France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Côte de Nuits Villages
Very nice white-fruited nose, with a slight hint of sulphur as well. Smells promising! But the palate is bit empty with not very much going on at all. Passable drinking chardonnay, but another case in point that you really oughtn't be making white wine in the Cote de Nuits.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
Slight sulphur and stone on the nose. Moderate salinity on the palate. Really nice sharp acidity, but this doesn't have quite as much density and concentration as I'd expect. A nice touch of tart pineapple on the finish.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
More fruit forward and showing more acidity than the Champgains. Everything here is just in better focus and with more power; denser rock and mineral qualities, with a really tasty pear component on the nose and palate as well. Great grip and energy.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
Riper, richer, and rounder than the 2011s. Again, a prominent pear note on the nose. The acidity's here, despite the rounder texture, but there's not much stuffing on the palate.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
A lot of large stones on the palate. Seems to be a bit light on the concentration again, but this has a bit of stone fruit on top of the pear notes. However, the oak is starting to show a little bit here... and I'm not a huge fan of that at all.
The nose was bright and juicy with a lot of red raspberry. I loved the pure fruit. But the palate just doesn't do it. A bit of dark spice here, but the oak sticks out a bit too prominently in such a light wine.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
This definitely had that classic Chambolle iron fist, velvet glove thing going on. Bright and red-fruited, with great concentration and richness. There's enough stuffing here to handle the oak, and throw in the tart racy acidity, and you got a damn good bottle.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey St. Denis 1er Cru
On the heels of the 2012 Chambolle 1er, I was excited to try this wine from one of my favourite vineyards. This is denser and richer than both of the 2012s; I was surprised by how dark and brooding this was for a 2010. More animale here as well, but it's the oak treatment that just ruins it for me.
Fleshy and forward on the nose, this was very evocative of really plump bright red currants. Similarly juicy and scrumptious on the palate: a real marriage here between the acidity and fleshy fruit. Delicious, and one of my wines of the tasting.
Juicy and fat, with very potent fruit aromas on the nose. Despite this coming off a bit stemmy on the palate (even though if memory serves, Arnoux is a destemmer), but fat and rich at the same time. The oak treatment's a bit heavy-handed but it does work here.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
Extremely spiced and perfumed. Very elegant and lithe on the palate, with slightly softer acids not quite keeping up with the heft of the concentration. I'm guessing that the terroir handles the oak a bit better in this bottle, as it wasn't as prominent as it was in the AOC Vosne.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru
There'a always all this fuss with Cathiard, and I've never quite understood it. Fat and corpulent, with basically nothing to hold it together except the massive extraction. Yeah, it's pretty impressive how dense you can make a wine, but I prefer my Burgundies to be much more fleet-footed.
So light and aromatic, this was one of my favourites of the tasting. Feminine, the palate was similarly light and airy, with gentle red fruit and florals. Not too concentrated, but this just dances across your tongue with that classic Lafarge elegance.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru
I found it kind of interesting that there was both crunchy red and black fruit on the nose, if the fruit did come across as a bit confected. Extremely concentrated and dense on the palate, but this finishes with a slight bit of heat that's distracting. The same candied cherry flavour seems to pop up on the palate as well. The scale of this wine is pretty impressive.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin
Black and meaty nose, with an incredible richness that only old vines can provide. The palate is of a similarly massive scale, but to the point it's kind of bulky. I could see this need a lot of time for it to shed some of the fat and reveal something a bit more shapely and elegant.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Not too much chemical weirdness on the nose in this puppy. Quite light and elegant on the palate, but the midpalate is a lot more hollow than it should have been for a wine from this vineyard. In fact, this wine seemed to be really emaciated.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
The nose is promising enough, with its pretty notes of bright red cherry, though perhaps there's just a slight sign of the awful things to come underneath that note in a slightly herbal note. The palate's pretty awful. Way too thin, fruitless, and lacking the girth you'd expect from a Bonnes Mares. A scrawny green runt.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru
What's with these 2011 Clairs? They have such promising elegant noses, all full of red fruit and light florals. But again, this wine suffers the same problem as the Bonnes Mares. Screechy green and emaciated, and nowhere close to the proper amount of stuffing for a vineyard of this calibre.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin
This is the second time I've had this wine. The first time, I thought something was wrong with the bottle I was being served. Now, I know something is wrong with what's in the bottle. Celery. Cigarette ash. The same on the palate. WTF.
Very restrained nose -- it took quite a bit of effort to get the slight meat and earth aromas to come out. The palate is really high toned with tons of spicy oak, which could've been alright, if there were actually something on the palate to go along with it.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Santenay 1er Cru
Strangely a bit herbal on the nose... am I detecting some green meanies in 2013? Uncomfortable heat on the palate combined with a bit of overwroughtness makes this wine not work. It's lacking the stuffing to handle all of the treatment.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Moderate meatiness on the palate. Dense and dark, but good lift at the end, thanks to some youthful acidity. Well-made, to be sure, as a foursquare bottle of Burgundy, but this lacks the elegance and prettiness that I want in my Chambolle.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Pretty similar in character to the Sentiers. There's some more elegance here since the light red fruit I like so much is more present here, but the brutish meatiness just doesn't play nicely with it, so this seems a bit out of balance.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Santenay 1er Cru
Very elegant and light, with some really juicy red fruit on top of some very broad, rustic shoulders. I really liked the combination of coarser, rustic tannins and heightened acidity here. Delicious, but given the heft that this has, I wouldn't be concerned about the aging potential here.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru
Round and tart fruit, with the same freshness as the Clos Rousseau. A bit lighter and more approachable now as well. Again, this is a juicy and delicious bottle, but perhaps slightly more elegant than the Clos Rousseau. Despite the comparisons, I imagine this has similar aging potential as well.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Very dark and dense, with a bit of that same sulphury nose as the AOC Bourgogne, though nowhere as offensive. Rich and dense, with a velvety texture that just screams old vines (which they are). These seem to be made with a view to that super concentrated, Dugat style.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Similar to the Champeaux, this has that deep and rich texture and flavour that tells you that these are very old vines, but I found this bottle much more refined and graceful than the Champeaux. There's a strong note of tart blackberries here, and perhaps it's that, combined with slightly more prominent acid, that gives this its elegance.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Very herbal, with some yellow fruit aromas on the nose. High-toned, this comes across a little bit like nailpolish remover. There's an interesting almond note on the palate (I suppose this feels like de-bubbled Champagne more than a Corton Charlemagne). Not too much going on here, and this is a bit lacking in power.
Restrained, but bright fruit on the nose. If anything, Clair can really pull off some amazing aromatics. Despite the nose, the palate is quite ripe, with the fruit coming off a bit sweeter than I'd like. The acidity is quite nice though, and makes this a reasonably pretty wine.
2013 Domaine Gille Côte de Nuits Villages Blanc 85 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Côte de Nuits Villages
Very nice white-fruited nose, with a slight hint of sulphur as well. Smells promising! But the palate is bit empty with not very much going on at all. Passable drinking chardonnay, but another case in point that you really oughtn't be making white wine in the Cote de Nuits.
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2011 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champs-Gain 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
Slight sulphur and stone on the nose. Moderate salinity on the palate. Really nice sharp acidity, but this doesn't have quite as much density and concentration as I'd expect. A nice touch of tart pineapple on the finish.
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2011 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos St. Jean 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
More fruit forward and showing more acidity than the Champgains. Everything here is just in better focus and with more power; denser rock and mineral qualities, with a really tasty pear component on the nose and palate as well. Great grip and energy.
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2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Macherelles 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
Riper, richer, and rounder than the 2011s. Again, a prominent pear note on the nose. The acidity's here, despite the rounder texture, but there's not much stuffing on the palate.
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2012 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
A lot of large stones on the palate. Seems to be a bit light on the concentration again, but this has a bit of stone fruit on top of the pear notes. However, the oak is starting to show a little bit here... and I'm not a huge fan of that at all.
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2012 Domaine Gille Vosne-Romanée 85 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée
The nose was bright and juicy with a lot of red raspberry. I loved the pure fruit. But the palate just doesn't do it. A bit of dark spice here, but the oak sticks out a bit too prominently in such a light wine.
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2012 Domaine Gille Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
This definitely had that classic Chambolle iron fist, velvet glove thing going on. Bright and red-fruited, with great concentration and richness. There's enough stuffing here to handle the oak, and throw in the tart racy acidity, and you got a damn good bottle.
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2010 Domaine Gille Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Clos Sorbé 85 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Morey St. Denis 1er Cru
On the heels of the 2012 Chambolle 1er, I was excited to try this wine from one of my favourite vineyards. This is denser and richer than both of the 2012s; I was surprised by how dark and brooding this was for a 2010. More animale here as well, but it's the oak treatment that just ruins it for me.
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2012 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Bourgogne Pinot Fin 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Fleshy and forward on the nose, this was very evocative of really plump bright red currants. Similarly juicy and scrumptious on the palate: a real marriage here between the acidity and fleshy fruit. Delicious, and one of my wines of the tasting.
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2012 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Vosne-Romanée 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée
Juicy and fat, with very potent fruit aromas on the nose. Despite this coming off a bit stemmy on the palate (even though if memory serves, Arnoux is a destemmer), but fat and rich at the same time. The oak treatment's a bit heavy-handed but it does work here.
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2012 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Echezeaux 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
Extremely spiced and perfumed. Very elegant and lithe on the palate, with slightly softer acids not quite keeping up with the heft of the concentration. I'm guessing that the terroir handles the oak a bit better in this bottle, as it wasn't as prominent as it was in the AOC Vosne.
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2012 Sylvain Cathiard Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Aux Murgers 85 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru
There'a always all this fuss with Cathiard, and I've never quite understood it. Fat and corpulent, with basically nothing to hold it together except the massive extraction. Yeah, it's pretty impressive how dense you can make a wine, but I prefer my Burgundies to be much more fleet-footed.
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2012 Domaine Michel Lafarge Volnay 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay
So light and aromatic, this was one of my favourites of the tasting. Feminine, the palate was similarly light and airy, with gentle red fruit and florals. Not too concentrated, but this just dances across your tongue with that classic Lafarge elegance.
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2012 Pierre Damoy Chapelle-Chambertin 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru
I found it kind of interesting that there was both crunchy red and black fruit on the nose, if the fruit did come across as a bit confected. Extremely concentrated and dense on the palate, but this finishes with a slight bit of heat that's distracting. The same candied cherry flavour seems to pop up on the palate as well. The scale of this wine is pretty impressive.
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2012 Claude Dugat Gevrey-Chambertin 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin
Black and meaty nose, with an incredible richness that only old vines can provide. The palate is of a similarly massive scale, but to the point it's kind of bulky. I could see this need a lot of time for it to shed some of the fat and reveal something a bit more shapely and elegant.
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2011 Domaine Bruno Clair Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Not too much chemical weirdness on the nose in this puppy. Quite light and elegant on the palate, but the midpalate is a lot more hollow than it should have been for a wine from this vineyard. In fact, this wine seemed to be really emaciated.
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2011 Domaine Bruno Clair Bonnes Mares 80 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
The nose is promising enough, with its pretty notes of bright red cherry, though perhaps there's just a slight sign of the awful things to come underneath that note in a slightly herbal note. The palate's pretty awful. Way too thin, fruitless, and lacking the girth you'd expect from a Bonnes Mares. A scrawny green runt.
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2011 Domaine Bruno Clair Chambertin-Clos de Bèze 80 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru
What's with these 2011 Clairs? They have such promising elegant noses, all full of red fruit and light florals. But again, this wine suffers the same problem as the Bonnes Mares. Screechy green and emaciated, and nowhere close to the proper amount of stuffing for a vineyard of this calibre.
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2009 Domaine Denis Bachelet Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 70 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin
This is the second time I've had this wine. The first time, I thought something was wrong with the bottle I was being served. Now, I know something is wrong with what's in the bottle. Celery. Cigarette ash. The same on the palate. WTF.
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2013 La Pousse d'Or Volnay 1er Cru Clos d'Audignac 83 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru
Very restrained nose -- it took quite a bit of effort to get the slight meat and earth aromas to come out. The palate is really high toned with tons of spicy oak, which could've been alright, if there were actually something on the palate to go along with it.
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2013 La Pousse d'Or Santenay 1er Cru Clos Tavannes 83 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Santenay 1er Cru
Strangely a bit herbal on the nose... am I detecting some green meanies in 2013? Uncomfortable heat on the palate combined with a bit of overwroughtness makes this wine not work. It's lacking the stuffing to handle all of the treatment.
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2013 Domaine Robert Groffier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Sentiers 85 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Moderate meatiness on the palate. Dense and dark, but good lift at the end, thanks to some youthful acidity. Well-made, to be sure, as a foursquare bottle of Burgundy, but this lacks the elegance and prettiness that I want in my Chambolle.
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2013 Domaine Robert Groffier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Hauts-Doix 85 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Pretty similar in character to the Sentiers. There's some more elegance here since the light red fruit I like so much is more present here, but the brutish meatiness just doesn't play nicely with it, so this seems a bit out of balance.
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2012 Jacques Girardin Santenay 1er Cru Clos Rousseau 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Santenay 1er Cru
Very elegant and light, with some really juicy red fruit on top of some very broad, rustic shoulders. I really liked the combination of coarser, rustic tannins and heightened acidity here. Delicious, but given the heft that this has, I wouldn't be concerned about the aging potential here.
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2012 Jacques Girardin Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Peuillets 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru
Round and tart fruit, with the same freshness as the Clos Rousseau. A bit lighter and more approachable now as well. Again, this is a juicy and delicious bottle, but perhaps slightly more elegant than the Clos Rousseau. Despite the comparisons, I imagine this has similar aging potential as well.
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2012 Domaine René Leclerc Bourgogne 80 Points
France, Burgundy, Bourgogne
Way too sulphury on the nose: like rotten eggs. Not much else going on...
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2012 Domaine René Leclerc Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Champeaux 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Very dark and dense, with a bit of that same sulphury nose as the AOC Bourgogne, though nowhere as offensive. Rich and dense, with a velvety texture that just screams old vines (which they are). These seem to be made with a view to that super concentrated, Dugat style.
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2012 Domaine René Leclerc Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Combe aux Moines 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
Similar to the Champeaux, this has that deep and rich texture and flavour that tells you that these are very old vines, but I found this bottle much more refined and graceful than the Champeaux. There's a strong note of tart blackberries here, and perhaps it's that, combined with slightly more prominent acid, that gives this its elegance.
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2011 Maison Morey-Coffinet Corton-Charlemagne 85 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
Very herbal, with some yellow fruit aromas on the nose. High-toned, this comes across a little bit like nailpolish remover. There's an interesting almond note on the palate (I suppose this feels like de-bubbled Champagne more than a Corton Charlemagne). Not too much going on here, and this is a bit lacking in power.
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2009 Domaine Bruno Clair Vosne-Romanée Les Champs Perdrix 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée
Restrained, but bright fruit on the nose. If anything, Clair can really pull off some amazing aromatics. Despite the nose, the palate is quite ripe, with the fruit coming off a bit sweeter than I'd like. The acidity is quite nice though, and makes this a reasonably pretty wine.
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