Actually there was a ‘chaser’ in the form of another bottle of Nicolas Maillet’s 2014 Mâcon-Verzé – but that’s not from the ‘north!’ In this case a more mature bottle than the previous ones – more honied and deeper coloured – half an hour of air and this freshened and even seemed to have lighter colour – still delicious!

2012 Clotilde Davenne, St.Bris Vieilles-Vignes
From magnum. There’s a little extra depth to the golden colour here. The aromas at first show a faintly fumé, caramel, edge to the more expected mint-leaf – attractive! In the mouth this is simply super – mouth-filling volume, fine structure and mouth-watering and precise flavours. Most people preferred this to the wine that followed. Me included!
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Eleonore Moreau, Chablis
From magnum. Medium lemon-yellow colour. The nose is wide and has some weight – a little saline and even spicy. Nice volume in the mouth and with a lovely, silky, texture. Fresh, long, tasty and saline in the mid and finishing flavours. Very tasty wine, if without the precision or intensity of the St.Bris.
Rebuy – Maybe

2017 Maison de la Chapelle, Irancy
From magnum. Deeply coloured – almost saturated. A big fresh waft of aroma – floral, faint pyrazine, and dark cherry. In the mouth a wine of drive and fresh energy, but also with a buffering weight of dark, kirsch-style fruit – and like the nose, inflected with some modest pyrazine notes. This wine has a very most base of tannin – virtually without grain – and long mouth-watering finish. Of-course we are drink this wine far too early – but we are enjoying it – there are more bottles in the cellar for the future!
Rebuy – Yes

This wine was singing already 2-3 years ago – this is my last. I’ve also some Chapelle-Chambertin in the same mixed case – which wasn’t quite ready the same 2-3 years ago – I think it’s probably time to check in on that one too, soon!

2007 Camille Giroud, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cazetiers
Plenty of maturity in this medium-coloured wine – though still red-based colour – as opposed to brown! The nose has lovely, silky, width – almost with a creamy accent to notes that are complex, quite mature but very clean – the last drops suggesting something a hint more balsamic but with floral notes too. In the mouth this is certainly mature but still retains a sweetness of fruit – again, the small waves of fruit flavour are accented with a very modest creamy impression – but it’s not at all overt. Fresh, nice complexity of flavour, and like nose, a clean flavour package that pushes you to take another sip – moreish wine. Delicious as this is, I remember enjoying it even more that last time out – super wine nonetheless – but possibly it’s time to drink if you still have some.
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Alice & Olivier De Moor, Le Vendangeur Masque, Le Caravan
A mélange of different cepages from the south to north: clairette (Rhone), chardonnay (Ardeche), chardonnay and sauvignon gris from near Charolais, and pinot blanc and riesling from Alsace, and the aligoté from here. Lots of small cuvées assembled at the end.
A tight nose. There’s something of an apple freshness on the palate – nice zip to the attractive flavour and a silky texture. Super-tasty!
Rebuy Yes

2016 Vocoret, Chablis 1er Vaillons Vieilles-Vignes
A little greenery in the aromas – herb/lime. There is certainly concentration and intensity here though – a wine you can almost chew. I can see that I’m drinking it a little on the young side but the concentration and the mineral-lime-fruited hybrid of flavour works for me. A concentrated wine of some impact – don’t come for flowers or elegance!
Rebuy – Maybe

2017 Yvone et Laurent Vocoret, Chablis
Compared to the first Vocoret – chalk and cheese. Here’s a nose of width, of elegance and fresh yellow citrus. On the palate, open, sweetly mineral and citrus – decent concentration though less than the Vaillons. Just an easy, delicious, wine. Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes

2008 L et A Lignier, Charmes-Chambertin
Since I junked Facebook at least 2 years ago, I’ve no idea how Lucie, Auguste and of-course Kellen Lignier are doing – I hope they are well in the US. Anyway, I’ve some of their wine from about 06-08, so having come across this 2008 I though ‘Why not!’ Of-course it is Laurent Lignier who has been exploiting the domaine wines here since about 2009/2010…
This is a completely front-loaded wine – the nose attacks with pungent, old oak – a fecund mix of forward and quite attractive aroma if the dirty old oak doesn’t put you off! Given time the nose has a little spice and balsamic too. In the mouth this starts big but narrows into a modest, acid-led, finish. The acidity of 2008 without anything terribly out of balance or any spikyness. The finish is fading and is very modest in amplitude. Versus most villages wines today, from 2014-2017, this is essentially a bit thin – but the forward energy and some maturity make it very tasty. In the context of current grand cru pricing this would be a bad joke, but it’s delicious wine if you ignore that GC label…
Rebuy – No

Delicious as it may be, I see not a lot of upside in waiting further for this Charmes – based on that, I think the 2008 Clos de la Roche, that I found in the same carton, is another candidate for this year.

1996 Thomas-Moillard, Corton Clos du Roi
I tasted one of these in early 2000 and liked it enough that a dozen were purchased for a good price – perhaps less than €25 each, even much less. The first bottles had a certain flamboyance – if caged with a little 1996 acidic rigour – and I quite like a bit of acidic rigour! Thereafter, the wines slowly grew in rigour and became less flamboyant! It’s now a few years since the last one, so…
Ooh – still a deep, deep colour. The nose, unlike many of the domaine’s wines from Vosne, has a pure, clean attack – zero brett – under there’s dark but ripe fruit of sweeping fresh lines. In the the mouth intensity, concentration, and of-course plenty of acidity. Here are small waves of successive finishing flavour – layers of flavour. There’s still a little suggestion of bitter tannin in the finish as there’s also (clearly!) not much in the way of voluptuous padding. That said, that’s about as tasty and clean a performance as I can remember from this wine since, circa, 2003. Good wine, maybe even fine wine given the purchase price, but I’m pretty sure that it’s never going to be great wine. Today I enjoyed it though!
Rebuy – Maybe
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Another from my 6-pack of Ramonet Mâcon-Péronne – super – you can find a proper note on that one in the last few days entries…

2012 François Buisson, Meursault 1er Genevrières
A name that I don’t know too much about – a cousin of Michel Buisson – from Buisson-Charles.
Ooh – this starts very 2012 – a little tight in the aroma and a wine of drive and line – fresh, intense, but not a wine that melts over the palate. My first impression was Chablis-esque. The second half of the bottle was drunk on day too – by now the aromas had relaxed and opened some, likewise there was a little more fat on the palate – the wine was now recognisably Meursault, but still with a beautiful line – always with great texture. Pure, delicious and showing the vintage more than the vineyard, I think. Worth learning more about this domaine…
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Château Ravatys, Côte de Brouilly Réserve
Deep colour – but what a wine. Just a trace of the spiced fruit of 2015 – of-course plenty of ripeness of fruit too. In the mouth, this is a dream – really! 2015 Beaujolais really doesn’t get better than this – depth of flavour, fabulous texture – gorgeous flavour. A wine that, right now, has everything – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Jean-Claude Ramonet, Mâcon-Péronne
Cork-sealed.
Modestly lemon-yellow colour. A width of airy yellow fruit, accented with both a faint oak spice and an impression of limestone minerality. Wide over the palate too – bubbling with mid and finishing energy – silken, yellow citrus but more mineral than fruit today. Narrowing in the, modest impact but, tasty finish. An open and very tasty wine – less delicious than the 2016 was at this stage but it’s close – this will certainly get better in the short to medium term though. I’m pleased to have bought the last half-dozen in the shop!
Rebuy – Yes (but now all sold-out)
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Tasted with the wine-maker – so of-course I didn’t buy this – not yet! O as in zero. Just 500 bottles, practically experimental – a natural wine chez Domaine Laroche from vines above Vaudesir – I’m the first to taste 🙂 – a no sulfur wine:

2018 Domaine Laroche, Chablis Cuvée O
Not perfectly bright – tasted just a few days before bottling. The nose has a width of aroma that implies low sulfur with none of the occasional negatives that that can bring. Bright, round, but with direction and that rare thing from a zero sulfur wine – clarity! Delicious! with acidity and a real salinity in the finish. For what it is, no question – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

4 wines – 4 different seals!

2014 Dampt Frères, Bourgogne Tonnerre Le Clos du Chateau
The cork proudly proclaims (translated) ‘Natural cork, matured 18 months, washed without peroxides or solvents’ – okay we can quibble about what constitutes a solvent, because if something dissolves in water, then water is a solvent in this case – lets just call this marketing. But to the point, the last bottle of this had a strange aromatic component that took well over one hour to blow-off – this is perfect right from the start – so natural cork, no peroxides and no solvents or not, the last had some minor problem associated with the cork – just saying!
That’s a long intro, but enough to say that this wine is perfect in all dimensions – you wont spend a better €12-13 (less than 10 at the domaine!) on white burgundy. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Chezeaux/Ponsot, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
There are many 2012s that are tight as a drum – here’s one that most definitely isn’t!
Plenty of colour. Ooh – what a nose – a perfect flower, porcelain-like in its fine clarity and beautiful perfume – ravishing wine! In the mouth, here’s a wave of fresh fruit flavour – a wave that you can surf into the mid and finishing mouth-watering flavours. So good, just so good. Enjoy – I did!
Rebuy – Yes

2017 Louis Jadot, Bourgogne Chardonnay
DIAM sealed.
A perfectly clean nose of ripe citrus and a modest but present creamy oak note. Wide over the palate with a lovely intensity of driving acidity – no hard edges – the acidity is cushioned and the flavour delicious. A judicious touch of oak, just enough that you should guess that it’s Burgundy without site of the label. Simply delicious – the best of this cuvée since the 2014. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes
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And the riesling? – whilst I’m normally a big fan of Alsace riesling, this was too perfumed/aromatic for me – I would hardly be surprised if there was some gewurz in the mix!

Plus – some pics from the old (Swiss) town of Biel and the lake of Biel on Saturday: