Yes, the house-moving has been a bit of a pain, but just to prove that I haven’t also been avoiding refreshments…

Age shows the difference! My two wines from the Elégance de Volnay:

As young wines, i.e. the first year or two from release, this Potel was qualitatively on the same level as the Lafon Santenots and the d’Angerville Clos des Ducs – I really can’t say that anymore. Today the Potel is wild, complex and interesting, but also a little rustic – but the d’Angerville is a wine of grand cru interest and a fabulous silky texture – differences that really weren’t apparent when young. I didn’t bring a bottle of the Lafon to compare, because I know I have only 1 more…

1999 Nicolas Potel, Volnay 1er Clos des Chênes
Hmm – this smells good: complex, faint forest floor yet still with fine fruit notes too – super complexity. In the mouth it’s rather young, still showing plenty of grainy tannic teeth. Tasty wine and long too – in isolation a very good wine too – unfortunately for this bottle, it wasn’t drunk in isolation…
Rebuy – Yes

1999 Marquis d’Angerville, Volnay 1er Clos des Ducs
Aromatically this is similar to the Potel – complex, a little earthy development but with flashes of fine fruit too. In the mouth – wow – still young, direct and intense but with a cool sophistication and the purest of silk textures. Ouf! Gorgeous. Special wine.
Rebuy – Yes

I get together with a couple of friends once every 6 months or-so, and last weekend we drank (blind) a lovely selection of wines – a modest 12 bottles with good food and good company!

The first wine was mine. The Jadot was a 2010 but already with oxidised notes – we cut it some slack, and it got better and better in the glass. Clearly still faulty (that’s 2 in a row now!) but as the ox fades, just a wonderful line of mouth-watering minerality – but certainly Rebuy – No!
The second was super; tense and intense though I didn’t find any pointers to Meursault. Really as good a 99 as you’re likely to drink! Rebuy – Yes
The Charlemagne was also mine, a 2007 and a real beauty of line and length with super-fine acidity. I loved it. Rebuy – Yes
Lastly the Vincent Dancer Chevalier! It was big, textured and clearly from a warm vintage, yet it had a really good balance and super length. I don’t remember what my guess was, but I thought it really super. Another Rebuy – Yes

My favourite of the flight: The Chandon 2007 Charlemagne!

The Roumier was the 2008, and for some reason had been decanted – I don’t know why. Anyway, it was transparent with a beautiful line of flavour. I easily guessed that it was from 2008, but I had the wrong côte – I guessed Volnay Caillerets. A beauty! Rebuy – Yes
The second wine was not my high-point in guessing! The fruit was big, warm but round and complex – like Clos St.Denis. I thought the acidity not bad either, so I guessed CSD 2010. Ouf! Beaune 2009! What a super wine! Rebuy – Yes
Okay, I couldn’t get the third wine wrong – it was mine! This Clos Ursules was the 1993 and the nose didn’t start as good as the Roumier but got better over time – but the palate was excellent in the best ’93 tradition; muscled yet direct and transparent with super acidity, energy and clarity. Wow wine.
Rebuy – Yes

My favourite of the flight: The Jadot 1993 Ursules!

Two wines here, purely by chance, both 90’s Echézeaux. The first I guessed to be a 98 wine of Vosne. The Gerard Mugneret Echézeaux turned out to be the 1995 and what a beautiful wine at that, complex Vosne aromatics and a tannin less overt than many from the vintage – simply a super wine. Rebuy – Yes
The Grivot was my wine. Entertaining aromatics, and plenty of weight and complexity – a much younger wine than the 95 was my impression. In isolation this would be very enjoyable, but really put into the shade by the Mugneret. Rebuy – Yes

My wine of the flight was very easily the Gerard Mugneret 1995 Echézeaux!

Well, what an interesting collection for the last three! The first was Ghislaine Barthod’s 1998 Chambolle 1er Charmes. A good wine both aromatically and from a flavour perspective – quite big and round, though the tannins not yet fully rounded. I liked it a lot. Rebuy – Yes
The first real, and quite major disappointment was the 96 Engel GE, my wine. It’s simply not that great – since I bought them about 2000 I kept telling myself that time will heal – well, so-far not. I’d expect more from a 96 Vosne villages. Rebuy – No
Our last wine was also something of a disappointment. For my palate this was broad and round, a little cushioned and silky, but sweet, dark oak notes clouded any sense of place or vintage for me – I really had no pointer. Simply a little soupy pinot. Shame. Rebuy – No

And my wine of the flight? Well, it didn’t really have any competition did it(?) The Barthod 1998 Chambolle Charmes!

A lucky selection – and that was just the house wines for the weekend!

2010 Buisson-Charles, Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Medium, medium-pale colour. Pretty, if modest red fruit aromas. Here is a slightly sweet and completely delicious wine – very modest weight and intensity, but it does what it does, excellently!
Rebuy – Yes

2008, Joseph Roty, Gevrey-Chambertin La Brunelle
Medium-plus colour. A dark-fruited, faintly spiced but rather exciting nose. Lovely acidity – not a bit sharp, but fine, precise and intense. Really lovely flavour and no over barrel influence. Another simply delicious wine!
Rebuy – Yes

1993 Jayer-Gilles, Nuits St.Georegs Les Hautes Poirets
Medium-plus colour. The cork doesn’t smell nice, but the wine smells dreamy! A little dark, decayed oak stays around for only about 5 minutes, followed by deep roasted red fruit – but it changes further – the fruit aromas become ever-more precise and detailed – beautiful stuff! In the mouth there’s width, weight and pretty fruit and sweet, old, old oak underneath. Lovely freshness, complexity and vitality too. A wine to savour – really super-yum!
Rebuy – Yes

Lake Zürich

Where’s Sepp?

Les vins…

Gathered together in Zürich for a nice group tasting – blind of Chablis. I’ll write the notes soon, but there was more than an occasional whiff of oxidation – unfortunately…

1998 Louis Jadot, Beaune 1er Les Grèves
A ‘maison’ wine – as there’s no hint of ‘domaine’ on the labels. And this time not corked! The nose is a little herby but there’s a deep, dark-red fruit on the nose too – good focus, though it’s just a little raucous/rustic. In the mouth it’s similar to the nose – plenty of energy and a core of dark-red, sweet at the core fruit. The structure is present but painless – yet like the nose there’s a rusticity about it despite good depth and complexity. Satisfying enough but not a wine to search out.
Rebuy – Maybe

2009 Sylvain Pataille, Bourgogne Le Chapitre
Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose starts a bit spritzy and almost with a cola note – it needs to lose CO₂. Waiting, plus a bit of swirling, reveals a similarly shaded fruit colour to the Jadot Grèves, but with an extra clarity and smoothness. There’s much of this wine that reminds of the Jadot, if with only 90% the concentration, but this really delivers more elegance and fineness of texture. This is fresh and finely balanced – not from an obviously sunny year. This is very, very good – and importantly, quite delicious.
Rebuy – Yes

No, not a lecture on ‘off-wine’ – well not in an ‘orange direction’ anyway.

I expected maybe one glass from the Puligny, but fortunately it was on fire, because the 98 Beaune Grèves that I had planned to follow was corked. I open all 1990s wines with a certain (cork) trepidation as it was a terrible time for taint – easily 10%, but I reckon higher. I’ll try another of these Jadots in the next days…

Returning to the Puligny. From an auction ‘lot’ I bought a year or two ago, this is the second I’ve opened. All these have a dark colours and the first had quite a high level of oxidation on the both the cork and the wine. This one’s cork smelled fine, despite the wine almost tending to brown…

1982 Etienne Sauzet, Puligny-Montrachet
Dark orange wine – almost tending to brown, but – hmm… Bingo! A certain freshness, white chocolate, wet wool, lanolin… In the mouth a plush silkiness with gorgeous sucrosity of fruit leaching, together with the acidity, through the gaps in your teeth and over the tongue. The finish is super-wide and slowly mouth-watering and with a faint nougat in the length. Great wine!
Rebuy – No Chance

I’ve 3 more of these, and if none are as good as this – so be it – but this was brilliant. Not bad for a villages! The only other villages I’ve had at the same level were the 64 and 59 Meursaults from Nicolas Potel’s Collection Bellenum – this one sits somewhere in-between.

Two 2010s but unfortunately the first – the Talmettes – was heavily corked…

2010 Hervé Murat, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Le Clos Duc
Medium, medium-plus fruit. A dark and herby nose – but with brilliant flashes of fine, dark-red fruit – the herb isn’t so great, but the fruit is. This is supple and shows good concentration and excellent balance. Nice dark-fruit flavour with a mouth-watering sweetness that runs through the structure – but no dryness. Good finish too. Tasty wine…
Rebuy – Yes