Of-course I need the excuse to open more bottles, so this weekend I chose (again) the football excuse 🙂

1995 Daniel Rion, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Beaux-Monts
My last bottle was a little bretty, but this is very fine. A deep, almost textured nose, pretty, sweet spice – just lovely. Sweet in the mouth too but with lovely freshness and dimension of complexity. Comforting and simply delicious!
Rebuy – Yes

2006 Chenu, Savigny-lès-Beaune
Fresh crunch fruit on the nise, some more herby aspects too, but attractive. The palate mirrors the nose, crunchy red fruit and an under-ripe element that turns to an attractive sprig of fresh mint – the combination is rather nice – particularly so when you consider the low price of this wine – I’m sure it was less than €10. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

1991 Jaboulet-Vercherre, Echézeaux
The last bottles from this half-dozen were poor – no better than bourgognes – so I thought ‘why not a bourgogne‘ with the football. Cold, this wasn’t bad, there was a little more depth and weight of texture than I remembered – such a shame then, that the nose was rather bretty. It tasted acceptable, but didn’t smell acceptable…
Rebuy – Still No!

2012 Clothilde Davenne, Saint Bris Vieilles Vignes
The list of Saint Bris that I would actually drink has doubled – to two! This is lovely, and far from a simple varietal wine. The nose is fresh with a certain sweetness; sauvignon but still sweetly attractive. In the mouth this has fine freshness and weight and a beautiful sweet acidity in the finish. Very tasty indeed! (My other ‘drink’ is from Goissot)
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Alex Gambal, St.Aubin 1er Murgers des Dents du Chien
Quite a deep colour, but the nose is more about sweet toast and caramel – honestly more than I would want, inviting as it is. Slowly, slowly a fresher, pretty aroma begins to come through. Plenty of weight on the palate, a good intensity of acidity too – sweetly edged with a suggestion of the caramel from the nose. Tasty wine, and one that will hopefully have a little less barrel with more time in the cellar.
Rebuy – Maybe

A couple of inspired choices from the wine-list of Ma Cuisine on Monday evening:

2007 Louis Carillon, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Perrières
What a young wine! The nose is a little cushioned, still with a suggestion of vanilla and the freshness of youth. In the mouth the 2007 acidity zings you along; good concentration and super intensity – lovely finishing flavour too. Top 1er Cru! Not for those who dislike acidity, but I simply love great 2007s…
Rebuy – Yes

1982 Hospices de Nuits, Nuits St.Georges 1er Les St.Georges ‘Cuvée de l’Espace’
Faiveley was the eleveur. Bright colour and a massive nose of bright, perfumed fruit – this stays for about half an hour before the perfume very slowly fades, but at the same time the nose becoming deeper fruited. Resolved and silky in the mouth – perfect pinot. Just a suggestion of metallic in the finish but that is gone with my beef bourguignone. The first two pours were brilliant, the last just a little older in the glass. Super.
Rebuy – Yes

Accompanying a few late goals this weekend, were:

1999 Fourrier, Gevrey-Chambertin
Fourrier is sometimes maligned because the wines are so pure and drinkable, whatever their age, but here is a big nose-full of earthy, forest funk – well, for about 15 minutes anyway. Slowly a beautiful pure note starts to shine through – fine cherry fruit. In the mouth there is a lovely energy and mouth-watering flavour. This is a wine that begs you to take another sip – so we obliged, of-course! Still in great shape, though judging from the litter of empty cases, perhaps it was also my last one!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Ramonet, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos de la Boudriotte (red!)
A bold and young colour, still. The nose remains quite heavily inflected with sweet oak – though it does fit with the equally sweet fruit! In the mouth, whilst undeniably delicious and with an impressively open-ended mid-palate and finishing complexity, here is also no shrinking modesty of sweet oak flavours. It IS delicious, but the sweetness of fruit and oak together makes this wine a less moreish than the Fourrier. A very tasty baby for sure, but I’d probably wait for its 10th birthday before opening another…
Rebuy – Yes

Here’s a wine that I’ve owned in quantity since at least 2000 – it was a great buy for about £15 per – ah, those were the days… In that time it has vacilated between tasty and youthful, to full but uncommunicative. Today is about as good as I’ve ever experienced:

1995 Jean Grivot, Nuits St.Georges Les Lavières
The colour is the typical heavy, almost impenetrably browning hue of most from the vintage. The nose though is fresh, bright, a hint floral and whilst the fruit is of the inky, macerating kind, it has pretty and individual notes – nice. Wide and fresh, there’s still plenty of tannic, but cushioning, texture – nothing dry or to be afraid of here. The flavour is of surprisingly juicy; mouth-watering fruit – almost with a little accent of mint leaf and chocolate too. Indeed, chocolate-dipped cherries. Not bad! Today, very tasty indeed – yum!
Rebuy – Yes

Just a couple of modest ones to start with then another where I didn’t take a photo – slapped wrists!
A good set this weekend!

1999 Gilles Remoriquet, Vosne-Romanée 1er Au Dessus des Malconsorts
Deep colour. The nose is fresh, if a little meaty with macerating plum fruit. In the mouth this is fresh and still with a modest structure. It feels great in the mouth and has plenty of flavour complexity – tasty flavour too. It could certainly have more delicacy, but then so few 99s show that. Relatively large-scaled and tasty, and given Gilles pricing, what’s not to love!
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Dujac, Morey St.Denis
The colour is a dead-ringer for the 99 Remoriquet, though this nose is a little less attractive – it’s much more herb-driven. Unlike the nose, there is fine sweetness and complexity of fruit on the palate – it’s quite large-scaled wine, also like the Remoriquet. I like the vibrancy and freshness of the structured delivery – darkly-fruited. Despite the nose I think this very good indeed – yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2000 Vougeraie, Vougeot 1er Les Cras
Hmm – this smells very nice – some floral references that nicely lift a slightly cooked but generous fruit. A more cushioned palate than either of the 99s, but not at the expense of freshness. I find a nicely layered delivery of fruit here and it holds well in the finish too. Also a very yum wine, and not just the most accessible but also the tastiest of this trio today. Super!
Rebuy – Yes

A pre-weekend, football wine – and in this case, it didn’t outlast the game – indeed it was more exciting than the game – I’m looking at you Poland and Germany!!

2002 Domaine du Clos Frantin, Vosne-Romanée
The current Clos Frantin differs from this wine, due to an exchange of vines with Domaine d’Eugenie – the original Clos Frantin is now renamed Clos Eugenie – there remains Damaudes from above La Tâche in the blend, but now with other parcels exchanged with Eugenie.
Hmmm – clean, intense, picture-perfect, spicy-fruited Vosne-Romanée – okay a suggestion of vanilla too, but on a level that I’ll forgive! Beautifully balanced in the mouth, with crisp, fresh but ripe-fruited flavours that fill the mouth with joy. Whilst this will almost certainly get better as the fruit seems so young, it is simply a beautifully delicious wine today. If the speed that a bottle empties is a useful measure, then this is a top wine today!
Rebuy – Yes

Whilst I might wish that there was a little more sunshine for enjoying this, it seems that it brings a little sunshine of its own!

2014 Domaine Gueguen, Chablis 1er Vaucoupin
This nose is a real beauty; fresh citrus and salt – here come goosebumps! Vibrant in the mouth. Gorgeously sweet acidity and like the nose with plenty of citrus in the flavour. A long, narrow line of joy for the mid-palate and finishing flavour. This is simply an uplifting wine – I can already see that the clouds have silver linings – bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

A modest, but tasty, selection:

2005 Joseph Voillot, Volnay 1er Brouillards
This retains a deep and young-looking colour. The nose is big, but with some perfumed red fruit – looking good! Tasty, layered wine – no obvious tannin – there are 05s with more oomph, and 05s with more focus, but this does what it says on the label; open, fine and tasty drinking.
Rebuy – Yes

1995 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Ile des Vergelesses
Hmm – and almost truffled, inviting, even textured nose – this is just so lovely – it demands that you put the glass to your lips. Tasty, tasty, tasty – there’s a faint tannin, still, but here is much, mouth-filling, flavour dimension and complexity. REally super wine – perfect drinking today. Bravo! I also had the 95 Lafarge Clos des Chenes in my glass this week – it’s currently not even close to how good this wine is!
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Clos de la Chapelle des Bois, Fleurie
An easy perfume to this nose – totally different in register to the older pinots – but it’s clean and inviting. In the mouth there’s plenty of concentration to the perfumed fruit flavours. Fine acidity that underpins the persistence of finishing flavour. Thumbs-up from everyone for this wine.
Rebuy – Yes