I wasn't particularly keen on this; it showed too much of the dirtiness of 2006 here, and the fruit profile felt ballooned and cloying versus the little amounts of acidic/mineral structure that were present here. I'm not convinced this has much complexity either; it just feels like a blowsy, heavy chardonnay.

From magnum. An outstanding bottle of Chablis, especially in contrast to the much flabbier 2006 Dauvissat Clos alongside. I'd never been too keen on the 2012 vintage after a disappointing bottle of MdT that was structureless and unshapely. This bottle on the other hand was anything but; plenty of fruit, but also plenty of mineral intensity on the back end that gives you a bit of that tannic feeling on the palate (even though of course there are no tannins here).

Sappy and sweet, with a fabulous amount of material on the palate, followed by mouthwatering acids. A very complete wine, albeit young. Broad-shouldered with palate-coating extract, this has both the length, depth, and breadth that one ought to expect from a top bottle of white Burgundy.

Oxidized. Perhaps drinkable, but far more apple cider on the nose than pleasant.

Ex-cellar Joseph Phelps, via the January 2021 HDH auction. A bottle in fantastic shape. Initially before any air, this was mostly just sour, but an hour or so in, this definitely bloomed into a very beautiful bottle of pinot. Obviously not Burgundy, this still had a beautiful lightly fruited profile that showed some strawberries. Some sous-bois as well, but very clean and no dirty elements at all. The palate has definitely thinned out and there isn't as much weight as there could be, but this was brilliantly fresh and enjoyable. A true piece of American wine history.

"The Willamette Valley of Oregon is a new viticultural region in America, and the wines of The Eyrie Vineyards are the first to come from this previously untried area. One idea guided the planting of our vineyard: a wine can be no better than the grapes from which it is made. Here, in the Red Hills of Dundee, carefully selected vinifera varieties produce fruit of a quality which we require for our wines.

"The climate of this region is a demanding one, for the grapes must struggle to mature in the short, cool growing season... but the fruit retains those nuances and complexities of flavor which are irretrievably lost when these varieties are grown in the too-warm, too-easy climates of the established viticultural regions.

"The quality of these grapes demands great care in winemaking; thus we have deliberately limited the size and production of The Eyrie Vineyards. In this way, the winemaker himself guides the wine, from the first pruning of the vines to the final corking of each bottle. The result is a rare, handcrafted wine."

--David R. Lett

Somewhat rustic in character, but displaying more black fruit than I would have expected at this point (for the vintage and producer). Almost a little sweet; it's impressive how much fruit has been left here. The palate shows some more of the rustic edge; it's fairly earthy with some iron notes, and while there are still plenty of tannins here, they're resolved enough for drinking now.

This probably wasn't the best showing of this wine; the bottle today seemed thin and acidic (so more in line with typical 1996s instead of the Jadot exception). The fruit here is tart, and while it sweetens up on the midpalate, it doesn't build up to something enough to counterweight all the acids on the back end, whereupon this wine seems to collapse in on itself. There are nice mature Burgundy flavours here, but I wanted more.

A great bottle; this doesn't seem to have the beetroot aroma I associate with the vintage on the nose here. It's just a clean mix of red and black fruits, as well as an earthy tone that is actually pretty addictive. The palate is rounded and sweet, but there are plenty of structural elements underneath it (something that evokes earthiness, but in a clean way, whatever that means).

Very ripe with fruit that is predominantly on the black side of the spectrum. There are mild hints of geosmin here that indicate the vintage. The palate is broad and shows weight from the ripeness (and some sweetness too) but fortunately this is over enough structural scaffolding. I've never had this bottling, but it does show some of the riper, dark-fruited Lignier style.

Impressively fresh for a 2002, with a perfumed note on the nose (is it stems?). More elegant and lifted than I would expect for the vintage as well, this has plenty of bright acids and a nice vein of minerality throughout. This doesn't have as much weight and breadth on the palate, but instead there is more freshness and minerality that I do like a fair bit.

It's been a long while since I crossed paths with a bottle of this; it's still quintessential 2008 Dujac, a vintage that they knocked far out of the park. Obvious Dujac spice coupled with bright red fruit. It took some time for the palate to open up, but when it did the fruit did taste sweeter than on the pop and pour. A very structural wine with the high acids and still-chewy tannins, this needs more time to resolve (I think there's enough fruit for that). I'd love to do a side by side of this at 25 years of age like the 1996s about a week ago.

It's almost obscene to open this right now, but man is it so delicious. It seems to me that the reputation for very high oak use has been dialled back a fair bit. This wine tastes like a barrel sample -- it is just an exuberant display of fruits of all sorts. Underneath it, there is definitely lots of structure, but the thing that is most prominent right now is the exuberant generosity of fruit. It's delicious.

Probably one of the cleanest bottles of Pegau that I can remember having. The nose is ripe and shows just a little bit of confected sweetness, but overall it is not over the top. The palate is drying out, but there is still enough sweetness from the fruit to counterbalance the somewhat coarse and clumsy tannins. Quite drinkable, even if it is lacking a bit in acid.

I admit to being pretty impressed by this. There is a weighty earthiness on the nose that for what it's worth, is exactly what I would expect a Corton to smell like. Nonetheless, this is a very fruit-forward wine, mostly showing ripe black fruit around those earthy notes. The palate is similarly juicy, and seems to hide the structure. With air however, the juicy fruit seemed to fade and the large structure became more apparent.

A quintessentially Richebourg nose with pretty red fruits and a big whiff of spice (not quite Dujac spice). The palate is luxuriously silky, with plenty of the same red fruit from the nose. This still needs time for the tannins to resolve, but the elegance of this wine is already on full display. Very nice, and especially impressive for a negociant wine.

A relatively new producer to me at least. This is very impressive with some explosive florals and red fruit on the nose. The palate is surprisingly ripe and sweet (I had expected something a little more structural), but all the nebbiolo tannins you expect are certainly there. I would say this was surprisingly easy to drink right now, and would love to see how this ages.

Disgorged April 2019, V12. Very biscuity and sweet, especially for a Bouchard. I admit that I definitely like that more than usual, as I can find the wines a little too structural and not giving of much pleasure. The fruit on this is strange; there's white grape juice on the attack and midpalate, but the acidity on the finish is more tart pineapple than anything. Not sure how that transition happens. This has good intensity and I do like the chalky texture on the finish.

Corked.

Served double blind (though it was known to be grand cru). A slightly herbal edge coupled with red fruit that was on the lighter side had me thinking this was something like the 2013 vintage. It definitely had more weight than a 2008 would. There was an elegance that had me thinking this could have been Clos de la Roche; it didn't have the tannic intensity of Gevrey nor the spice of Vosne. We were all very surprised at the reveal; this wine doesn't feel like it carries the ripeness of the 2002 vintage at all, not to mention it doesn't even seem like it's almost 20 years old! A very impressive bottle.

From half bottle. Quite dark and deeply influenced by botrytis. Intensely sweet and almost syrupy in texture, but surprisingly a good amount of acidity as well (we wondered if this had been acidified). Somewhat simplistic flavours as far as the fruit (it does feel like the fruit is starting to dry out a little bit), but readily enjoyable in small doses.