2013 Clothilde Davenne, Saint Bris
A fresh nose and one that is a little more obviously sauvignon blanc than the 2012. Ooh – a lovely line and minerality to this wine – fresh, tasty and very moreish. Yum. Definitely a more varietal wine than the (I remember) more concentrated 2012. I prefer that wine, but this was lovely!
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Domaine Dublère, Beaune 1er Blanches Fleurs
Hmm – this smells rather dreamy-creamy – fine red fruit too – very inviting! In the mouth there is concentration dovetailed with a modest softness of texture. Super waves of strong, sweet and tasty mid-palate and finishing flavour. I find some oak influence here – but the wine remains nothing short of delicious – super!
Rebuy – Yes

2012 JC Boisset, Beaune 1er Les Grèves
Just a little deeper colour than the Blanches Fleurs. A deeper aromatic that has herb and tobacco when first opened – slowly it adds more flowers and has a fine dark-skinned cherry fruit. Big in the mouth with quite some intensity of flavour too – herb-inflected dark fruit – really this is very super, faintly saline wine – certainly there’s a mineral impression in the finish – a super long line of saline fruit notes in this finish. The waves of flavour are a little less obvious vs the last wine but generally there’s more complexity. Really a top, if rather young wine – yet, really yum! Probably better than, though less delicious today than, the Blanches Fleurs.
Rebuy – Yes

2013 Louis Latour Pommard 1er Epenots
Here is a wine that you should, currently, decant. It starts with a mix of modest reduction and slightly less modest oak notes – slowly but surely it gains higher and fresher notes – the fruit behind is never in question. A lovely width of fresh berry-cherry fruit on the palate with a faint halo of dryness, but not to the extent that there’s any tannic grain. A fine fruit note adheres to the tongue – and it’s very persistent. Today the wine is mainly defined by this oaky reduction – but seriously good material waits below. It’s a very different style of oak here vs the Blanches Fleurs – and this weekend, this is my favourite wine, very closely followed by the Grèves.
Rebuy – Yes

Having mistakenly opened a (remarkably super!) 2007 M&M to follow-up on my p.oxed 2005, here – eventually – are a couple of 2005 follow-ups. Sadly, and in my cellar at-least, these are for the fish or chicken sauce – only.

2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Caillerets
Deep colour. Basically like the last bottle – it smells more like an exotic blend of fermented marmalade with a large helping of Jura wine. This is such a shame because this wine was a stunner 6-7 years ago – shame on me for not drinking them all at that time.
Rebuy – No

2005 Mischief & Mayhem, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Champs Gain
Deep colour – exactly the same as the last wine. This also has the fermented marmalade / cider / sweet honey nose – though in this case without a clear note of Jura. Less exotic than the Caillerets, but equally compromised. In the mouth there’s a good line and excellent concentration of flavour – but also a wine for the cooking, not the Riedel…
Rebuy – No

I shall be rounding up all my remaining 05s – save the Leflaive Chevalier – probably for cooking with…

Despite the temperature closing in on 30° this weekend, my boss said – No, it has to be red!
So here you go:

2012 Camille Giroud, Volnay 1er Les Lurets
Hmm – the nose is not the best – it’s not bad, but I’d want more purity from my Volnay – here the fruit is very powdery – stopping short of musty, but for the whole night, stable, powdery. In the mouth – no problem. Sinuous, dark red and pure fruit with lovely energy. The shape of this wine in the mouth is really lovely – it drinks (oops – drank!) very well.
Rebuy – Yes

2013 Chezeaux/Ponsot, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Charmes
I hate these seals – or at least the attempted removal of them – I don’t think I’ll ever stop saying that, but the wines have always been fine!
Hmmm – dreamy pure fruit – ripe fruit – you might easily think it was from a vintage like 2009. In the mouth there is fine energy but again, despite the easy-drinking beauty of the fruit, it is very much a ripe, almost cordial fruit. Too easy? Maybe for Chambolle 1er, but certainly too easy to drink today – it is gone in double-quick time. Hopefully by age 10+ there will be more real interest, instead of simple, if appealing, easy drinking fruit.
Rebuy – Yes

Given my rotten 05 Puligny Caillerets, I decided to pop another M&M 05 to see if it was an isolated incident. As you can see – and (as you prefer) call it old age or blindness – but only after I’d poured this, did I realise that I’d actually pulled out an 07, not the 05!

2007 Mischief and Mayhem, Meursault 1er Les Charmes
Much lighter colour than the 05 Caillerets. Fresh, forward and embracing aromatics – this is really inviting. In the mouth – wow! If you are acid-shy then you might find this a little challenging, but this is a super-intense and fresh wine yet with fabulous construction and weight too. Still very much a baby – it zings across the palate and I loved it!
Rebuy – Yes

What a modest (quantity) weekend – clearly I was also still drinking the ‘dregs’ of all those other bottles 😉

2006 Chenu, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Aux Clous
Like last week’s 06 villages, there’s a certain attractive phenolic aspect to this wine – more for the flavours than the aromas – but it’s really that – attractive. Fresh red fruit with more sweetness and vivacity – lovely complexity too – versus the villages. This drank beautifully for 2 days – very yum!
Rebuy – Yes

Good as the Chenu is, the next wine is from another planet!

2009 Chandon de Briailles, Volnay 1er Caillerets
A wine no-longer in the CdB portfolio – and that’s a shame, because this is fabulous. It retains a modest nod to the vintage – ripeness for sure – but the clarity of both the aromatic and the flavour is simply first class. Gorgeous wine with a herby, intensity of concentrated extract in the mid-palate. Simply a fabulous wine! I must be more patient with my remaining few bottles!
Rebuy – Yes

The other day, I found my last bottle of this whilst ‘rummaging!’ Bouchard don’t have any holdings in Chablis, separate from those of William Fevre – so this is actually a Fevre wine, sold into Switzerland by somebody who obviously didn’t have the exclusivity on William Fevre! 🙂

2005 Bouchard Père et Fils, Chablis Bougros
I assume that this is still a négoce wine, despite Fevre being the source. Wherever it comes from, the colour is much lighter than I might have worried about – certainly younger and lighter coloured than this weekend’s Gambal 2012 Dents du Chien – a fresh, weighty wine indeed. It’s a squeaky-clean and very inviting nose – it could be a 2012! Weight of extract, a little fat, but also fine minerality and freshness – here is a slightly fat finishing grapefruit/agrume flavour. This tastes fabulous without ever delivering the extra dimension that 10 years might endow – a baby – a very pretty baby indeed – but unfortunately my last baby. Brilliant!
Rebuy – Yes – without hesitation.