This weekend was definitely a ‘must try harder‘ weekend…

2015 Dampt Frères, Bourgogne Tonnerre Le Clos du Chateau
The 2014 of this was a match for 95% of Chablis 1er crus – taught, mineral but absolutely deliciously intense wine – and all for about €9. The 2015 isn’t really like that – there is concentration, certainly enough weight of flavour, but rather like the 2015 Vaillons of Long-Depaquit, tasted a couple of weeks ago, this simply lacks a little deliciousness. Perhaps it will improve with time, but today it’s a realtively easy pass…
Rebuy – No

1996 Jean-Claude Belland, Chambertin
Last time out – already 10 years ago – this was young and delicious – today no-longer. Of-course every bottle will be different, but this showed a pretty unpleasantly bretty nose. The palate has weight – indeed poise – fine balance and layers of flavour. The flavours showed a little less of the brett – but a wine with a poor nose is a wine that ultimately you can’t rescue – that was the case here. Given that it was Chambertin, I persevered with a second glass – indeed a third on the next day – but it wasn’t to be…
Rebuy – No

2012 Le Grappin, Savigny-lès-Beaune
Fresh, herby, bright red fruit. The palate is fresh and open with a bright personality. Despite the faint green tinge – like fresh mint on strawberries – this was delicious. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

Digging around in the cellar, I first thought that this was my case containing a mix of Jadot’s 98/99 Beaune Grèves – often seen in this diary in the last years – but out of the corner of my eye, I though – hmm, that’s not a Grèves! Judging by the labels, both the Rugiens and the Suchots were bought in bulk/barrel. The Clos de la Barre is all Jadot, despite it not saying ‘Domaine’ on the label.

1999 Louis Jadot, Volnay 1er Clos de la Barre
A beautiful long cork that glides out with just the right amount of pull.
A fresh, mulled red fruit with faint sous-bois and herb – compelling stuff. Weighty, supple, still with tannin – it’s a young finishing structure but a wine that is very giving – there’s just enough sweetness and cushioning ‘fat’ to be very moreish. A fine and expanding wave of finishing flavour too. Excellent and certainly with a decent level of maturity.
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Louis Jadot, Pommard 1er Rugiens
Just a rubbish cork – it split in two and the rest comes out in tiny pieces. Despite that Jadot have domaine Rugiens, this shows that they are in the market to buy wine too.
Ooh – no lasting problem from the cork – just an iron-heavy, bloody redness of aroma – ooh – that is sooo good! This shows a similar freshness to the Barre, narrower, less fat but more intensity and line – young but multi-dimensional. Long, staining flavour – absolutely brilliant but despite a fine floral element to the flavour this is really too young – the extra fatness of the Barre making that wine much more approachable today – but Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Louis Jadot, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots
This time another great cork – at least as good as the one from the Volnay…
Here the nose, whilst open, shows a little less power and volume than the first two wines, but it is both composed and still very impressive – and maybe if you search hard enough, you can probably convince yourself that there’s a little Vosne-spice here too – i.e. there probably isn’t! I love the fact that all three wines have completely different shapes in the mouth; the Volnay was round with a little fat for comfort, the Pommard was more linear and muscular, and here we have a wine with super width – almost a wave of flavour that flows over the palate. Here the flavour impression is one of some maturity and – yes – spiciness of complex fruit. This plays beautifully over the palate, and of the three I would say it is currently the most ‘ready’ – whatever that means. Super wine!
Rebuy – Yes

I’d say that that was a good weekend – and there were 2 of each in the case – so maybe I shall wait 2 more years and drink the ‘poor orphans’ when they are 20 – or maybe not – if I find them again 🙂

2015 Loosen Bros, Riesling
After a couple of 2011s, why not a 2015? There is a similar sweetness here to those older wines, but an appealing extra grapefruit vivacity – I still admit to drinking it ice-cold from the refrigerator though!

2011 Carrick, Central Otago Bannockburn Chardonnay
I did the harvest a couple of times (in Beaune) with someone from Carrick – this a souvenir. Normally I really don’t ‘get’ the aromatics of NZ chardonnay – there’s a kind of mineral hardness that is easy to spot, and hard to like. Perhaps it simply needs time – because this wine had none of it! Popped (screw-capped) and poured, this is light coloured and has just a touch of toasty reduction to the nose. Broad, tasty chardonnay flavoured – it does just what it says on the label! Whilst it wears its 14% rather well, my drinking companion spotted the alcohol – with a little head-fuzziness!

And here, an example of poor vintage checking!

2015 & 2014 Long-Depaquit, Chablis 1er Vaillons
I saw the 2014 on the shelf and immediately though ‘I’ll have one of those.’ On tasting I found it well textured, broad, minerally concentrated but ultimately rather dull(?) Only then did I realise that this was a 2015 – I was sure I’d bought the 2014! Two days later I was back in the coop, and indeed there were just two 2014s left on the shelf, surrounded by 2015s. The 2014 is more taut, refreshing and intense – it is, by comparison, absolutely delicious – I love it. Be careful with your vintages – hopefully the 15 will improve with age – but I wouldn’t buy another…

I decided to keep the riesling theme for this (again) hot weekend, but this time with a little higher niveau. First a little ‘industrial’ Prosecco (superiore!) – finely refreshing when very cold. The 2009 Niederhauser Klamm wine of von Racknitz was just a delicious wine – both depth and interest. Particularly the extra couple of years age versus the 2011 von Winning Paradiesgarten gave the Racknitz the edge today – the 2011 was seemingly the better wine, but still with that modest spritz that I associate with young Germans. Both very yum!

2000 Clos des Lambrays
The last from my six-pack, and whilst bought on release and professionally stored for the first 10 years, they have been exceedingly variable – the last bottle was pants, but this was lovely – all the better to remember it by. Complex, a little meaty – open and tasty. Delicious? – nearly – but tasty? yes!
Rebuy – No if nothing else because of its infuriating variability…

2007 Mugneret-Gibourg, Bourgogne
Wow – really in a great place – less complex but more overtly giving and delicious than the Lambrays. The nose has a purity of fruit and flowers that this wine has only previously hinted of. In the mouth too, there is balance with lovely texture, deliciously sweet and fresh red fruit and a simply moreish flavour profile – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

It’s been quiet around here in the last days – but the ‘action’ has been non-stop – my weekend wines were never-more needed than over the last days…

It began, last week, with a three day tour with a fine group of visitors to Chablis and the Côtes. I’d hired a car, as it’s always nicer to have a little more room when there are more than two people. All was good, until I returned the hire-car. My own car, left in the car-park, was nowhere to be seen when I returned. My first instinct was to look for ‘no-parking’ signs (the office was already closed for the night), assuming that it was going to cost me €150 to recover my car – but I found none. Next day when the staff returned – blank faces. The car had been stolen.

Of-course, there has been an onslaught of phone-calls and police reports since then – in both France and Switzerland. Cancelling the number plate (registration is through the insurance companies in Switzerland – if the car has number plates it is insured, if it hasn’t… That’s a great system), dealing with insurance companies and so-on. I was also having to look at options for a new car (and on, and on, and on…)

Last night the (Swiss) police called – ‘We have your car.‘ Hmm, stolen 300km away, but driven back into Switzerland by the thieves. Today our door locks were changed though, as a house-key was in the car – I said it was a long list of phone-calls! I don’t have any more details yet, and won’t get to pick the car up until next week, as the car-key awaits in France – I’d assumed that if the car was going to turn up, that it would be in France, not here in der Schweiz! Let’s see how it looks (and what remains in the car!) when I pick it up next week. In the meantime, another hire car and TGV tickets are required for a much shorter (than planned) return to Beaune next week.

So it was a hot and fairly frustrating weekend – wine was needed! To start with, I picked a bunch of whites that would chill (even forgetting one of them in the freezer compartment!) There is a downside to the ultra-chilled riesling idea though – a glass is very easily dispatched in a very modest number of minutes!

2008 Wolfberger, Rangen Pinot Gris
Forgotten in the freezer. only the last 2-3mm of cork left in the neck!
Ooh – super cold – waxy texture, still good colour and freshness. Just a delicious first taste whilst cold – less interest as it warms a little.

2011 Dr Loosen, Loosen Bros Riesling
So cold, so good. 2 bottles drunk – and frighteningly quickly too! Fresh and maybe rather sweet when warmer in the glass. But a great refresher.

2006 Roty, Gevrey-Chambertin La Brunelle.
This was not an easy drink when young, but now I see that it is beginning to turn the corner a little – still, so it should now that it’s 10 years old!
Hmm, this is a very attractive nose – there’s still a little grating wood, but really it’s now developed a delightful floral countenance too. In the mouth there is decent freshness and good scale – the floral aspect of the nose is obvious in the flavours too. The mid-palate remains a little wood-locked with more than a suggestion of woody dryness. The counterbalance of the floral fruit means that it’s easy to drink a glass, but 2 is more wearing. For that reason I enjoyed a (large) glass on 4 consecutive nights – I enjoyed all 4 glasses, but would still suggest waiting at least another couple of years before opening the next one – this wine is definitely getting better and better though.
Rebuy – Yes

There were others too, but repeats of ones I’ve already posted on in the last 6 weeks or-so – then there was a night of Italian white and Australian red at friends…

2005 Domaine François Labet, Beaune 1er Coucherias
Simply a crazy-good wine – à point! The nose has a little sous-bous but mostly faintly roast, transparent red fruit of gorgeous depth and clarity. The depth and clarity are reflected in the flavours too. Fine acidity, a wine that begs you to drink it – and then drink it some more – I really don’t need to wait any longer for this, it’s great already – Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

It’s been hot – so whites it was! They could all have been better – as my old school report used to say – must try harder!

2013 Dublère, Meursault 1er Charmes
Hmm, there’s a nice aromatic volume here – classically Meursault too. In the mouth I find the wine a little tighter – there are layers and layers of flavour but it seems to me that the expression is on quite a low order. Tasty, clean, does what it says on the label, but I was waiting for a little more – I’ve had other 2013s showing similarly, so won’t be blaming the producer.
Rebuy – Maybe

2012 Alex Gambal, St.Aubin 1er Murgers des Dents du Chien
Hmm – much more reductive than the last bottle, exacerbating the oak component. Don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather have reduction than oxidation, but I love to enjoy smelling my wine and this was a little too overtly toasty-reductive. I preferred the last bottle much more.
Rebuy – Maybe

2015 Clotilde Davenne, Chablis 1er Vaucoupins
Just a deliciously fine and pure citrus nose – so inviting. Hmm, that’s a shame then, because the palate is a little hard and un-yielding – the finish is as good as the nose – both bravo – but the first flavours are hard. Give it mor time I suppose!
Rebuy – Maybe