I see that Chézeaux have reverted to the slightly different 1990s labels with the faint image of the family house in the Clos de Chézeaux in Gevrey-Chambertin…

2015 des Chézeaux / Ponsot, Griotte-Chambertin
Hmm, for a 2015 there’s a lot of freshness here – a silky, round fruit is more reticent but present. In the mouth this remains a wine of surprises with its fine acidity and a much more mineral stance than I usually see. Very fine, mouth-watering, long-reaching flavours that are modest but impressively long. A wine that will age and age and at the same time shows none of the excesses of the vintage. Should I mark it down for being non-standard? I think not – returning 3 hours later to the the last third of the bottle, the air has made quite some changes to this wine; now I might consider the word opulent – for both aroma and palate – yet there is still agreat line of acidity. Bravo – but be patient or make a long carafe…
Rebuy – Yes

2015 des Chézeaux / Berthaut-Gerbet, Gevrey-Chambertin
Lots of colour. A nose that goes very deep, silky and accented with spice. Round and like the nose, very silky. Dark fruited yet still with plenty of freshness, much more composed than the 2014 drunk a week-or-so ago. Modest width in the mid and finishing flavour, modest intensity too, but still with good length. All-in-all, a wine that’s very tasty and also very easy to drink – certainly more accessible directly from opening versus the Griotte. Lovely!
Rebuy – Yes
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2014 Françoise André, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Vergelesses
There’s a little curl of vanilla to what is otherwise a nice line of aromatic freshness with faint lime citrus. A sheen of fresh minerality over the palate – again accented with vanilla – but it’s a much fainter accent than the nose. Lovely incisive minerality. Fresh and clean as a whistle – yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2008 Albert Bichot, Latricières-Chambertin
Hmm, this is rather good – deep, pure dark fruit that slowly shows a purity of wild strawberry, just starting to show a little age-related complexity too. Ooh – this is sleek and very-much acid-driven – there’s a little mouth-puckering here when the wine is cool – a little less-so as it warms in the glass – a little! I’m an acid-lover and so this is okay for me – it avoids crossing my own line – but many of you may disagree!
Rebuy – Maybe

2014 des Chézeaux / Berthaut-Gerbet, Gevrey-Chambertin
Medium, medium-plus colour. Good aromatic depth with a little dark stone fruit, faint Kirsch and a hint of pyrazine. Ooh – this has a super width of flavour good line and though with plenty of herb, almost pyrazine again – but balanced with creamy depth of flavour. The line ingrains into your palate making this exceptionally long for a villages! Complex, kirsch-fruited and herby, but engrossing. I wish all wines would have such character!
Rebuy – Maybe

2000 Thomas-Moillard, Romanée St.Vivant
Ooh – what a great nose – classically spicy, with extra age-related complexity – yes! In the mouth this is a little more rustic, perhaps a little mineral too – it’s relatively young – unlike the nose which could hardly be better. You should never drink a TM less than 20 years old, but this was half great!
Rebuy – Maybe

2015 Louis Max, Rully Les Plantenays
A round and almost textured nose – a little oak too. In the mouth it’s like the nose – a depth fine texture, richness and a little oak too. I like my wine with a little more direction and a little less padding, but this is very tasty all the same.
Rebuy – Maybe

2013 Yvon & Laurent Vocoret, Chablis 1er Fourchaume – Exquise
Hmm, lots of aromatic freshness and minerality here – but attractively so, and none of the vintage’s apricot aromas. Hmm, a lovely line, a wine that vibrates with energy. We drank this quite quickly, enjoying every drop. A super wine, particularly so for the vintage.
Rebuy – Yes
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1993 Joseph Voillot, Meursault 1er Les Cras
A too often forgotten premier of Meursault – it can only be because of the small quantity of bottles – the wine today is brilliant, it’s lost all the strictness and rigour that it had back in 2010.
The colour is deeply golden, but not quite orange! The nose starts with a reductive struck-match – fireworks already! Air reducing the effect of the fireworks and adding a depth of ripe, almost waxy citrus – it reminds me of the perfume of some iris in the garden at the moment – there is lanolin, but still on a very low order. In the mouth this is as sleek as it has ever been, but just so juicy, stony and melting with a citrus-infused acidity. There is such an electric energy to this wine that the red I’d planned for tonight can wait until tomorrow. I’m sticking with this one!
Rebuy – No Chance – but I would if I could!

I’m hoping that one or two still lie in the cellar, somewhere…

The 1997s have been a revelation in the last year; they were quite good when young but then entered a long phase of spicy, leathery aromatics with neither focus nor distinction – for a long time 1997 was aromatically one of my least favourite vintages. Today it’s quite different for the better wines because their true secondary aromas are now centre-stage. Here another great showing…

1997 des Chézeaux, Griotte-Chambertin
This is the Leclerc version of this wine, that said – today it’s super. It lacks the fabulous delicacy and perfect palate of the Ponsot bottling but is certainly more robust than my last one of those – after 30 minutes my last Ponsot was becoming oxidised – I’m not sure I have enough bottles remaining to determine whether that was just the cork or the cuvée…
A beautiful nose of clean, sous-bois, deep and silky – it’s an open invitation to drink. Mouth-filling, sweet-fruited, with layers of flavour – simply delicious. There’s a slight balsamic aspect to the acidity – but in a good if not totally caressing way – holding a good density of flavour in the middle. The finish could be longer, but given the delicious nature of what’s gone before, I’ve nothing to complain about here. Super wine! There is none left for day 2 – always a strong indication of how a wine is drinking…
Rebuy – Yes

A long weekend – in much of Europe the Pfingst/Pentecost weekend means an extra day. My choice of wines saw a poor start but getting better:

1997 Sylvain Cathiard, Vosne-Romanée 1er Malconsorts
Oof – not a great nose – balsamic and with brett. If you can get the wine past your nose and into your mouth, this tastes rather good – showing hardly any of the disappointment of the nose – but it’s a big ‘IF.’ More of this was left or used for cooking than was actually drunk – that tells all that you need to know. The only positive thing I can say about brett, is that every bottle will be different – just as well as I have 2 or 3 more of these!
Rebuy – No

2005 JC Boisset, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Sepentières
A deeper colour. More depth of fresh and clean aroma – a little graphite and dark fruit. Deep, young fruit here – concentration and super depth. Archetypal young, but not closed, 2005. Perhaps the mid-palate and finish of the Cathiard were nicer, but you had to get past that wine’s nose – no easy task. Bravo wine for the appellation.
Rebuy – Yes

1993 François Jobard, Meursault 1er Genevrières
Deep golden. No oxidation, though a nose that starts rather abruptly – slowly some pineapple is released, then stem ginger, finally a ripe and waxy lemon. Just like the nose, the first impression over the palate is of something a little angular – a wine of rigour. Air changes things, always, seemingly for the better with this wine. It relaxes, becomes silkier and manages to ingrain its flavour into the palate. Never a wine of total deliciousness but always a wine of robust complexity and interest. Intellectual rather than sumptuous. Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes

2013 Camus, Latricières-Chambertin
A nose with a little green about it, but just tipping the balance towards mint rather than herbaceousness. Light across the palate but complex too. A volume of cushioned, airy, focused red-fruited flavour. Long finishing young wine. Not the concentration of either of the previous reds – a modest 1er cru level – except that it was the most open and complex finishing of these.
Rebuy – Maybe

Samples shipped to me by Fabien Dupperay’s PR company – there’s €10 there, just in corks…

I tasted some of these just one year ago with Fabien (here for subscribers), but they were still in tank as he bottles late – he was planning for August 2017. Here I get to try the finished product.

2015 Fleurie
From Morriers and Chapelle du Bois
Very deep colour – if not quite saturated. The nose starts a little yeasty – it needs air. A couple of minutes are enough to release such an impressive depth of kirsch-style dark fruit – it remains a little tight above though. Hmm, this wine melts into the palate, ingraining itself, initially with an inky depth of fruit before emphasising the mineral. The flavour is direct and carried with deft freshness – no mean feat given the concentration. This is great Fleurie!

2015 Chénas Judgement Derniere
Only 9-10 hl/ha
Just a shade lighter in colour. A much rounder and initially brighter nose – there’s some zing – a vibration to the red fruit here. A more overt freshness, here with a very fine but present tannin – texturally it’s a drag over the tongue rather than any apparent grain. Holding a width of impressive flavour in the finish with a more licorice aspect in those flavours. Rounder and redder in character, a wine to wait for – or you will have to take a carafe and wait two hours – then you have more focus, more silk and it becomes the only wine from these five that brings a lovely perfume of violet flowers. Modestly attractive if you pop and pour, but treat it well and you will be rewarded.

2015 Morgon
Back to the deep colour of the Fleurie. Here is a tight nose, one that implies a concentration of dark fruit at its core – but without letting you touch it! Sleek, fresh, like the Chénas it’s showing a little dryness but on a lower level to that wine. It’s brooding, mega-serious stuff, yet open in the finish and fabulously long. Definitely a wine for those with patience, but it has everything going for it – incisive flavour and a hauntingly long finish. Great wine but easily the most backward/least accessible today versus the last two.

2015 Moulin à Vent
25 hl/ha – his highest yield in 2015!
Deep colour. A nose of width, energy and a little spice to the slightly reductive, hence, darker fruit. Extra volume – a mouth-filling wine of energy and concentration – faint bitters in the finish – but this is such a bravado performance – there’s almost braggadocio here. Flavour that melts over the palate into the finish – such a delicious, complex and long finish. If you just want to pop and pour, this is the most delicious and giving of all these today.

2015 Moulin à Vent Les Michelons
A deep colour. There’s such a depth of aroma but there’s an overall tightness too – like the Morgon – don’t touch! Slowly it starts to add some floral complexity. Ooh – despite all that has gone before, there is more volume and energy here and a more overtly mouth-watering, juiciness of flavour too. Juicy, but it’s not all fruit, there’s lots of minerality here. Beautiful texture that’s accented with a hint of dryness. Another great wine, whose energy makes this very accessible.

The Chénas is showing a little behind its siblings today – unless you have a carafe and a little patience – the others are more obviously great wines.

For all their €2 corks, lovingly applied wax capsules and beautiful presentation, the price of these wines is shocking by the standards of Beaujolais, though still quite modest when compared to the Côte d’Or. I’ve no problem with such pricing when people get it right – I’ve placed an order!

I bought the wines of this estate from about 1998-2005 – usually a mix of village Gevrey and Chambolle VVs plus the ubiquitous Clos St.Jacques and the Griotte – I think there may have been a couple of Morey Clos Solon purchases afterwards, but even that got to a price that I wasn’t prepared to pay. Not that I ever had bad wines – in fact even the 2004s were pleasers from here – a few corked bottles not withstanding. The biggest shame of the price appreciation of this producer is that these wines never seem to be opened/talked about these days.

Today I’m down to my last few – maybe 15+ bottles – and given that my weekend bottles were of a lighter style, I decided that it was time for a change of gear:

2003 Fourrier, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
I seem to remember that about the time that this was released, you could buy a whole case (of 12!) of this wine for £300 IB – winesearcher tells me that I can buy a case for £3,300 (IB) today! Before this vintage I had often mused that this CSJ was a more mineral and complex wine than the domaine’s Griotte-Chambertin – so intellectually a more interesting wine – that Griotte being all about accessible fruit and luxurious texture. I see 2003 as a bit of a crossover vintage – the domaine’s Griotte today is all that it should be and has put a gap between itself and the still admirable Clos St.Jacques.
Ooh – now that’s a deeper colour than the weekend’s 96 and 95! The nose has a padded volume of ripe, voluptuous fruit – both engaging and very inviting – becoming a blend of dried fruits, florals and blood! Ooh – and the palate’s a match too! Round, plush – such a decadent texture. Rich flavoured to match the texture but with a nice line – layers of flavour that are a little stony at the core but mouth-watering as it extends into the finish. It’s hard to pinpoint an age – there is so little maturity in the flavour, it’s timeless – almost and so-far – only the colour is telling me that it’s not a youngster. There are days that I could drink this bottle in one sitting, but I’ll hold firm and force myself to follow it over two days – the sacrifices!
Day 2; The floral aroma remains, today with a hint of meaty earth to add to the fruit. The palate seems a little shrill versus day 1 – Fourrier wines never seem as good on day 2 – so drink up on day 1 – it’s worth it!
Rebuy – Yes

The Spiess was a cheap and super-cheerful wine with sweetness but balanced, gushing acidity – one to be careful of in the sunshine as the bottle will empty very quickly!

1996 Guy Castagnier, Clos St.Denis
Bottle one – such a brutal level of TCA – I didn’t like how the cork smelled when pulled, and the wine did indeed prove to be devastatingly corked – so bottle 2:
Really a very compact nose – it’s certainly clean and fresh – no mushroom, no brett – only very slowly developing a little wild-strawberry – always subtle, never unlikeable. The mouth is classic for the vintage; direct, mouth-watering and almost surprisingly for a Clos St.Denis, with a lovely mid-palate vibration of minerality. In terms of overall size you could be disappointed, but in terms of its delicacy and its modest but engaging complexity, I found this a treat.
Rebuy – Yes (but not he first one of-course!)

1995 Jean Grivot, Nuits St.Georges Les Lavières
I have the impression that everyone has either given up on this vintage, or drunk them all, because I hear nothing about it anymore. But all my recent bottles have been in a fine place:
Another nose of faint strawberry, good clean aromas and a nice line. The palate has more width that the Clos St.Denis but less concentration – this seems ‘lite’ these days but it is open, transparent and engaging – no tannin worth mentioning despite the producer. Very easy to drink, transparent, tasty, accessible wine.
Rebuy – Yes

2005 JC Boisset, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Hautes-Jarrons
​As ‘understudy’ to the poor Ecard Savigny I looked to see if I had the same vineyard/vintage from another source – almost – it was a super-sub more like!
A deep colour and still quite young-looking too. The nose is fresh, wide and direct, dark fruit and faint spice. In the mouth too this is a sleek, silky, wine of direction and young dark fruit. It’s a baby, but it’s reasonably approachable too. Really excellent – I’ll try not to touch the remaining three or four bottles for a few more years!
Rebuy – Yes

And for the fun:

2005 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Corton-Perrières
I had one of these when my 6-pack was first delivered – monstrous wine for the patient. As you can see, I’m not totally patient!
What a sublime nose! Transparent, airy yet with a beautiful fresh perfume that intertwines flowers and pure red berry fruit. The palate has lost the massive impact of youth, though is actually still a little one-dimensional today – at least compared to the nose. A super shape and line to this wine, even if the flavours are a little tight. Still, it’s fresh and delivers fine intensity but watch this space for some complexity though. Perhaps another 5 years should elapse before the next one!
Rebuy – Yes