I’m late getting these out – what with moving apartment and-all!

2014 Rebourgeon-Mure, Bourgogne Chardonnay
Only a very faint yellow colour. The nose has freshness and equally modest flashes of citrus. In the mouth there’s fine direction and energy – indeed almost getting to mouth-puckering – but not quite. If the sun is shining, and you want something fresh, modestly proportioned but with a little bite – oh, and modestly priced – this is for you. Enjoyed!
Rebuy – Yes

2013 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Beaune 1er Montrevenots
I love both this producer and this vineyard – so this was always going to be a slam-dunk. Great fresh fruit – but with a certain aromatic depth. In the mouth there’s a little acid bite – but certainly not damaging – and a fine cherry fruit of textured depth. Actually there’s a certain extra depth here that also reminds me of this producer’s Ile des Vergelesses – that’s a compliment! Really lovely wine!
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Santini Frères, Beaujolais Villages
Sometimes it is absolutely clear, even before you start, that some things can’t go wrong; 2015 Beaujolais, nice packaging and a litre bottle to boot! It does exactly what it says on the label – big wine with energy and tasty fruit – actually a slightly meaty side to this fruit – but for this label there’s nothing to detract from another pour. Great weekend drinking!
Rebuy – Yes

2009 David Clark Bourgogne Pinotr Noir Au Pelson
This was the first, and probably only, wine that David Clark made with all the stems – 100% whole cluster – and it really smelled of it when young. Today we have really a more perfumed impression – rose-petals – and it smells delicious. In the mouth it retains good volume and a lovely texture – all the sweetness of fruit that 2009 can offer too. Long, just a little more herbed in the finish, but this is becoming a lovely thing. I think I drank far too many when they were young, because this is a beauty now – but I have maybe less than half a case remaining. Super ‘simple’ bourgogne…
Rebuy – Yes

1990 Maurice Chapuis, Corton-Charlemagne
Golden colour – but no brown. The nose, amazingly, starts in a firework/gunflint reductive style – with time the glass becoming richer with more of a salted caramel and lanolin style. In the mouth there’s really a nice volume of flavour, some richness and sweetness but also a base of saline minerality too – just lovely in the finish – way better 2 hours after opening than for the first 20 minutes – sometimes old whites just need a lot of aeration – and this is one – a mid-week treat!
Reuy – Yes

A cellar search for something ‘disruptive and belligerent‘ – Laurent Ponsot is certainly disruptive so this was not a bad choice. Actually I was surprised to note that even the 2009s bear his domaine name stamped into the base of the bottle – I had assumed that this was, relatively, a more recent change. I went back through some older bottles to see when it started – the 2008s are stamped, the 2007s not…

2009 Ponsot / des Chézeaux, Griotte-Chambertin
The colour is relatively modest – it least with 2015s in mind – though not brilliantly bright. The first sniff is round and tight but within minutes the aromas open their arms with complexity and depth, first with a silky and deep red cherry and then adding mineral complexity and even more width and depth – ooh – this is one of the best things that I’ve sniffed in a long time – it’s that good! Medium weight, silky wine but with a growing intensity of fine flavour that persists as well as a 2015. For such a baby, this an über-covetable wine. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

The sun was out and I’d also spent some time with wines from Mâcon last week – so why not keep it going over the weekend?

2014 Château des Rontets, Pouilly-Fuissé Les Birbettes
Medium yellow colour. The nose is fresh waft of lemon curd – very attractive. Lovely in the mouth, incisive enough but at the same time perfectly textured – direct, modestly mineral, refreshingly intense. Just a really great young wine. Only the finish has an extra accent of oak, but really nothing that would put me off and the flavour is so mouth-watering. Really a high-class PF…
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Domaine de la Sarazinière, Bourgogne Aligoté Clos des Bruyères
A wine that starts with a little toasty reduction, but as it opens it becomes an ever finer and bright, pure citrus nose. Silky, bright and with just a little citrus and mineral length – don’t let this get too warm or flavours broaden and become less precise. With cheese or with barbecue, this was just a super wine – very yum!
Rebuy – Yes

Céline et Laurent Tripoz, Crémant de Bourgogne Nature
A modest golden colour. The nose has hints of sherry, beer, apple and a fine mandarin note too. In the mouth this has a really fine width of flavour, super freshness and a fine cooked apple. Extra complex in the finish and it’s a fine and long finish. Despite some parts of my note, this is not really an oxidative style in the mouth – like many champagnes today – simply a very delicious wine. The bottle won’t last long!
Rebuy – Yes

Actually very lucky!

2014 Sylvain Pataille, Marsannay Clos du Roy
Ooh that’s a lovely nose – deep but round – forward fruit but really only modestly accented with a little roses from the whole clusters. Supple, round but with depth and energy too – great texture. A wine that might best most 2015s from Marsannay. Simply Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

2008 Camille Giroud, Corton
Always a secret which lieu-dit this came from! Not the deepest of colour. This has a beautiful nose – direct, fresh, attractive. In the mouth – oof – boy this has zing, juicy zing, a super line of fresh and red-fruited flavour. Less fruit density and this would be verging on too acidic – but here, today, this is simply singing. Bravo again!
Rebuy – Yes

2007 Camille Giroud, Corton-Charlemagne
Truth be told, my last one of these was a little brown and massively advanced – I’m now in ‘drinking mode’ as far as this cuvée is concerned. Deep colour, but not the pale brown of the last bottle. Actually quite a fresh nose, if with a faint whiff of cooking apple. The palate is full, mouth-watering and delicious – very long. Not quite the dream wine of its youth, but very good – though for obvious reasons, not a re-buy…
Rebuy – No

Bernard Bouvier, Isabelle Collotte, Laurent Fournier and Sylvain Pataille…

A great tasting of Marsannay 2014 yesterday with 4 talented producers – plus wines from many other (very interesting!) domaines too – over 40 wines. Timed just to fit into the March report – online before the end of April!

1990 Penley Estate, Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon
I thought that I’d broken the cork – it came out so easily – but no. The end of the cork, almost black and heavy with cassis – this wine seemed in good shape despite the cork. In the glass it wasn’t to be – the colour was relatively pale, and the nose was very spirity – I would have guessed an older, unsuccessful port. In the mouth even more so – yet without any overt oxidation! Such a strange wine, but with other options available, not one for drinking…
Rebuy – No

2014 Poulleau Père et Fils, Volnay 1er Chanlin
Medium, medium-plus colour. A nice freshness to this nose over a depth of cherry-stone fruit, slowly a  very pretty floral is visible too – good! Really wide in the mouth, like the nose fresh, with a growing intensity of direct flavour. The flavour is also redolent of the cherry-stones with a little oak accompaniment. Pretty finish. Not the most profound 1er but it tastes great…
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Selection des Vignerons, Moulin à Vent
The label: “Union des Viticulteurs du Cru Moulin à Vent, Caveau Moulin à Vent, in Romanèche-Thorins. “Picked from a 100 blind-tasted samples, this wine is made from manually harvested graoes. Fermented in full clusters and aged 11 months in stainless steel… A wine to age.” Sent to me as a sample by the Union des Viticulteurs de Moulin-à-Vent
Ooh – that’s dark. Domestic management had black nail varnish – the wine looks a similar colour – swirl and a dark colour adheres to the side of the glass. The label says 13.5% – wink, wink! The nose is deep and dark – not particularly fruity – perhaps a trace of sulfur. In the mouth this has not bad freshness and really a cassis style – very dark and mouth-watering fruit. This is as delicious as it is well balanced, with a super length of finish and it typifies the problem with very many wines from this vintage – it is a super vin de garde, but it is so delicious already that I’m not so sure that many will be guarded!
Rebuy – Yes