2012 Raveneau, Chablis 1er Butteaux
I was lucky enough to drink the 2010 of this at Au Fils Du Zinc. in Chablis, last month, and it was open, ready and fabulous. This wine is also fabulous, but it’s a long-way away from being ‘ready.’ The nose is all rocks and citrus – it’s a great invitation to drink. The palate has a tight minerality but from the end of the mid-palate into the finish it opens out and the flavours hold tenaciously. Not yet delicious, but certainly tasty and rather compelling and moreish too. Super stuff – but wait 3-5 years while drinking the 2010 – if you are so lucky!
Rebuy – Yes

2004 Pierre Bourée, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St.Jacques
The cork is soaked right through but manages not to break in half – I expect because it slides out so easily – probably best that this bottle was now opened, given this cork. Quite a deep colour, the nose starts with an overt pyrazine, but shaded differently to when young. Slowly but surely there’s a nice, slightly plummy, but still fresh, dark fruit on the nose – it’s an intriguing nose and quite inviting at the same tine. Supple, silky entry, a slowly growing grain of tannin into the mid-palate and finish. That minerally pyrazine note is more forward on the palate than on the nose, making the finish just a little bitter. I couldn’t for a moment describe this as delicious, but am happy to stay with intriguing. Overall, complex, interesting, and I would say starting to drink – certainly it’s a much easier drink now than when it was young!
Rebuy – No

I visited chez Tortochot in June, but putting everything together for my June report I see that there isn’t really enough content for its own published page – so here you go. Chantal wasn’t at the domaine so Beatrice took us through a couple of 16s in barrel then a small but perfectly formed group of 2015s.

Beatrice on 2016: “It’s a good vintage, the grapes were good when harvested, though it was a modest quantity – we lost 40%. But the wines show volume, intensity and energy.”

So two 2016 from barrel for a quick look, first up Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Champerrier Vieilles-Vignes (the oldest vines of the domaine – from 1920) which showed faint reduction and faint malo – normally this is bottled in November. Next came their Mazis-Chambertin from a 0.4 hectare plot, a wine which was equally unwilling to be tasted but did show a little extra salinity.

Then some 2015s:
35% yield-loss here in this vintage as the grapes were small – so not much juice.

2015 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Corvées
Nearly 0.9 hectares worth owned by the domaine.
A little peppery red fruit aroma. Beautiful shape and fine texture, waves of red flavour. There’s a little tannic spice and texture as you reach the finish. But super.

2015 Morey St. Denis 1er Cuvée Renaissance
From two parcels totalling about 0.46 hectares – usually a lighter cuvée here as the vines are from the Chambolle side of the appellation; Clos Baulet and the Clos des Ormes
Modest colour. It’s a modest nose too. Redder fruit style with a good and growing intensity. Relatively tannic, but a wine that belies its colour for sure. The nose slowly expanding in the glass.

2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Champeaux
From a little over 0.8 hectares of east-facing vines.
Deeper colour. Here is a fine and intense red fruit with a little spice too. Lots of volume in the mouth, lots of energy too – a super intensity showing waves of finishing flavour. This is a baby – wait 3 years – but there’s super purity of fruit here. Excellent…

1982 Etienne Sauzet, Puligny-Montrachet
Of-course this is orange wine, but it’s orange for a reason – it’s 35 years-old. The nose has a toasty, reductive, biscuit-crumb and lanolin style – but there’s really no sherry-style oxidation here. In the mouth it’s actually large-scaled, in an almost overblown style, yet, as the shouted flavours fade, this clings on with a nice line of finely textured flavour – this is the vintage – still easily discernable. There are older wines that you can enjoy completely on their own, but this, however, needs a little food. I tried with cheese and biscuits – I anyway prefer whites with most cheese – though in this case (I’ll admit that) the Stilton was likely to be overkill. But no! All in proportion, the captivating nose was retained and the shouting palate was much more disciplined and enjoyable. Yum – some left for tomorrow too!
Rebuy – No Chance – luckily I already have more in the cellar 🙂

This is exactly the type of wine that spits in the face of somebody attempting to explain to me that a 7 year-old oxidised grand cru is old and should already have been drunk…

The last of my small cache – 3 excellent bottles and a less good bottle – the previous one.

In this 2001 vintage Camille Giroud bought a couple of half-finished wines, post-malo, but still in barrel – both from the same source. The other wine was a single barrel of Romanée St.Vivant – of which I also have some left, but with the original seller’s label – Nicolas Potel. This was a time of cash-flow issues for the quickly growing Potel business, which in the first instance caused Nicolas to look for sources of finance, hence, some barrel sales. We know only too well what happened to his business in later years.

But back to this wine:

2001 Camille Giroud, Vosne-Romanée 1er Aux Malconsorts
Directly this is clearly head and shoulders above the performance of my last ‘problematic’ bottle. The nose has both freshness and aromatic clarity, plus there’s a fine complexity – more impressive still is the faintly spiced depth of bloody, cherry-fruit – it’s a beautiful invitation. Wide, good freshness and a growing intensity of flavour – peaking in the mid-palate before a nicely tongue-staining, steely, mineral finishing impression. Simply an excellent wine from an excellent vineyard. That’s double-excellent! The last half-pour from the bottle is unavoidably cloudy – normally I’ve no problem with this, but on this occasion the taste simply isn’t as good as the rest – it’s the most minor of complaints…
Rebuy – Yes – if only you could!

Of-course there were others, etrangers, but I thought I’d concentrate on this one.

I bought a few of these at a Swiss auction a few years back – though I later stopped buying from the auction house concerned as there were too many ‘questionable’ bottles for sale. But this has always had GREAT potential – if, more often than not, unfulfilled potential! The first bottle was magnificent. The second bottle would have been magnificent – if it hadn’t been modestly corked. The third bottle showed bacterial spoilage – it was smelly and cloudy. This wine, if only for a modest amount of time, returned to the theme of greatness.

I’ve previously written about this wine and the Savour Club – apparently this Chapelle having been selected by Troisgros with a provenance from Damoy:

1991 Le Savour Club, Chapelle-Chambertin
Ouf! Gorgeous aromatics – perfect Côte de Nuits of the highest class – earthy, leafy, almost white mushroom too – but with that special ‘clean’ quality that separates the great from the good. Likewise in the mouth this zings across the palate with mega-complexity and fine acidity – I could ask for a hint more sweetness, but only that. It’s simply fabulous wine. But. In the glass after about half an hour the amplitude of everything is on a more moderate level and there’s just a suggestion that the wine isn’t any more perfectly clear. Now it’s only very enjoyable – as opposed to superb. It really looks like this particular bottling is fading – I must dig out those remaining (1 or 2?) bottles and wish them a fond farewell…
Rebuy – Maybe

I think it’s absolutely fair to say, that the combination of this surly (for a long time) vintage, plus the wine-making chez Grivot at this time, really don’t make for a salivating prospect, but:

1995 Jean Grivot, Nuits St.Georges 1er Roncières
The 96 Lavières of last week was, save its ‘robustness,’ was rather unremarkable. This wine, by comparison, is something of a revelation; directly it has an open and very inviting nose. The palate is a blend of silk and downright delicious flavour. Still nicely structured but with zero edges or faults. It was a half and so disappeared in flash. Super wine. I’ve also (somewhere!) some bottles of this – it looks like they are worth a modest search! It looks like I should look more closely at other 95s that I have squirreled away…
Rebuy – Yes

Probably the best producer of straight Beaujolais…

2013 Domaine Girin, Beaujolais l’Ancestrale
Quite deep colour. A nose that starts fresh but seems to body-build, taking on more aromatic volume and weight. The nose is quite nice, but the palate is even tastier than I’m expecting – wide, decently concentrated and with a little rigorous lick of acidity as you head into the finish – I find 2013s of all levels a little like this for the moment – but they are definitely becoming more friendly. Tasty wine and of-course an absolute steal when you think of the pricing.
Rebuy – Yes

This weekend, after the must try harder of last weekend – full marks! Even the 2009 ‘swissie’ was a lovely bottle!

2007 Camille Giroud, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Les Cazetiers
Hmm – this was still too young when I last opened one – but no more! The nose deep, seemingly textured with dark and enticing layers of fruit. The palate still has a little muscle but it’s much more lithe and supple with layers of delicious flavour – here darkly fruited too, but just so yum. A wine that was drunk rather quickly – always a great sign!
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Château Saint Amour, Saint Amour
Deep coloured – a fabulously floral melding with dark cherry fruit. Even better in the mouth – a wine that promises much – aromatically – and yet still manages to easily deliver. Great wine – a Bravo 2015 without a doubt. Super stuff!
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Domaine du Moulin Berger, Juliénas
Imagine the last wine with just a little more hardness and rigour – a little added spice too – both aromatic and organoleptic and you will have a good idea of this wine. Stronger muscled, a little less giving, but altogether excellent. You should certainly enjoy the former whilst waiting for this one though…
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Domaine Mugnier, Chambolle-Musigny
There was a time where I thought that half-bottles were useful for the cellar – a short-lived time, it must be said – and I bought a dozen of these halves. The first one or two were good, the rest were a disappointment. This is number 7, and it’s really the first for years that I’m actually enjoying. The nose has a silky feel and maybe a faint undertow of brett – but a long way from being overt or off-putting. In the mouth there’s good weight and plenty of pretty – if not yet delicious – flavour. I wine that’s pretty easy to drink and that’s always a good sign. Good wine, and one that’s perhaps turned the corner into something of much, much more interest.
Rebuy – Maybe