the death of older wines – not a bit of brett, plenty of freshness too, though just a suggestion of cloudiness that wasn’t there on day 1. This was delicious.
Rebuy – No

Actually, there were 5 B’s – but I forgot my cunning plan and already posted my note on the Blagny! 4 cracking wines:

2008 Sylvain Pataille, Bourgogne Le Chapitre
A decent cork.
The nose is fresh, almost graphite and brambly. In the mouth there is some 2008 freshness but it’s not in excess. The structure remains relatively young here, but it’s far more approachable than was the case 3 or 4 years ago. The graphite impression on the nose is, for a long time, on the palate too, but aeration finally delivers a very fine focus of complex red berry fruit – it finishes beautifully! Still very much a youngster, but a wine that became better and better, the longer that it was open. I will confidently wait another 5 years for remaining bottles.
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Nicolas Rossignol, Beaune 1er Clos des Mouches
A sturdy cork, if completely unbranded.
Certainly more than medium coloured. The first sniff yields a little savoury oak – or perhaps reduction, let’s see. Mouth-filling – ooh! – that’s concentrated; indeed many layers of concentration – yes plenty of oak too but woof! This is good stuff! Fresh, incisive, growing all the time with a confident flavour despite the high-dose of quercus. The finish slowly fading. Day two and it’s less obviously oaked, softer, still complex but easier to assimilate – still a super depth of flavour in the middle and finishing flavours. Not really ‘elegant’ but it’s also a baby – but a great one – bravo – have 5 more years of patience!
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Julien Duport, Brouilly La Folie
At last a red with a young colour chez nous – a nose of fresh crunchy fruit too – not overtly 2015, or Brouilly for that matter, in style. Yes – the same in the mouth; energy, fresh, crunchy red fruit and very much fun. I wouldn’t have guessed the vintage blind. Really a super wine, even if it’s put in the shade by the concentration of the Clos des Mouches
Rebuy – Yes

1998 Fougeray de Beauclair, Bonnes-Mares
The Clair family own the only part of Bonnes-Mares in Morey St.Denis, for a long time exploited by this domaine. The vines have since reverted back to Bruno’s domaine, but there is still a contract with Fougeray where they receive 2 barrels of Bonnes-Mares per year. The transformation in this wine has been remarkable – at 2 years old this is about the hardest, most tannic, Burgundy I ever opened – I had no hope, despite having purchased a 6-pack. Quite a good cork – it cracks on extraction but remains in one piece.
What a super nose, a depth of crushed leaves such a width of aroma – faintly floral too – unlike the last bottle this has a faint brett – but not enough to stop enjoyment. Plenty of mouth-filling volume – it’s a grand cru! – the depth and complexity of flavour remains super. The tannin of its youth practically a memory now. Great, fully mature wine – but with no rush to drink…
Rebuy – like a shot! (At the old price…)

Julien Duport

Nicolas Rossignol

Sylvain Pataille

Fougeray de Beauclair

Either through simple bad luck, or a poor connection with the domaine’s elevage, and despite the renown of this particular cuvée, here’s a wine that I’ve never really enjoyed, and in many vintages too. This shows quite well though!

2016 Jean-Luc & Eric Burguet, Gevrey-Chambertin Mes Favourites Vieilles-Vignes
There’s aromatic concentration here, a little herb and eventually, a little sour cherry fruit – the more the aeration the more attractive it becomes and I’m slowly starting to see a real invitation to drink. The flavour is herbed again, like the nose, but with fine concentration for a villages wine and there’s an energy to match. Fresh and complex finishing – still quite a herby wine but overall this is still attractive in style and a good drink too.
Rebuy – Maybe

2017 Guy Amiot, Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles-Vignes
Here’s a faintly floral character – a softer nose – but, all the same, very attractive. Only modest sweetness for the vintage but with a good level of concentration – indeed this has a lovely combination of concentration but balance too – clearly with plenty of complexity. If you want stricter, more mineral sweeping lines, look elsewhere, but this is excellent and it drank much faster than it probably should have!
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Gilles Bouton, Blagny 1er Sous Le Puits
Unlike many recent ones – here’s a good cork; robust and well-seated.
The nose starts with much invitation, a modest maturity but with both energy and depth – this brings a great first impression. The flavour is a little more attenuated than the nose, finishing with a modest astringency from the tannin – just a little rustic – and certainly not more interestingly flavoured than better Bourgognes. Day two and, as luck would have it, the nose is less impressive but the flavours and general shape are nicer than on day one. Gilles makes classier whites than reds, given that, I’m impressed by his resolve to stick with pinot here, because I’m sure that I’d be enjoying much more a Puligny 1er from him! Not strictly a bad wine, but you can do much better for red Blagny from the likes of Benjamin Leroux or Comtesse de Chérisey…
Rebuy – No

2007 Lignier-Michelot, Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles-Vignes
Oops – a cork that slides out way too easily – I’m almost surprised that the worm of the corkscrew didn’t push it deeper into the neck! It’s one of those, not very attractive, pale-looking things – it looks peroxide washed.
Given the cork, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the wine was prematurely aged – certainly, the colour is far from youthful – but the nose confounds me with quite a muffled and reductive start – the flavours playing a similar game. Only 10 minutes from opening and there’s a significant improvement; the nose remains a little clumsy but has flashes of Chambolle fruit – the palate too – but a little better than the nose. The half a bottle that made it into day 2 didn’t hold up well. Maybe I should blame the cork, but on this outing…
Rebuy – No

2007 Fourrier, Morey St.Denis Clos Solon Vieilles-Vignes
Another unimpressive cork, indeed an infuriating cork that breaks in half, the last part coming out in one piece – but only just! Fortunately, it seems, nonetheless, to have been a good seal and has a decent (untreated) colour.
Like the Lignier-Michelot, the colour is showing some age. Also a wine with a little aromatic reduction – but you can almost blink and then it’s gone – maybe 5 minutes at the most – I neither ‘shook’ nor decanted this bottle. The nose freshens nicely, and with each little swirl, you get a floral reward. In the mouth, it’s fuller and deeper flavoured than the Chambolle – more clarity of flavour and with a fineness of structure that I’m really appreciating. This is a lovely wine – despite the cork. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2007 Camille Giroud, Chapelle-Chambertin
The best cork of the lot – a Trescases for what that’s worth. It looks untreated and was well-sealed and robust.
Like the previous wines, the colour here is far from young – as I may have expected from a 2000 or 2001, but I’m surprised by the aged consistency of these colours – here the Chapelle is also the lightest coloured of all these wines too – it’s barely medium intensity. But here’s a nose that delivers far more than ‘medium’ intensity – full and round at the base, initially a little creamy, let is stand in the glass and there’s forest-floor and even a suggestion of balsamic, swirl and you have a heady weight of floral perfume – now we are talking! In the mouth, the shape and weight of their flavours belie the colour – complex, initially silky and even more floral perfumed than the nose – what a wine. Slowly a hint of structure, worth calling-out as faint rusticity, creeps into the finishing impression – but it’s a wine that simply declaring its youth. Bravo – super wine!
Rebuy – Yes

So, this particular bottle of Lignier-Michelot is a little prematurely aged. The Fourrier has the youngest fruit, the Camille Giroud the youngest structure, both of these last two wines are simply excellent for their respective labels. Despite their colours, these 2007s have come on very well…

1985 Cave du Dauphin, Beaune 1er Grèves
More than 10 years ago, and still to my eternal shame, I bought a bunch of these at auction. Half have been ‘sort-of’ okay, from an ‘old-wine’ perspective – the others have been irredeemably oxidised. Chalk another one up to oxidation here….

2017 William Fèvre, Chablis
Again the domaine version. As my 2018s how been tasty but young and structural, I tracked down some 2017s of the same:
Hmm – a flighty and attractive nose – citrus and salinity in tandem – that will work! In the mouth more supple, melting with flavour, less structured but also less overtly concentrated than the 2018 – go figure given the yields! But what a deliciously easy wine to drink. Not quite the same impact as the Julien Brocard that has been my house wine for the last 18 months, but not far behind. For now, this is still a worthy replacement while the 2018s mature a little more.
Rebuy – Yes

1990 Michel Juillot, Corton-Perrières
A wine that on opening has both a good strength and apparent youth to its colour. Easy and fruity on the nose – and likewise it’s the same for the flavours – not very Corton-Perrières-esque! Easy and tasty wine – not really a grand cru performance. It’s just as well that it’s an easy drink, because any that’s left-over in the fridge for day 2 has lost both its clarity and its interest – not so robust!
Rebuy – No