Back in Switzerland and given that I’m not tasting 20 wines (plus!) per day, I really do have a thirst for opening things – surely it’s good training for Christmas too 😉

2002 Domaine des Varoilles, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos des Varoilles
I though I had this in magnums – but not – it must be the La Romanées in mags – it’s only a question of ‘where?’ Medium, medium-plus colour with just a hint of browning. The nose has a few meaty notes, pepper too over a more guarded red fruit core. Silky, beautiful acidity, and a very fine mid-palate intensity – impressively so. Almost a chewy flavour to finish. Very good wine on the cusp of changing to something much more secondary and interesting. Tasty!
Rebuy – Yes

The last of my stash of 1998s from Bruno. The halves were mainly brett infected in the last couple of years, but this 75cl was fine…

1998 Bruno Clair, Marsannay Longeroies
A healthy medium/plus colour. The nose is a hint cushioned, a hint savoury and shows an occasional flash of good deep red fruit. In the mouth, just a little less sweet than the Varoilles and there’s a suggestion of bitterness about the finishing flavours, yet in isolation this has a little fat, some freshness and no lack of sweetness to the fruit. The finish is a good one that hints toward dry tannin without ever managing to deliver it. Fresh, cool fruit, off-dry. Tasty wine but I have to say it was even tastier 5 years ago!
Rebuy – Yes

2013 Berthaut-Gerbet, Vosne-Romanée
A bottle bought after the super tasting in Fixin the other week. On first opening there are a few sulfites clouding the dark fruit. Really this needed 15 minutes of air to freshen up, but then it was super; a mildly sweet and spicy dark-fruited nose. In the mouth just modestly sweet but with very nice complexity and much moreish-ness. Delicious wine.
Rebuy – Yes

2013 Louis Latour, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Sous les Puits
A beautiful width of aroma – fresh apricot and agrume. Fills the mouth with mineral flavour, energy with a great punch of mid-palate flavour. Very impressive, a wine that got better and better, the longer it was open.
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Camille Giroud, Bourgogne Cuvée L
Magnum – and how good was this! (That was a statement, not a question!) I’ve a magnum of the 08 waiting for Christmas but, for fun, thought I’d broach this. If you don’t know, the cuvée ‘L’ stands for ‘lees.’ The lees from all the reds in the cellar were assembled and left to settle for a few more months with the hope that they would become bright and clear – so ALL the reds, including the grand crus. This cuvée was made in at least 08-10 but not in recent years. The wine is big, open, and shows friendly red fruit on both the nose and palate. There’s a little comfort to the texture plus a weight of flavour that is clearly nothing to do with ‘bourgogne rouge.’ This was simply one of the most delicious young wines I’ve drunk this. 3 people devoured the bottle in no time. Bravo!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Gilles Bouton, St.Aubin 1er En Remilly
Honestly, these 2010s were ‘very good , but not to the level of his 2009s’ for at least 6-12 months after release. But slowly and surely they got better. This has presence, lovely energy and complexity and a very fine line of flavour. I don’t suppose there’s a rush – I’ve never had an oxidised bottle (though I’ve also had none older than this), but this tastes first class right now – peaking? who knows, but lovely! Shame I’m down to my last couple – they only cost about €14 on release, the prices have increased massively since then – the 14s now cost all of €17!;-)
Rebuy – Yes

2003 Domaine des Chézeaux, Gevrey-Chambertin Clos des Chézeaux
Ooh – that smells good! Clearly there’s sweet, ripe fruit but padded out with the first layers of leafy development. In the mouth this a sweet, layered and very tasty wine – not obviously from Burgundy – a taster suggests a hint of Amaroné – and why not! A very honest wine – 2003 is exactly what it is – it’s also delicious!
Rebuy – Yes

It was ‘open day’ in Fixin today 😉
 

2013 Domaine Joliet, Fixin
The young vines of the Clos de la Perrière
Deep, wide, a little sweet, with smoky oak. Modest colour. Round and silky, a bright line of acidity, Long finishing, quite tasty wine. 25€ for this level (direct)

2013 Domaine Joliet, Fixin 1er Clos de la Perrière
“The grand vin!”
Deep, layered, plenty of smoky notes on this nose. Bigger, rounder, a fine line of acidity through the core. Wide, layered flavour, a little cushioning and a lot of flavour that’s faintly floral fishing. Lovely, even for €60 (direct)

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2013 Domaine Berthaut, Bourgogne
A wide, strawberry nose. Supple, modest flavoured but tasty. Well balanced, a nice texture, nice length too. Yum!

2013 Domaine Berthaut, Fixin
A hint rounder, deeper red fruit on this nose. More direct, more intense, a wider palette of flavour. Higher toned fruit. But nicely packaged. Also yum!

2013 Domaine Berthaut, Fixin 1er Les Arvelets
Fresher, higher tones, more direct. Fresh, direct flavour too, but with a good sweetness and, once more, nice texture. More mineral finishing. Super, and a great finish too. But for sheer deliciousness, easily outpointed by the Vosne.

2007 Domaine Berthaut, Fixin 1er Les Crais
Deep, sweet roasting fruit. Good width, an acidity at the core, less finely packed than the 13s. A bright finish. Good but not great.

2006 Domaine Berthaut, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cazetiers
A short lived pyrazine, then fresh flowers. Wide, mineral, salty, good acidity, very good complexity. Still a little tannic grain. Nice but not special.

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2014 Pierre Gelin, Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Aromatic, faintly spicy nose. Good weight, shape and very nice texture. Fine finishing flavour too. This is a very good Bourgogne.

2012 Pierre Gelin, Fixin
More weight and texture of aroma – this is very appealing. A hint mushroom, but nicely textured width and a depth of interesting flavour. A bright but not a bit rustic mid-palate and finishing flavour. Good stuff despite a hint of oak.

2012 Pierre Gelin, Fixin 1er Les Arvelets
A deeply floral nose with pretty and individual red fruits. Quite floral flavoured too – a good line of high-toned flavour. The finish is a little more harsh and mineral – but give it a couple more years of cellaring and this could be a nice surprise…

2012 Pierre Gelin, Fixin 1er Clos Napoleon
A deeper rounder and redder nose – freshly red fruited. Bigger in the mouth too, and I very much like the complexity here. Wide and with good energy and chewy finishing flavour. This will be very good…

2014 Pierre Gelin, Bourgogne Chardonnay ‘Dessus les Prielles’
An open fresh nose, with some yellow and green citrus. Lithe, tending towards soft, but silky and comfy without losing definition. Not special but well made, well put together and well drinkable 😉

Drunk slowly over the last 4 days, with a little Volnay here and there. The first two being part of a selection opened for tour-guests which also included a Puligny Champs Canet and a Bienvenues plus more Volnay 😉

2012 Olivier Leflaive, Bourgogne Oncle Vincent
A bit of toasty reduction fades to reveal a hint of phenolics but a basically pretty and direct aroma. In the mouth there’s good texture and really plenty of concentration and intensity – width of fresh and involving flavour. Well done Oncle Vincent!
Rebuy – Yes

2012 Olivier Leflaive, Puligny-Montrachet
A bit of toasty reduction once more. As it fades this becomes finer and finer with a very pretty and fresh complexity. In the mouth the texture is marginally finer though there’s certainly no more intensity than the Bourgogne shows – but – there is a much more impressive, complex flavour – you can almost point to the individual notes. This is simply more delicious. Really super-tasty wine. Excellent!
Rebuy – Yes

Both the Leflaives held up perfectly for 3 days – I thought the Puligny (aromatically) not as good on the 4th day, but remarkably the Bourgogne was still going strong. The bottles were left in the garage at a (maximum!) of 2°C in Bern this week, so needed to warm in the glass!

2006 Louis Chenu, Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc
I found it in the cellar and my first thought was that it would be ‘past it’ – but… The nose is fresh, indeed a bit phenolic, the flavours too but with the nice, impressive, mid-palate complexity that maturity brings. Fresh and alive, but not really tasty in the same context as the (admittedly brilliant) Puligny. However, 3 hours after opening the bottle, the wine is holding up very well, and the slightly austere phenolic references have softened a little. The mid-palate flavour remains excellent, better than you could expect from the label. The rest is modest, but a welcome glass none-the-less. Probably all those phenols kept this wine from oxidation’s door.
Rebuy – Yes

2009 Ramonet, Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Modesty coloured. A warm but welcoming aroma here – nicely detailed red fruit and not ‘too warm.’ Nicely textured with decent balance and a sweetness of fruit. Not a wine for dissecting, rather to lubricate discussion – works very well in that context. Tasty too!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 Joseph Voillot, Pommard 1er Pezerolles
Ooh! – that’s pretty! There’s comely dark fruit encased in an almost glossy silkiness – it says ‘drink me!’ Round and mouth-filling, but without overt, distracting volume. A beautiful depth of flavour that really holds in the finish and even adds some violet flower notes. Tannin? Pommard structure? No, not really – it’s just too well-balanced for that. Just an über-tasty wine!
Rebuy – Yes

Today is Beaujolais Nouveau day isn’t it?

Well, this is nouveau to me! This is a hybrid fermented – so part carbonic maceration, part ‘burgundian’ fermentation, i.e. with destemmed grapes. Here from a 3.5 ha domaine bought by Albert Bichot last year. Personally I prefer my BJ at least 10 years old as I’m no great fan of the aromas of carbonic maceration – and certainly not banana! This wine seems a great compromise…

2014 Domaine de Rochegrès, Moulin-à-Vent Rochegrès
Deep, bright fruit, a little carbonic in style but moderated by a complexity of fruit. Round with a core of mouth-watering and finely intense line of flavour. Fine texture here with a lovely finishing fruit flavour – bright yet layered finishing. Yum!
Rebuy – Yes

2005 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Corton-Perrières
Deeply coloured. The nose has depth and width; sinewy dark red fruit that plumbs deep bass notes. In the mouth there is muscle to match the sinew, but there are also layers of ripe, intense, but never jammy or roast flavour. This is excellent and is showing well today. A wine that will easily reward another 30 years of great storage, but is also no shame to drink today – indeed it was delicious!
Rebuy – Yes

2010 JC Boisset, Aloxe-Corton 1er Les Valozières
Almost as deeply coloured as the Corton, but, as it should be, a little younger shade of red. The nose is fresh and complex, even a little floral lift too – yum! In te mouth this lacks the weight of the last wine but has great, mouth-filling, shape. A complex and giving wine that offers a sweetness of flavour without the sometimes cumbersome weight of this cru. Excellent. A lesser wine than the 2005, but no lesser drink… Very yum!
Rebuy – Yes

Weekend bottles: My first thought when I picked up the Jadot was ‘Wow! That’s heavy.’

For my second thought, ‘wow’ had already been replaced by sorrow for the people who have to deliver these wines into retailers and cellars. The bottle of the Bouchard wine is maybe less than half the weight, and certainly of less ‘thick’ glass, I assume, or at least hope, that this is out of their respect for the environment, a wish for modest use of raw materials, or indeed Bouchard’s general wish to keep their CO₂ burden of modest proportions. Even Bouchard’s Montrachet is similarly modestly packaged. Jadot, on the other hand are moving in the other direction – more and more of their ‘labels’ are beginning to receive the ‘luxury packaging’ attention.

And that’s the thing; burgundy, as the prices have spiraled, has apparently become a luxury item, so evidently ‘requires’ luxury packaging.

Is the world falling into environmental chaos, simply because marketing departments in Beaune want bottles that weight one kilogram, or more, before there’s actually any wine in said bottle? Why is everyone heading in the direction of these ‘sommelier’ bottles? That’s what everyone here calls them – ‘sommelier bottles’ – wait, it’s not the marketers of Beaune that are sending us into hail, flooding, and damnation by the fire of global climate change – it’s the sommeliers!!! And it seems that it’s their own personal fetish; people at table only get shown the bottles, they don’t get to handle them…

2013 Domaine des Heritiers Louis Jadot, Beaune 1er Clos des Ursules
Once a little bit of warm-up weights was completed and I had a small sheen of sweat, I knew that I was (eventually) ready to try to lift this bottle from its case. A wide, fresh and complex palate of aromas, if, initially, rather tight. Slowly, an elegant and pretty red fruit note starts to show amongst the oak spice. Over the tongue there’s weight and an impression of volume. Wood tannin is all around, coating the flavours, but with only a hint of textural drag. Fine finishing fruit flavour, of really brilliant complexity – super! – once it eventually works its way through the slowly melting wood tannin. Such a baby, today it’s clearly a less than modestly oaked wine, but one with excellent potential. Past precedent shows this wine comes around fabulously – the 2000 has already been a super drink for a few years, and the 1993 is now approaching 7th heaven…
Rebuy – Yes

2013 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils, Meursault 1er Les Genevrières
A wide and faintly ginger-spiced nose, though underneath there’s a discreet note of reduction too. Slowly the nose opens with more and more sweetness. A large, modestly opulent texture but showing good acidity and a ginger-infused mid-palate flavour of utter deliciousness. Very yum!
Rebuy – Yes