It was around 1880 when the Côtes de Nuits village of Chambolle decided to improve its profile by appending the name of its most illustrious vineyard, thus to become Chambolle-Musigny. Despite this early attempt at marketing, Chambolle-Musigny has remained a working village rather than a place for tourists. Today, however,… Read More

No slurping and spitting; these wines were really drunk and predominantly at home with food and friends between November 2004 and March 2005. I started 2005 with a few 1999 Vosne 1ers – usually very good, occasionally fabulous. Plenty of 2002’s that are very nice, but aren’t quite so… Read More

How time flies – In January I paid a visit to Bouchard Père et Fils – it was already two years since my last visit. My main purpose was to expand my knowledge of the domaine’s four monopoles but Isabelle Parisot also kindly arranged a tour of some… Read More

No slurping or spitting! This is a compendium of wines that were drunk with food, friends and family, between July 2004 and the end of October 2004. Corkwatch: 5 from 83 = 6.0% Regional Wines (8) Villages Wines (24) Premier Cru Wines (27) Grand Cru… Read More

Drive up from Beaune, past Gevrey-Chambertin and the land on both sides of the main RN74 becomes more and more urban as you enter the outskirts of Dijon. Just past Marsannay and into Chenôve take a quick left turn up a side street and you will come to the new… Read More

2004 Producer, producer, producer. You hear it often enough but it will be crucial in 2004 – at least for the reds – here the vintage was much more challenging and is likely to be anything but homogeneous. The grapes had excellent acidity and ripeness but triage was the… Read More

No slurping and spitting. These wines were predominantly drunk at home with food and friends between February and July 2004. For the first time I’ve tried to bring a semblance of order to these notes, so in each section you will find the producers in alphabetical order!… Read More

UPDATE: November 2004 Maison Camille Giroud was founded in 1865 by the man of that name. Succeded by his son Lucien a reputation was built on wines that aged for years and years. The sons of Lucien; Bernard and Francois perpetuated this tradition, mainly buying in wines after their… Read More

I can’t help it, I like 1998’s, most anyway… Don’t run away with the idea that they’re perfect, because they’re not. Of the forty wines drunk, they generally showed balance, deep colour, gorgeous fruit that’s often shaded to black, a little spice, excellent concentration and very good acidity. There is… Read More