We finished the the week of the Grands Jours with the Paulée de Marsannay.

The last time I went (2014 I think) I’m sorry to say it was a very boring affair, the combination of a very ‘quiet’ table and an interminable ‘presentation’ by Jonathan Nossiter – whose speech was (seemingly and thankfully) prematurely terminated by the growing crescendo of noise from people who were being kept from their food! Quite a dangerous thing to do in France! It was such an experience that I declined an invitation the following year. This evening a couple of excellent and couple of quite good plates of food, and whilst we had less magnums than some of the rowdier tables, overall it was a nice evening! I brought the Griotte and it was fabulous – but only for 40 minutes – the long cork smelled oxidised but the wine was fine – though it oxidised in the glass if left more than 30 minutes…

Saturday was our trip back home after 9 days in the Côtes, but a small detour to Gevrey was necessary, to enjoy the open house at Domaine Trapet! Anbd what a difference 24 hours makes: just before the big hail-strom in Beaune on Friday, I was planning Jogging in a t-shirt and shorts (for the second time this year) – in the end I gave it a miss, but on Saturday evening at hme – jogging in full wet-weather gear, in 3°C and some snowflakes!
 

Friday’s last tasting was with a domaine heavy on Volnay – 11 bottles tasted – ‘Please take something with you, we are also going to have to find people to drink these now that they are open’ – hence the couple of Clos de la Chapelles – notes to follow in my March report, after publishing the February report first 🙂 The Raveneau 2010 Montée de Tonnerre was in Au Fils du Zinc – well you have to, don’t you? And whilst delicious, round and beautifully focused it has a somewhat easy flavour and structure. I prefer the same vintage’s Butteaux which is also available in AFdZ for much less than retail.
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2008 Jean Chauvenet Nuits St.Georges 1er Perrières
Ooh – that’s a fruity-fresh nose – lots of raspberry to go with red cherry. Mouth-filling freshness and so much energy. Mouth-watering the finish – no surprise. It has the acidity of 2008 for sure but such a juicy and delicious wine at the same time. Yes – but not for acid-phobes!
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Maison de la Chapelle, Irancy les Batardes
A fabulous nose – deeper than most Irancys but with the tell-tale wild and floral fruit of the village. Deep, textured. Wow pinot, fabulous Irancy. Top wine.
Rebuy – Yes

Despite being shaken up in a van on Tuesday, not bad at all…
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2005 des Croix, Bourgogne Pinot Noir
A satisfying ‘pop’ as the cork comes out. Still plenty of colour. The nose with a trace of reduction, but the fruit is also deep. Finally this wine has some secondary flavours – this was pure fruit liqueur a few years back. Open and very tasty indeed – a hint of reduction on the palate too – there was none of this on previous bottles. Previously a very great wine considering the label – it remains so. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

Oedoria, Cremant, Extra-Brut
From the Cave Cooperative of that name in Beaujolais, made with chardonnay.
A modest but pure nose. Plenty of slightly rustic bubbles – it gets better with air as the CO₂ calms. The flavour is excellent, wide and with a fine purity – totally sans artifice. This is very good stuff.
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2015 Nicolas Burguet, Gevrey-Chambertin
Medium-plus colour. The nose is a little pinched but pure and with a widening depth of fruit. Hmm – a very silky entry, clarity, purity of long, direct flavour with a faint salinity. Not a big or overtly ripe 2015 but an exceedingly classy and very tasty wine too. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

1993 Daniel Bocquenet, Echézeaux
Now 25 years old. It’s my last bottle of this – and I only had two – the first had some spoilage, it was bad. This is good, actually it’s better than good!
The nose starts width and freshness, and a super silkiness too – yes! With time the nose does develop a very low-level of brett, but like a Rhone, I’m calling this complexity! This wine glides across the palate with a combination of freshness, depth, clarity and intensity – this starts with a bloody/iron aspect and whilst that fades, it remains great! The finishing width is complex and truly delicious. A great wine!
Rebuy – Yes

1998 Vincent et Jacques Audras, Juliénas Clos de Haute Combe
The nose starts round and warm, but given a little air it becomes, fresh and even vibrant. The palate, from the start, is fresh and direct – it’s also layered with delicious flavour and not a hint of oxidation /marsala. Three of us drank this oh-so quickly. Great Juliénas – what a wine!
Rebuy – Yes

2008 Marc Roy, Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Prieur
This is rather deeply aromatic and not a little earthy – behind there’s a flash of concentrated, almost liqueur fruit. This has the same fresh zip and line as the Juliénas, but with extra mid-palate intensity and much more mouth-watering length. Fabulous length – as good as the Juliénas was, this is still better. Another great wine – three in a row – no complaints from me!
Rebuy – Yes

Friday night with some of the Commanderie de Calgary saw 2x 2015 whites and a 2014 red. My short recollections are that we started with a Lamy St.Aubin 1er Clos de la Chatenière which was taut and fine – very lovely wine. The second was Alex Gambal’s St.Aubin 1er Mugers des Dents du Chien which was softer and much more open – tasty but definitely lacking the tension of the Lamy – villages level by comparison. The 2014 red was Tollot-Beaut’s Aloxe-Corton – a wine that was modest in almost all directions yet, again, tasty enough.

Then kicking off with two from Beaujolais:
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2014 Lafarge-Vial, Fleurie Clos Vernay
The nose is a little narrow and showing plenty of herb and pyrazine. The palate is, likewise, quite pinched and a little meagre today – this wine has really shrunk in size in the last couple of years – I’d say don’t touch one for at least another three years – now, clearly, isn’t the time. I checked, and the pyrazine is consistent.
Rebuy – No

2011 Julien Sunier, Régnié
More volume and width of aroma – darker fruited, with that slight lactic impression that low sulfur wines exhibit. In the mouth there’s much more volume and complexity of flavour – layered in delivery – with great length too. This is still a young wine but much more open, concentrated and ‘giving’ today. Everyone’s favourite from these two. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Trimbach, Riesling
It seemed a good idea for our Thai red curry!
A narrow but deep and fresh nose. The palate is direct and much more acid-driven than I anticipated in this warm vintage. Fresh, but incisive, not sharp. A great choice for our dish and the whole bottle was finished. Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes

2007 Michele et Patrice Rion, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
Today this is one of the best addresses in Burgundy, and largely because the use of oak is much more sympathetic today than it once was…
A little vanilla on the nose – even at 10 years old. Very slowly the nose widens with a diffuse but quite appealing red berry-fruit. Plenty of volume in the mouth and the sweet, roundness and complexity of vanilla-tinged fruit. It’s delicious, but whilst I’ll happily eat a whole tub of vanilla ice-cream – without outside assistance(!) – you already know that I’m less of a fan of finding it in my wine – at least when I’m expecting some maturity. Very tasty but… On day two, the last third was virtually vanilla-free – maybe there is still some hope (for me)…
Rebuy – Maybe

I got home from Beaujolais late on Thursday. On Friday we went to meet with friends who stay in Mürren for a few days each year. I havent skied for nearly 3 years, and given Friday’s rain at 1,600 meters, not to mention the slushy snow and poor visibility, Friday definitely wasn’t going to be my much anticipated return! Still, it’s always good to meet up with friends, and the first wine, the Santenay, we drank in the resort on together on Friday evening. Saturday and Sunday we were at home, as usual, before I left, once-more, for Beaujolais early on Monday morning.

2010 Capuano-Ferreri, Santenay 1er La Comme
I’ve never come across this producer before.
A rather round nose, edged with a little vanilla. Similar in the mouth, glossy, a little fat to the texture – some sweetness of fruit. The flavours are a little oaked here too. A round wine, nothing exceptional or worth a search – but quite okay.
Rebuy – No

2016 Marcel Lapierre, Morgon Cuvée MMXVI
This is the cuvée without sulfur – you can have with or without…
Ooh – what a deep and interesting nose – wide too, practically cushioned, textured dark fruit. This is really a mouth-filler, round and powerful with beautiful texture. Melting, mouth-watering, approachable flavour – simply a wow wine. Bravo.
Rebuy – Yes

2007 Chézeaux/Ponsot, Griotte-Chambertin
The last vintage with cork seals.
A hint of toasty reduction and lots of sous-bois, dried leaves and even a hint of mushroom. All those things visible on the palate too – but frankly, despite a little attractive sweetness of flavour, this wine is a pale shadow of the Lapierre which it follows – now that’s a turn-up! This wine needs at least 2 hours of aeration, after which the nose is open, supple and sweetly fruited. Likewise the palate fills out, adds depth of flavour – there’s lots of sweet fruit now – and frankly the last two glasses are absolutely delicious. Not better than the Lapierre, but really super wine all the same.
Rebuy – Yes

2008 David Clark, Côte de Nuits Villages
Perhaps a bottle too far – but we needed another glass. Like how the Griotte started after the Lapierre, this was a pale shadow of the last glass of the Griotte (as it should be!). The nose had good volume and shape, though its sweetness was certainly augmented by a little barrel vanilla. In the mouth, relatively modest but clean (apart from the oak) and sweet flavours. Probably better than the Santenay, but whilst still young, it was well behind in third place from these last three bottles.
Rebuy – Maybe
 

A great start and middle, then…
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2012 Le Grappin, Savigny-lès-Beaune
Hmm – high tones, dark fruit and a fine width of aroma. This wine fills the mouth with freshness and dark sour cherry fruit – it’s mouth-wateringly delicious and that’s before it adds another creamy dimension in the mid and finishing flavours. Pure, intense, fine textured and getting better and better with aeration – absolutely delicious. 2-3 years really add an extra something to Mr Neilson’s wines!
Rebuy – Yes

2016 Chateau Thivin, Brouilly Reverdon
Such a deep colour after the Savigny. A deep, dark, fresh mineral impression to the nose – very inviting. Fresh, a depth of earthy cherry flavour that’s both direct and beautifully textured. Such a delicious baby wine!
Rebuy – Yes

1990 Michel Juillot, Corton-Perrières
The cork comes out relatively easily – therein the problem – this pale coloured wine was completely oxidised. Poured away…

Sneakily extending this year’s ‘Cremant January’ into February.

Gilles et Romain Collet, Cremant de Bourgogne
Of-course, ‘Cremant de Chablis’ with wine from the 2015 vintage.
Like the recent wine of Clothilde Davenne, a simply delicious nose of ripe mirabelles – but still with freshness and deliciousness. Loved this.
Rebuy – Yes

Louis Bouillot, Cremant de Bourgogne Extra Brut – Limited Edition
Deeper golden. Oh – now we are talking! A much finer bubble and already suaveness too – this could be an expensive wine from another place. Extra Brut but not a hint of sharpness – if anything this delivers its flavour in a very composed and fine style. Truly great cremant – fine and not a hint of oxidative notes.
Rebuy – Yes

​2016 Jean-Claude Ramonet, Mâcon-Péronne
A nose of chalky fruit, faint spearmint – this is so very inviting. Oh this is lovely in the mouth too! Flinty minerality, accented with citrus, and just a hint of barrel cushioning. Fresh and sooo delicious. Great Mâcon – even if it comes out of Chassagne!
Rebuy – Yes

1995 Pousse d’Or, Santenay 1er Clos Tavannes
Right from opening a clarity and brilliance of aroma – clean as a mature nose can be – but so rarely is – brown sugar, red fruit, almost a little pomegranate and fresh leaves. Fresh, direct, flavour that reflects the nose, only slowly widening as it flavours melt over the palate. Stable, delicious, great mature wine – bravo!
Rebuy – No Chance!

2005 Lignier-Michelot, Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles-Vignes
Deep colour. This is rather a compact nose, underpinned with an attractive purity of raspberry conserve. Intense, relatively direct, but with great texture for such impressive concentration. Yet… This is a little workmanlike; I expect much more from this combination of cuvée/vintage. Perhaps a little cork scalping here? – there’s a suggestion of herb in the mid-palate. This is still, more than good wine, but I had higher expectations…
ReBuy – Maybe

Modest stuff – but tasty stuff!

2015 Alain Geoffroy, Chablis Domaine Verger
Sweetness and weight but freshness too. 2015 has, like 2016, super density which means that basic Chablis, such as this, really have a little extra to contribute. Wines like this are a little less overtly Chablis in that they are so easy to drink young – delicious.
Rebuy – Yes

1998 Thomas-Moillard, Vosne-Romanée 1er Malconsorts
My last of this was opened with Marko de Morey – and then poured down the sink – so badly was it infected with brett. This has just the merest aromatic suggestion of the same – but that’s where it stops.
Big, powerful, still with some tannin, but improving all the time with air. This had great bass-notes and extra dimensions of flavour, almost a creamy old-vine impression in the finish. ‘Old regime’ TM’s rarely come out to play before they are 20 years old, and this just barely so. But if you can avoid corruptions – like brett – then they are worth your time – I admired the first half of this bottle and loved the second half!
Rebuy – Yes

Clothilde Davenne, Cremant de Bourgogne Extra Brut
Keeping a weekend cremant them that I will push into February!
What a beautiful nose – small, sweet mirabelle – just so inviting. Fresh with a lovely line of acid-led flavours – beautifully balanced and absolutely moreish. Loved this!
Rebuy – Yes