I joined this tasting with over 200 other judges back in September. 1045 wines were tasted blind, and from that number, 17 wines were chosen as ‘The Majors.’ The seventeen were announced yesterday, and these are wines that were not just rated as good enough to take the Tastevinage label, they were our ‘best of the best’ picks from this tasting:

Image courtesy of the Tastevinage organisers…

To paraphrase James Bond – Caillerets. Volnay Caillerets…
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2010 Nicolas Rossignol, Volnay 1er Cailleret
A completely unbranded cork, just a serial number.
Good deep colour. The nose is rather round, padded with some oak spice – seemingly a textured aromatic but I’m missing the clarity of fruit I look for in a Caillerets. Supple entry, nice weight of flavour, complex too with a fine balance – there’s a beautiful velvet texture but like the nose, this is very much today an oak-spiced wine rather than a wine of fruit – or indeed Volnay. Very tasty wine but clearly opened far too young if you want to find its inner Caillerets…
Rebuy – Maybe

2010 Rebourgeon-Mure, Volnay 1er Caillerets
Just a shade lighter in colour. This nose has higher tones and a more obvious base in fruit – dark-red fruit of nice clarity. More obviously silky as there is less overt tannic grain. Melting fruit flavour with just a faint texture of tannin in the finish. Slowly mouth-watering in the finish. This, is the more overtly Caillerets wine of the two today, I’d still like a little more dimension of aroma, but the finish is first class. Really lovely wine…
Rebuy – Yes

Whilst the hype is on €300 million acquisitions of grand cru monopoles, €50 Bourgognes and €300+++ grand crus, there is still another way, and a very tasty, satisfying way:

2012 La Chablisienne, Chablis Les Venerables
Despite the name on the label, the cork is inscribed with good-old ‘Vieilles-Vignes!’
The nose is pretty classic – a saline breeze in a glass. The palate, however, is still a bit of a baby – relatively concentrated, a little tightly-wound and almost dense in the freshly mineral mid-palate. That the half of the bottle which was left over for day two was so much more open and ‘relaxed’ shows that this will only improve. Lovely on day two, not bad on day 1.
Rebuy – Yes
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2014 Louis Chenu, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Haut-Jarrons
Plenty of colour. This starts on full aromatic power – round, beautifully red fruited – and given time it becomes a little more direct and fresh, with a floral addition to balance. Round, lovely, bright, mouth-watering fresh flavour. Little waves, indeed ripples of finishing flavour. Just a delicious wine with no hard edges or pressure points – so yum. There are a lot of great Savignys in 2014 – but as usual, not much volume of them…
Rebuy – Yes

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1996 Pierre Damoy, Chapelle-Chambertin
Hmm – completely gorgeous – the nose is no-longer overtly of stems, now it’s become a blend of fruit and flowers. Still, there’s a 1996 freshness of acidity but neither sharp nor painful. In the finish there is still a little herb complexity but this is nearly as good as the nose now. Quite close to ready and absolutely enjoyed.
Rebuy – Yes

1985 Bertagna, Vougeot 1er Clos de la Perrière
In the last 3 years, bottle #1 was ethereal brilliance, bottle #2 was bacterially infected. This, #3, is closer to the former than that latter bottle – without ever touching on brilliance. The nose is deep, faintly spiced and with dry loamy soil. In the mouth there is a nice shape – plenty of volume here – and freshness too. The fruit is ripe and a little plummy – super finishing width that has fine definition. This is the most delicious part of this wine. There is only one thing wrong with this otherwise excellent wine – and that is that I remember how much better the first bottle was!
Rebuy – Maybe (for the variability)

2008 Pascal Marchand, Corton
Hardly more than medium colour. The nose is of modest intensity but at the same time fabulously complex – though there’s still a trace of barrel coconut.This wine is almost too easy for a Corton, particularly a 2008 Corton, but it has an engrossing ethereal quality to it. I’d still prefer the coconut to fade more, but this wine has always been class in glass…
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Le Grappin, Beaune 1er Boucherottes
Drunk directly following the weekend’s Chambertin. The nose here really cannot compete, it has some high-toned complexity but it is both young and a bit herby for now. The palate, on the other hand, is full of overt, mouth-filling, energy and bright crunchy red fruit. It’s super and much more interesting to drink (if not smell) than the much tighter Chambertin – for that, really bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

1985 Joseph Drouhin, Gevrey-Chambertin
Well, 90% of the cork comes out in one piece!
A sweet demerara depth of medium-red fruit, a suggestion of leaves too – a fine clean nose for such an oldie – just a hint of volatility creeping in on thescond night. Still good acidity and a nicely melting flavour that’s faintly spiced and envelops the tongue beautfully. I had about three of these, and over the last five years they have been very stable – unlike some other villages wines that were definitely fading. Tasty, rewarding wine, but still to drink up…
Rebuy – No Chance…

Next up, villages Savigny from 2014 – because life’s not just about impossible to find villages wines from 1985 🙂
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2014 Françoise Andre, Savigny-lès-Beaune Ez Connardises
Good depth of colour. Really a large volume of aroma, ripeness of macerating dark cherry and an accent of oak – très inviting. Fresh attack, good width, and yes quite a lot of oak – but tasty too! Savigny did soooo well in 2014 – what there was of it!
Rebuy – Maybe

A few of the wines collected for last weekend saw the light this weekend – actually, they mainly saw the corkscrew – let’s call it recycling! Friends helped consume everything, that’s the best way – no?

2011 Ramonet, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Ruchottes
Fresher and more complex and mineral than I remember when young. There is now a little caramel-style oak on both the nose and the end of the palate. I loved the complexity of this wine though might have preferred a hint more energy – but it’s still a delicious wine.
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Henri et Gilles Remoriquet, Vosne-Romanée 1er Au-dessus des Malconsorts
This wine was in a perfect place – a nose that opens with sweetly spiced welcoming arms. The palate round, complex, a certain sucrosity with cleanliness of delivery. Simply a perfect showing.
Rebuy – Yes

2002 Nicolas Potel, Chambertin
Ooh – what a great nose of both volume and complexity – dried leaves, dried and fresh fruits – such an invitation – which was half a shame because the palate of this wine remains pretty tight – great finishing complexity – almost in the same league as the nose – but the the first and mid-palate both need a few more years to open and relax – half a great wine.
Rebuy – Maybe

AKA – birthday weekend!

Not ridiculous wines, nor ridiculous quantities, but some great stuff nonetheless. And my best wine of the year – so far – so not bad! Friday night started with a ‘Charmes’ double-bill:

2015 Albert Joly, Puligny-Montrachet Les Charmes
Only a villages wine, but this vintage is terrific, and this particular cuvée has a dirty secret – but that’s why I like it so much! Given the name, it may come as no surprise that Puligny Charmes is contiguous with Meursault 1er Les Charmes. To me, blind, I would always call this out as Meursault – and a lovely one at that. It’s relatively a great price versus the neighbour over the commune boundary and is just so delicious…
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Alex Gambal, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes (Mag)
I bought 2 of these – and two Amoureuses too – this the first to be opened. This is simply great wine.
Relatively still a young nose but floral and inviting, classic Chambolle. The palate has presence, clarity, wiry muscle and is delicious – if still quite a youngster. Simply excellent.
Rebuy – Yes

On Saturday night the Bollinger was excellent – and quite young tasting for an 1829… There followed a very good Bouillot crémant at the restaurant – currently my favourite in Beaune – La Superb. I tried for the Le Relais de Saulx but it was booked up more than 1 month ahead of time! We came home after a fine meal and I opened just the one bottle – despite a Liger-Belair Echézeaux and a Potel Chambertin lying in wait – they will get their time in the sun – but the Leroy was simply other-worldly!

1999 Domaine Leroy, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Narbantons
There was a time when this wine was almost affordable – though this still cost the same £40 en-primeur in the UK as the Engel Grands-Echezeaux. I assume that you have to pay at least 10 times more today – maybe 20(?) I compared those two, maybe 8-9 years ago and slightly preferred the Leroy over the Engel. But age has accelerated this wine into the stratosphere:
​A long cork – damp and red – wine-soaked through its considerable length. Deep, enveloping nose of dark, sweet, sous bois, tobacco, smoky mushroom, blackberry with cream – all in all very special! I’m not really the the type of taster who likes to list adjectives – but this wine forces you… In the mouth fine freshness, lots of intensity of flavour – young flavour, but super, super flavour, the stems on both the nose and palate bringing an unusual sweetness and roundness to the aroma and flavour. Mega wine, only a hint more length away from trouncing many Vosne grand crus in every possible dimension…
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