2001 Albert Bichot, Vosne-Romanée
This was actually the wine the ‘turned me on’ to Albert Bichot as a producer – bought in 2003 – this could also be my last bottle of those 2001s – but what a bottle to finish on! It has simply a beautifully aromatic, and is beautifully complex, gorgeously tasty wine – no villages from Engel, that I’ve had, has been particularly better. Actually this wine has lasted much better than some I can mention from 2001 – here’s looking at you, 2001 Mugneret-Gibourg! Actually that MG was last drunk over 3 years ago – maybe it’s filled out again(?) – I should check that out, I’m sure I’ve at least one more. But, back to this one: modest colour, everything else is on a level that you’d assume you were drinking a 15 year-old 1er cru, not a villages. Bravo! Do you still remember being able to buy Villages Vosne for €22?
Rebuy – I wish!

1976 Reserves des Dieux, Richebourg
The cork looked like it would be welded into the neck, but with only the slightest touch with the end of the corkscrew it started to slip down the neck – there would be no saving this one – prepare the funnel and decanter, and push the cork all the way in!
This is my second (and last) of these bottles – and both showed remarkably similarly despite about 4 years separating their consumption. This is only very modestly coloured, but with a real core of red colour – not brown. The nose is round, sweet, and still quite toasty – there’s a suggestion of brett, but it’s the tiniest accent and it never gets bigger. It’s an interesting if not completely gorgeous nose. The palate has volume and a weight of sweet flavour – more than the colour would suggest. There’s still a little oomph and some latent tannin in the finish, though clearly much of the original tannin now adheres to the inside of the bottle. Always interesting, never great, but very easy to finish!
Rebuy – No

2008 Prince Florent de Merode, Corton Clos du Roi
Assuming the worst for the previous bottle, this was already waiting in the wings…
Deeper colour than the Richebourg, but still not much more than medium colour. Bright red berry freshness, and a faint herb too – but not much depth of aroma. Fresh in attack – really much more acidity and less sweetness than the Richebourg. This takes two sips to accustomise, then all is well. Still the fresh palate, despite very nice depth of flavour, has just a little less/under-ripe finishing herb about it. A very drinkable wine, though not great, even in a Corton context.
Rebuy – No

A very modest selection last weekend, but in their own way, all delicious.

2009 Gilles Bouton, St.Aubin 1er En Créot
Red St.Aubin. I bought this in what I thought would be a very handy size – 500ml! Actually, it seems that they just empty faster – at least in this delicious case. Domestic management helped more than usual, as she thought it delicious too! Red fruited, and the freshness of St.Aubin dovetailing beautifully with the vintage – still a little richness of flavour but balanced until it was gone!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Jean-Marc Bouley, Volnay 1er Les Carelles
What a big fruit bomb this currently is! The texture is great and there is much richness of fruit-forward flavour – it’s delicious – though today watch out for a sneaky vanilla aromatic which is at best distracting. Otherwise simply a great thing!
Rebuy – Yes

2015 Clos de la Chapelle des Bois, Fleurie
Just like last week, to prepare my for the week ahead – but here an early 2015. What a luscious and deeply flavoured wine – layered and absolutely delicious (again – 3 from 3 this weekend!) wine. 2015 is about separating out the hard to drink (just now) from the far too easy to drink – and this is in that latter category!
Rebuy – Yes

A nice mix of bottles, drunk the week before I went to Beaujolais:

2013 Clothilde Davenne, Chablis Bougros
What a lovely, lovely wine. None of the overt botrytis apricot and fast development of a lot of Chablis in 2013 – yet – this was open and frankly delicious. Good scale and lots of sweet freshness. Super-easy to appreciate – which is anyway the vintage.
Rebuy – Yes

2015 des Malandes, Chablis 1er Vau de Vey
Ooh… That’s nice! There is a just a little richness of texture – and that’s exactly what the doctor ordered, because – this has such a brilliant line of pure minerality – there are accents of citrus, but this is a finely textured, linear, mineral wine with just enough ‘extra’ to avoid any suggestion of austerity. Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes

2011 Nicolas Rossignol, Volnay 1er Caillerets
Actually quite a big nose; round, fruited – not the clarity of a great year – but inviting, all the same. Broad, lovely texture and a good weight of flavour. tasty wine!
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Jean Raphet, Clos de Bèze
A lovely, complex nose to start – some early notes of maturity – tough eventually they hover very close to a hint of brett – never enough to put me off though 😉 In the mouth this is simply excellent – maybe it could have a little more weight, but this is beautiful over the palate, changing, complex flavour. Really super.
Rebuy – Yes

2000 Fougeray de Beauclair, Fixin Clos Marion
My last bottle from a case of 12; if I remember correctly, one was corked, the rest have all been lovely. This, the last, was really the best. In terms of ultimate deliciousness, it was even better than the Raphet, though less complex and mid-palate weight. Just a great bottle. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

And just to get me started for a week in Beaujolais…

2014 Clos de la Chapelle des Bois, Fleurie
Really a different aromatic register. full, open bright and floral red fruit. The texture is good, the concentration is good – everybody at the table said ‘yum!’ – You can’t ask for more for €10!
Rebuy – Yes

Well, I’ve seen less lucky people with 2005/2007 wines, but this 1996 was simply as perfect a wine as anyone could wish for – sublime…

2008 Agrapart, Mineral
This is a beautiful wine – I’m not a big fan of oxidised styles, or overly malic wines – this is more in the vein of vintage Pol Rogers – perfect balance, fine complexity, and simply delicious flavour. Despite what was waiting, I felt no rush to depart for the next wine while any was left from this one !

1996 Roulot, Meursault Les Luchets
Beautiful mature notes rise from the glass – freshness, depth and just a wonderful invitation to drink. Also beautiful across the palate – plenty of maturity, white chocolate and lanolin mid-palate complexity, yet it is the beautiful line of silken freshness that makes this wine utterly compelling – even another level after the Agrapart – but they have one thing in common; there will be no moving onto the next bottle before this one is finished 🙂
Rebuy – No Chance

Another quiet weekend, but this time two bottles on song…

2013 Domaine des Chézeaux / Ponsot, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
Always a pain to remove these ‘plastic corks!’ Medium-plus colour in the glass. It smells great – plenty of aromatic volume, depth of fresh, ripe fruit too – still a little one-dimensional, but then it’s still a baby. Great texture, perhaps just a little sizzle to the leading edge of the acidity, but this has really luxurious fruit and is a wine that’s all too easy to enjoy. As such, it was drank pretty quickly. Young, accessible, concentrated and delicious!
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Dublère, Beaune 1er Blanchefleur
The last of my case – already – I think! There are certain parallels between this wine and the last in terms of the accessibility of the fruit, the depth of fruit and the great texture. The later bottles of this have shown a little vanilla-style oak, which I never saw in barrel – or at least that particular barrel! The oak aside, this is simply, like the last, delicious wine, offering layered, finely textured red-fruited flavour. Simply yum!
Rebuy – Yes

What a wine – already the candidate for white wine of the year!

1995 Pinson, Chablis 1er Montmains
Here’s a modest golden colour but it’s still relatively light hued. A deep, vibrant, mineral, beautiful older wine aroma – not even the barest trace of oxidation. Wide, a little hint of fat, really fine acidity and with slowly evolving flavours that start to add a little lanolin and a creamy base to the texture of this wine. Energy, super complex, simply great – what a wine!
Rebuy – No Chance

There is plenty of blah-blah about the pricing of 2015 reds, but looking farther afield than Vosne and Chambolle, and there is much to enjoy. So, a modest selection this weekend, but not normally modest wines – unfortunately one was a stinker – literally!

2002 Nicolas Potel, Aloxe-Corton Les Boutières
I’ve probably never bought more of a single wine – 18 bottles – which I started drinking right away, early in 2004. They have all been lovely – and it has been brilliant to follow the evolution of a wine, one bottle per year – I think that I still have 2 or 3 more. This particular bottle had been sat in my fridge in Beaune for the best part of 2 years – it seems only wasting space.
Ugh – what is that smell – like the strongest brett – totally DNPIM. I left it un-stoppered for 24 hours – it was no better when I returned. Yuk!

2012 Camille Giroud, Santenay 1er Clos Rousseau
Always a very good cuvée chez CG and at a great price for the last years. I remember that one barrel of this tasted fabulous – approaching grand cru. Of course the blended cuvée was on a lower order, but still damn good!
Dark colour – a big, slightly wild nose that implies freshness, a little minerality and plenty of dark-red fruit. In the mouth there’s structure, though the tannin is not drying – there’s also fine volume of clean, interesting and mouth-filling flavour. Really drinking very well and quite powerful wine too. It tastes great today, and will only get better – Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

There was more Pommery – it has served a very useful, delicious function this Christmas!

1985 Michel Voarick, Pernand-Vergelesses
A little must and apparently some deep, kind of dirty oak too – fortunately with this wine, aeration is our friend – it cleans up remarkably, delivering a deep nose with some sous-bois and an attractive plummy sweetness. That’s a pretty apt description of the flavours too – round deep, a little sweet, and putting on some nice weight with time in the glass – this wine went from unattractive to very nice in about 40 minutes. Tasty!
Rebuy – Yes

2008 Lucie et Auguste Lignier, Morey St.Denis 1er Chaffots
Still a deep and young colour, The nose implies a little gas and there’s certainly some modest reduction, above which there’s fruit – but you need to shake the bottle to release that gas, and wait another 20 minutes before you can get at that fruit – fruit of very fine clarity that’s worth the wait. In the mouth this has a subtle spritz to start and the reduction is also on the palate – indeed it never leaves despite half the bottle waiting for day 2 – at this stage I have to declare that a fault. The impression on the palate is of high acidity – drinkable but still high. A wine that’s the archetypal Curate’s Egg today as there is much that I like, and whilst the reduction is modest, it’s persistent so will need at least another 5-6 years to fade – if it fades.
Rebuy – No

2005 Albert Bichot, Grands-Echézeaux
The grapes from the Engel estate. This had rather too much vanilla in its youth, so let’s see now!
Hmm – this nose is not bad at all! It’s lost the vanilla, though the overall impression is of a wine with a subtle intensity of aroma. The palate is fresh and shows beautiful texture and I would even say ‘great’ length, yet compared to many here – particularly the 2011s – it is very-much a tight thing. Whilst beautiful and enjoyable this is not quite half my expectations today – still I’m happy to see that the vanilla is now gone! I won’t open another for 4 or 5 years – the advantage of still having 5 or 6 in the cellar!
Rebuy – Yes

2011 Camille Giroud, Volnay 1er Les Lurets
This was fabulous when young, and definitely a notch higher performing than the Caillerets, today the nose is a little less floral but open and giving with fine fruit and just a suggestion of sous-bois. In the mouth its a layered and pretty wine that’s really easy to drink – indeed it tastes great already – yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2011 Camille Giroud, Beaune 1er Les Cras
Hmm – here the nose has the edge over the Volnay Lurets in both purity and power. In the mouth too, this is round but with fine balance and super weight of flavour – delivered in super mid-palate and finishing waves – ooh, this is gooood… Just drinking beautifully today. Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Chenu, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Hautes-Jarrons
Quintessentially Chenu from this period – fine, elegant wine that wafts through the nose and over the taste buds. Simply delicious stuff – they make wine with a little more power today, just a little, but this is simply delicious. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Jean Loron, Pouilly-Fuissé Les Vieux Murs Vieilles-Vignes
Deep colour, but not the faintest suggestion of oxidation – a powerful and open nose of ripe fruit but with energy and the impression that there was once plenty of oak here, but now all melted. In the mouth, this is a big wine – mouth-filling, tasty but with quite enough acidity. Big, impressive stuff – no-one would guess PF blind, just a great thing! Extra-yum!
Rebuy – Yes

1994 Bouchard Père ete Fils, Volnay 1er Caillerets Cuvée Carnot
The nose starts quite unattractively, but given aeration improves a lot – it still remains very herbal and with questionable ripeness – but eventually, not DNPIM! The palate is modest, some herby complexity and a little phenolic in the mid-palate – which can be good when mixed with good fruit, but in this case mixed with (again) some less ripe elements. I’m afraid that one glass of this particular bottle was enough…
Rebuy – No

2012 Michel Rocourt, Champagne Blancs de Blancs
The nose is fresh and very-much at the malic/green apple end of the spectrum. Actually the palate is similar. a wine of character for sure – tasty wine – but honestly I preferred the two bottles that followed:

Then there were a couple of bottles of Pommery NV – the second, because the first tasted so good – underestimated stuff I think…