2/17/2024 - chambolle wrote:

This is the third bottle from a six bottle purchase; and somewhat of a disappointment. 9/2021 disgorgement. At best the Vignes de Vrigny is a favorite around my house. It’s a juicy, opulently fruity, straight ahead pinot meunier champagne that’s as gulpable as good beaujolais. The wine in this lot has a faintly peachy hue, nice fine mousse, fresh fruit nose, stone fruit on the palate and a bright, briskly acidic finish. Great with gougères, a super good friend of moules et frites.

This bottle seems slightly tired. The bubbles are lively, but the color is a bit deeper peach than I like to see, and the palate follows suit — it lacks drive. Hopefully this is just a case of bottle variation and not an indication the wine has already gone over the cliff; which would certainly be unusual just over two years after disgorgement.

2/17/2024 - chambolle wrote:

My impression is consistent with others posted here: Opened before leaving home for restaurant meal, to screen for TCA or other flaws. Deep, youthful bright color. Mute and dull nose; thin and marred by coarse tannins on palate. I grabbed a younger bottle of Volnay to take along as a backup, just in case this failed to improve.

After about an hour’s aeration in Zalto Burgundy glasses, it’s an entirely different wine. Heady, effusive nose of blueberries and raspberries; the palate impression is wild fruit, huckleberries perhaps? Plenty of ripe fruit still with ample fine grained tannin at the back end. It remains a bit disjointed like a gangly adolescent — 15 years from the vintage this still has at least another five years to go before a plateau of reasonable maturity. Overall, it’s true to form: a baby Vogue Musigny.

When I bought six of these some years back for about $100 a cork, the price seemed like a bit of a stretch. Would I pay around $400 a bottle or more for the wine today? No; although it seems people do.

Addendum: About a quarter of this bottle sat in a cool dark spot outdoors for five days. Tasted tonight, it’s pretty much where it was on the day it was uncorked. The nose is a bit plummier, the fruit a bit darker toned, the tannins slightly more pronounced… but having evolved so little in five days, I’d say this wine has years to go in bottle before it will fully bloom.

6/19/2023 - chambolle wrote:

I’ve long been a fan of Egly-Ouriet and count a number of Egly bottlings among my favorites; including the Rosé, ‘Vieillissement Prolongé and the pinot meunier cuvée ‘Les Vignes de Vrigny.’ This ‘Les Premices’ is a new ‘entry level’ bubbly that is disgorged after 36 months on the lees, composed of more or less equal parts of pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier.

I wish I could say I like the wine more than I do. However, at least on this occasion, I’m not impressed. Granted, this is the July 2022 disgorgement. Perhaps it just needs time. At present, everything about the wine is somewhat disjointed, coarse and clunky. The nose is earthy, overtly yeasty, not at all refined. The palate is chunky, chewy, a bit bitter, without real depth of fruit. It finishes short. To be honest, it’s reminiscent of Spanish cava more than top notch champagne from a cult producer like Egly-Ouriet.

Remaining bottles will be tucked away to be retasted in coming years. Time might transform this champagne; but I’m not seeing the raw material here. At $60 to $70 a bottle at retail in the U.S., there are many alternatives among the expanding array of grower champagnes available that offer much greater quality, finesse and pleasure.

6/14/2023 - chambolle Likes this wine:

Sweet baby jeebus… this is seriously intense palo cortado! Mouthfilling flavors of toasted walnut, bitter orange, brown butter, all backed by searingly intense acidity that carries the palate through a long, persistent finish. Plenty of wine to contemplate on its own; but wonderful with rich food.

Alas, I cannot locate more for retail sale in the U.S. This was one of those ‘insiders advantage’ blowouts from a certain West Coast retailer with the habit of slashing the price of any wine that wouldn’t turn over fast enough to keep the accounting software happy. I believe it was $35 a bottle a few years ago… just silly for a wine of this age and quality.

If you’re a sherry lover and see this on a retailer’s shelf, grab it.

5/27/2023 - chambolle Likes this wine:

If you tried this wine a year ago and found it disjointed, dominated by oak, less appealing than the ‘lesser’ Cuvée des Vignettes, my advice is try it again. Seriously.

The wine has evolved quite nicely in a year. The unusual cinnamon stick/ginger snap/graham cracker notes are gone; fresh fruit has taken their place. The too-oily texture, gone. What remains is everything you like about Clos Cibonne, with a bit more weight, texture, intensity and flor influence.

The color is a coppery salmon… like the dial of a watch I recently purchased in fact. The nose is ripe fruit… Charentais melon, fig, lychee. On the palate, it has some fat, but also very bright, spicy/citric acidity. A long and very appealing mixed fruit finish with a whack of crushed rocks reminiscent of good Chablis.

All told, this is Clos Cibonne kicked up a notch, and not in a heavy handed way. It just needed time; and likely will improve still more with more time in bottle. I’ll dip into my stash of it a year from now and see.

12/20/2022 - chambolle wrote:

Seems I last opened and noted a bottle of this a few years ago. That bottle was at peak maturity. This one, with good fill and very sound cork, perhaps a bit past peak. Some browning; a plummy, sweetish nose, perhaps VA. Soft on the palate, tannins nowhere in the picture and acidity just enough to keep it lively. Still pleasant enough, in an earthy sort of way, and perfectly alright with a woodsy porcini risotto. Fruit is not a strong element here, however. It’s an old soldier.

But as my prior note said, expect some bottle variation at this age! Drink up; some may surprise on the upside, some in the other direction.

12/1/2022 - chambolle Likes this wine:

This turned up in a cellar bin I probably haven’t looked into for a quarter century, tucked in with some other stray Italian bottles from the ‘80s, so I pulled it, stood it up for a few days to settle out the considerable sediment on the wall of the bottle. I had low expectations; but the fill was damn near the cork, which was lodged in the bottle tight as a tick when I pulled it to go with a morel mushroom risotto and a huge composed salad on a cold snowy night.

Decanted at cellar temperature through a funnel with fine mesh wire filter. The color is ridiculously youthful — clear, bright, ruby/purple, nary a hint of bricking. The nose is fresh fruit — crushed cherries, berries — and fresh cut flowers. The palate is mostly primary, tannins and acidity well integrated with the fruit. Not an exceptionally deep or complex wine, but certainly elegant, balanced and nowhere near senescent. This is Gabbiano’s ‘super Tuscan’ and it was put up in Nevers oak… but I don’t find a trace of woody tannin or vanilla poking out and becoming obtrusive.

The wine became richer, rounder and more satisfying during its first couple of hours in the decanter. Thereafter it seemed to break up a bit, some earthy notes and fine grain tannins beginning to show, the color going brick. But all in all, way more wine than I expected. I’m sure bottles will vary quite a bit at this point, pushing 40 years from the vintage. But if you have it, try it. It may well surprise you, pleasantly, as it surprised me.

11/24/2022 - chambolle Likes this wine:

For some reason — perhaps having seen unflattering tasting notes in the past? — I had some concerns about opening this as the centerpiece of our intimate Thanksgiving at home. I had a couple of backups at the ready.

I should not have worried. Opened and decanted at the start of our lengthy meal, the wine initially showed little. Some reductive notes, a bit of leafiness, elevated acidity. But air is the wine’s friend. We drank champagne and waited to move to the red. After half an hour or so in a Zalto burgundy glass, the wine was transformed. Wild berries, griottes, bacon fat, licorice, leather, sweet potting soil on the nose — my daughter, born not long before the wine was bottled, said ‘some shoe repair shop, in a good way.’

Deep, clear red color. Lively, youthful fruit and nicely balanced acidity on the palate, tannins barely noticeable. Silky, plush on the palate but by no means ‘flat.’ Richness without weight sums it up nicely. We finished it later that evening so cannot say whether it would have shown well the next day; but who expects a wine nearing 25 years to keep in an open bottle for two days?

This presents as a wine at the leading edge of maturity, probably will be better, or at least more complex, five years or so up the road; then likely on a plateau for another five; then gracefully bowing out over a decade as a more delicate, mostly ‘tertiary’ wine at a half century or so from the vintage.

Side note: this was an auction purchase about a decade ago; six bottles for around $350. Seems someone had given up on the wine and was ready to give it away. Bad move!

8/7/2022 - chambolle Likes this wine:

I first started drinking the Dauvissat La Forest on a regular basis back in the ‘80s, when it was a genuinely ‘under the radar’ gem. Continued buying the wine by the case or two most years and drank it with abandon, although I still have stray bottles going back to 1990 lying around in the cellar.

So now this 2012 is a pricey bottle, it seems. Is it ‘worth’ it? I can’t really say; but it’s damn good wine. Ten years after the vintage, the 2012 looks young… pale greenish straw in the glass. Just opened and poured, the nose is not very forthcoming, the palate is fresh, light, a bit of lemon, a bit of salt. After about two hours and allowed to warm up in the glass, it’s a whole other wine… the nose hints at lavender, some lime leaf, a bit of blood orange. The palate is rounder, richer, leaning a bit in the direction of dried apricot and preserved lemon. Still crisp, saline, chalky at the same time as it has taken on weight. I’d be pretty confident this will be grand 5 or 10 years from now — but it’s no slouch now. As for the ‘pre-mox’ everybody likes to talk about, not a trace here, I assure you.

I seem to recall this 2012 was about $60 on release, which was more than I was accustomed to paying for La Forest, but in retrospect that appears to have been the tail end of the ‘under the radar gem, value proposition’ era for this wine. A bit sad, really. Pretty much year in, year out it’s among the very best 1er cru bottlings from Chablis and not far off from most of the grand cru Chablis you’ll find. This bottle of 2012 certainly did not disappoint.

8/7/2022 - chambolle wrote:

This bottle from the 2012 harvest, bottled mid-2013, disgorged January 2019. Pale straw color. Nose somewhat mute, a bit medicinal, a touch of raw iodine. A glass half full description would be ‘taut, focused, pure and austere.’ A glass half empty description would be ‘green and shrill,’ as another note said below. With raw oysters, it’s a decent match. With other seafood with a rounder, buttery palate profile like salmon, smoked sablefish, skate, it’s a bit jarring. Definitely not ‘vin de plaisir’… it’s like a litmus test for those who say they favor wines with ‘lots of minerality.’ It sits in the glass and says ‘Oh yeah, buddy? You like minerality you say? OK then, how’s THIS for minerality, chum’?

Left in the glass to warm and become faintly petillant, the wine takes on a bit of weight and a very slight bit of softness on the palate, a distinct beurre noisette note on the nose. It’s still a long way from what you’d call ‘round’ and ‘inviting.’

Will this blossom with more time in bottle? Difficult to tell. Tasted the second day, it has not budged much, if at all, from its profile on day one. A long way from an easy wine.

I’ll just lose remaining bottles of this in the cellar for a few years and try again sometime around 2025. No telling what it will become. I would not be so bold as to prognosticate.

3/2/2022 - chambolle wrote:

Not to rain on the parade, but… I’m less enthusiastic about this wine than others. Yes, at what is a bargain price in the current market, this wine has ‘weight.’ But the weight is what makes me glad I bought only a few bottles of it. The color is deep; the nose is rich with notes of surmaturité; it has a slippery, glycerine feel on the palate. There are bitter notes of raw wood; but the impression is also a bit sweet. My palate memory immediately leaps to wild cherry flavored Cheracol D. Or some heavyhanded California pinot noir.

I’m sure this wine has great potential as a ‘crowd pleaser’ for those for whom weight = great. It may also settle down with more time in bottle, although I did not perceive a structure and balance that signals positive future development. For the present, it’s not there for me.

I tasted this alongside Aurelien Verdet 2018 Hautes-Cotes de Nuits ‘Le Prieuré,’ which is fresh, floral, light on its feet, and altogether more attractive — and similarly priced for everyday drinking with simple weeknight meals. It may be from a less tony appellation, but the Verdet is more elegant wine and more typically Burgundian than this Gevrey.

2/10/2022 - chambolle Does not like this wine:

Possibly a bad bottle? No prior experience with the wine, so cannot be certain. The wine in this bottle, however, is hollow, woody and earthy, nary a trace of fruit. Not repugnant and undrinkable, but not worth drinking either. Dull, lifeless, no pleasure to be had drinking it.

1/26/2019 - chambolle Likes this wine:

Opened with some trepidation that I had waited too long to break into a half dozen purchased on release - we’re pushing the 30 year envelope here. But no worries. The color is a healthy ruby, pale at the rim. The nose features mushroom, soy, smoke, blueberries and blackberries, a bit of morello cherry. On the palate, soft and silky, sappy with a sweet mid-palate, just enough acidity and fine grained finishing tannin to leave an impression of freshness. Seemingly at a plateau, I’d guess this will continue to be interesting and pleasurable drinking for another 5 to 10 years, although I imagine at this age bottles may vary considerably.

A very nice surprise; and just perfect with a creamy/cheesy, slightly over the top risotto with saffron and porcini.

3/4/2017 - chambolle Likes this wine:

On opening, the color is paler than I would like, and the nose and palate mute, leafy, not much interest; and as a result, took a younger bottle of Chambolle 1er cru along to dinner as a backup. No need for that. This wine desperately needed aeration, and with air, the color leaned toward deep red/blue, the nose became a fragrant mix of earthy notes and berries - for all the world like a walk through a vineyard after rain on a warm day. The palate still has some fresh fruit, a hint of tannin and decent acidity; medium weight. Kept improving throughout the meal, and a great match with our main courses of duck breast and braised oxtail. This is at the leading edge of a nicely balanced maturity - not bad for a "light restaurant vintage" of this wine.

1/15/2017 - chambolle Likes this wine:

I have to weigh in on this 'minor' wine, because the other notes here do not do it justice. I dug up a few bottles while racing around trying to avoid damage after a pipe sprung a leak in the cellar. With no preconceived notions, opened it with a simple roast chicken dinner. The color remains youthful clear deep red. The nose is wild cherry, a bit of thyme, 'pretty' would be an appropriate word. On the palate, there is refinement and delicacy I would not expect from run of the mill Cotes du Rhone Villages. Medium weight, fresh, with some fine grained tannins showing but not obtrusive. Silky, fruity, appealing, with the slightest note of warm licorice at the bottom end. On day two, even better.

All the wine needed, evidently, was a decade tucked away and lost in the corner of a dark, cool cellar.

12/30/2016 - chambolle Does not like this wine:

I rarely have occasion to say this about a wine that is not overtly flawed... corked, past its prime or similarly defective. But here, it must be said: this wine is well-nigh undrinkable. On opening, it is an inky purple. Aromas of creosote wood treatment products dominate. On the palate, it is all coarse grit sandpaper tannin and soft warm road tar. Fruit is not in attendance.

I've given this wine three days to settle down. In that time, the color has shown signs of oxidation - it is now tinged with red and bricking at the rim. The nose is a tad less aggressive, but presents the same range of aromas; ditto the palate.

Granted, in matters of taste 'a chacun son gout,' but how this wine could possibly merit '98 points' is truly beyond me. It may merit a place in a stew pot, but even that would carry some risk. Avoid.

12/18/2016 - chambolle wrote:

What a nice surprise, a case of this wine at the bottom of a stack of cases in a corner of the cellar, purchased for $250 the case no less. Pretty, bright and young looking mid-rose color, no bricking; nose is fresh, floral, beet root and wild cherry - mostly primary pinot fruit with a barest hint of thyme. The palate is sappy, fruity and refreshing, not profound but delightfully light on its feet. There is lively acidity, a touch of very fine grained tannin, and the wine finishes with an attractive raspberry scented tail.

A second bottle of this wine, tasted about a month later, displayed more color and a darker, weightier fruit on the nose and palate. Richer, leaning more in the direction of blueberry and bing cherry, and I'd say even better than the bottle noted on 12/16/2016.

A $20 bottle a dozen years or so from the vintage and proof that very good burgundy, worth keeping a decade or two, isn't necessarily an expensive proposition. Easily has another 5 to 7 years of enjoyable life remaining. Another example of the good work Didier Dubois was doing at this estate before the Prince and Princess passed away and the Corton properties were farmed out to DRC and the rest to negociants.

10/3/2015 - chambolle wrote:

Color is a somewhat pale cherry red, still youthful without any brick at the rim. The nose on opening is leafy and green, along with a tart pie cherry note, which carries over to the palate, leaving the impression of an adolescent, unresolved wine. Tart and not particularly attractive without food to temper it. The second day, there is a lot more happening here and much more to enjoy. The leafiness is gone, and instead there are slightly plummy and bacon fatty notes in the nose, with a silky, middle-weight mid-palate impression and flavors predominantly wild and brambly - elderberry and wild cherry. Oak shows itself, as does a layer of fine grained tannin and bright acidity towards the tail. This is coming together and drinking very nicely the second day, but I would think another two or three years in bottle will do this wine some good. This is a cuvee Alain Burguet's sons experimented with for a few years and no longer bottle - it is from parcels in Reniard (at the southern end of Gevrey, on the 'wrong side of the tracks' across the N74 from town) and Billard (way up on the other end of Gevrey, in Brochon and on the 'city' side of the N74). As such it speaks somewhat generically of the Gevrey terroir but lacks a real sense of place. Indeed, it has a bit of New World pinot noir style in its fresh, forward and somewhat simple, bramble fruit, and in the way each of the elements seems to be singing solo rather than in harmony - it seems disjointed and 'put together' rather than a well integrated expression. It's an excellent restaurant wine - and I do not mean that as a criticism at all. When given a day to collect itself, this wine is simple, fruity and pleasant drinking -- very good for what it is, to borrow a favorite turn of phrase from Mr. Coates.

6/25/2015 - chambolle wrote:

My bottle is labeled Harveys "Very Old Oloroso Blend - Medium" and has the 30 year old VORS certification, attributed to a "blend from soleras started as far back as 1909." The color is a deep, clear reddish brown - along the lines of a well-aged cherrywood dresser. The nose has a full complement of notes from orange peel to roasted fig to darkly toasted hazelnuts. Old leather, seriously, like a well used baseball mitt left out in the sun. On the palate, this comes across as a 'dessert' style oloroso, and my surmise is there is a healthy amount of PX in the wine. It is silky with glycerin, a tad sweet, salted caramel, although the acidity is sufficient to keep it from cloying and the finish is clean and bracing. For me, not particularly a wine for food because of the sweet and somewhat oily mouthfeel, but I can see its merit as an after dinner sipper on its own or with a good cigar - that's based on personal experimentation. There are certainly VORS olorosos out there I prefer, e.g., Bodegas Tradicion or the El Maestro Sierra 1/14 bottling, both of which are more austere, and at the same time more nuanced and intense. This wine, by the way, apparently is not marketed in the U.S., but it is available in the U.K. for the equivalent of about 35 - 40 USD. At that, it is certainly quite a lot of wine for the price.

6/15/2015 - chambolle wrote:

Color is clear, bright, light gold. The nose is lemon peel, chamomile, honeysuckle, flint, yeast/flor. The wine fans out across the palate with lush citrus, honey and at the tail end, seawater/salt and white flowers the dominant impressions. The wine is fresh and bright, despite its richness and the ever so slightly oily texture in the mouth and the very subtle hints of toffee/caramel/brown butter around the edges. The finish lingers and lingers. Absolutely perfect with a plate of various Pacific shellfish and aioli, and quite capable of standing up to a platter of boudin noir, lamb terrine and chicken liver parfait to follow. Even better the next day with local berries, hot freshly baked bread and manchego cheese. On day two, the saline quality of the wine comes to the fore, the steely spine and iodine tang now in perfect balance with the unusually honeyed richness of this manzanilla. It's simply superb. If only it weren't (1) so pricey; and (2) so rare! There are apparently 900 500 ml bottles for the entire planet. I'll count myself lucky to accumulate and drink a dozen of these.

11/14/2014 - chambolle wrote:

Beautiful copper color with a greenish gold edge. The nose is pungent and pure, notes of roasted walnut, fig with a seaweedy/iodine/chablis sort of edge to it. In the mouth, velvety, but at the same time sappy and dry. Mouthfilling flavors of sea salt caramel and orange peel. Finishes bright and citric. Goes on forever. A couple of ounces of this with marcona almonds roasted with a bit of olive oil and dusted with flake salt, a chunk of old manchego and some fresh hot bread? Heaven. Really excellent stuff, and a revelation of sorts. This is what PX can do? Amazing.

9/16/2014 - chambolle wrote:

The color is just beautiful, a light amber with glints of green and gold at the edges. A dead ringer for Mortlach 16, in fact. On the nose, this is exotic and intense, with forest floor, paraffin, seaweed, caramel, bitter orange, milk chocolate, fresh sage leaf and more. The palate is as sharp and dry as a good young fino, but with a rich, nutty, sea salt caramel mid palate followed by a rush of saliva inducing acidity and a toasted hazelnut finish that will not quit. It cries out for rich food, but is also a wine destined for small sips and close attention on its own. A tenth will go a long, long way, every ounce is as rich and satisfying as a dram of fine old spirits. Killer with well aged manchego or a creamy ossau iraty. Really, really special.

8/24/2014 - chambolle wrote:

Perhaps this was a flawed bottle, or perhaps there is just a lot of bottle variation. I have posted on this wine before, and my note was a glowing one. I have tried the wine three or four times since, each time with similar results. This bottle just seemed off. Rather than deep golden, this came straight from the bottle a pale amber-amontillado color. Very yeasty, a bit apple cider-y, certainly not undrinkable but without any of the zest that I have loved about the wine. Curiously, after a day open and chilled, the color seemed to brighten a bit, and the wine did gain more freshness and grip - still not on par with prior bottles but much improved. This wine lives under flor for about 15 years, and having lived its life protected from oxygen under that yeasty blanket, whether it is flawed by reduction or vulnerable to oxidation I cannot say. But this was a less than stellar bottle. It is so good when it is 'on,' I will suffer the occasional clunker like this one more or less gladly.

7/21/2014 - chambolle Likes this wine:

Deep mahogany hue, with glints of gold and green at the edges. The nose is extraordinarily good, with toasted hazelnuts, leather, old wood - it smells a bit like an old leather topped writing desk. Pungent on the palate and long on the finish. One gripe however. I feel the addition of PX has dumbed down the wine. I kept longing for more bite, more edge, less of a soft sweetness at the margin. It is very good, and certainly not in any way cloying. But I do think without the PX addition it would be truly, searingly great.

5/19/2014 - chambolle wrote:

I find this wine a bit of a disappointment, sorry to say. I find it lacks the depth of flavor, the intensity and "bite" I look for in good sherry. It is bone dry, and there are certainly nice aromas of citrus, grilled nuts and creme brulee that one looks for in good amontillado - but something is missing. I can name any one of a number of older amontillado offerings that serve up far more excitement in the glass - from the Fernando de Castilla Antique, to recent La Bota de Amontillado bottlings, to the Tradicion Amontillado VORS (a really thrilling bottle in my view). This comes across to me as rather flat. Don't get me wrong - it is "correct" in every way. It just lacks the energy I look for in great older amontillado - which at this price point and 30 years of stated age, I expect to find here.

4/23/2014 - chambolle wrote:

I suspect this is a wine some will love and some will hate. This is classic young cool climate pinot noir. On opening, the color is a pale rouge, the nose is quite reductive (matchstick/sulfur prevail), but a double decanting and about 15 minutes of air transform the nose, which becomes bright and fragrant, with highly perfumed notes of wild strawberry, wild cherries and raspberry -- it is like sniffing eau de vie of assorted red fruits. Allied with the fruity perfume is a distinct but quite pleasant and not overpowering woodsy-leafy-minty-cinnamony note. On the palate, there are ample fine grained tannins but overall the wine seems quite balanced and ready to drink, with a fresh fruity and bone dry palate that mirrors the nose. The finish carries all of this through to the end - the wine is reasonably consistent from nose to palate to finish. Primary but pleasurable from start to finish, and amazingly versatile, food friendly wine. Whether time and bottle development will make this interestingly complex I cannot say, as this is admittedly the first red I've ever tasted from this Goisot family domaine (I'm very familiar with the lineup from Anne et Arnaud Goisot of St. Bris, but am just getting around to Guilhem et Jean-Hughes up the street). But I like what I see here!

10/2/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Color is quite pale and youthful as manzanilla pasada goes. The nose is bright, fresh, chablis-like, with powerful notes of meyer lemon peel, oyster shell and sea breeze. On the palate, it literally makes you salivate - sappy, intensely salty, mouth-puckeringly citric, yet with an ever so sweet touch at the finish followed by a tail of chalk and salt. This is about as close to Chablis as any sherry I've experienced - there is more fruit, sap, grip and chalky minerality here than flor/biological age notes going on. As it warms in the glass and gets some air, vanilla/oak notes begin to show themselves. I must say I do not get any of the 'beef jerky' one or more other tasters have noted. to me, it has nothing meaty going on at all - far too zingy and fresh for any of that sort of thing.

Just about as intense - and intensely pleasurable - as this kid's palate can bear, and as good as manzanilla can get, as far as my palate - admittedly far more limited as to sherry than it is where wines from Burgundy and elsewhere in France are concerned -- is able to discern. I opened a bottle not really expecting to be overwhelmed, as the Lustau line tends to run rather commercial and middle of the road in my experience. Ain't nuthin middle of the road here. This is full throttle, slap you in the face with cold seawater manzanilla - not showing a lot of the signs of age that "pasada" connotes, but I don't miss them here given the extreme intensity of this fresh, fresh wine.

I could drink this until I drop. And at 17% alcohol by volume, that is not merely a figure of speech.

9/27/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Whoa. Straight from the bottle, this wine is the color of mature Batard-Montrachet. It is golden, slightly viscous, gorgeous to look at. But things get better as you move from the nose, to the palate, to the tail. The nose is a head-spinning melange of bitter almond oil, citrus peel of various kinds - highlighting lime and orange - a bit of that lacquer-ish flor aroma above it all. On the palate, this is no lightweight, bright and fresh but not much there, commercial fino. It has weight, wood, even a creamy/buttery quality that says white burgundy to me. But the grip is there, in a mouth puckering, mineral, dried apricot and lemon finish. Indeed, as I sat here for a while swirling, sipping, sniffing, I had a light bulb moment - if Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet Champs Canet were a sherry, it would be this wine. That same orange peel on the nose, that same crisp mineral finish, the same sort of weight - but with the complexity coming from the biological aging rather than fresh chardonnay fruit. Did I mention, I really, really like this wine? Boy is it ever good.

6/13/2013 - chambolle wrote:

"Vin fatigue"? "Near the end of its life"? "Shot"? Do you folks store your wine next to the furnace in your basement, or in a cupboard above the six burner Wolf Range in your kitchen? Here is the wine in the bottle I opened this evening to go with a thick grilled entrecote de boeuf and grilled Italian red peppers, fresh local snap peas and white corn: The color is a bright and fresh, relatively youthful rich red, clear as a bell. The nose is a bit hot, but loaded with spices from anise to lavender to wild thyme, along with ripe warm plums. On the palate, balanced and actually rather elegant for Chateauneuf, still a reasonable backbone of fine grained tannins and ample fruit acidity. The flavor profile is deeper and darker than one might imagine from the almost Burgundian color of the wine - a dead ringer for one of those Dutch licorice chews with sea salt. Black as night on the palate, in other words, but still with a bright, snappy fresh grape edge to it. After some air, it also develops a bit of leathery funk, but this is, after all, a wine over a decade old, from a very hot year in the Southern Rhone.

All told, quite a lot of wine, quite good, nowhere near "the end of its life" and anything but fatigued. No one would mistake this for a bottle of Chave Hermitage, much less a bottle of DRC Richebourg - the breed certainly is not there. But for what it is, an awfully good bottle of wine and well worth the price and the space it has taken up in my cool damp cellar for the past dozen years or so. And in no danger of going over the edge of the cliff any time soon.

To confirm that the wine is not 'fatigued' - on day two, it remains quite fruity and composed. The earthy notes are more prominent, but there are still heaps of plummy fruit at the core and no real signs of oxidation. Five years in a cool cellar would not harm well stored bottles one iota.

4/9/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Bright pale color of yellow gold. Nose is honeysuckle and lemon peel. On the palate, the wine is plainly oxidative, but not in a bad way at all. It has sweet lemony and tupelo honey tones, a bit of an oily quality on the palate, but enough acidity at the end to maintain its equilibrium. It surely does not say "Les Clos" or "Grand Cru" to me, but it is a perfectly acceptable rendition of mature 1er cru Chablis. And given this is a wine that was an instant close out, purchased in 2005 for some silly price like $20 a bottle or less, it's better than ok in its context. If you're holding, drink 'em up, and I'd do it with food leaning towards the creamy side, like poulet a la creme aux morilles, or a creamy delicata squash soup, and not something bright and breezy like Dungeness crab or raw oysters, which would overwhelm and tip up its lack of steely minerality.

4/3/2013 - chambolle wrote:

On opening, the wine is a pretty clear pink/rouge color, with little in the way of bricking. The immediate aroma is very forest floor, with a distinct mushroom note. Immediate palate impression is more of structure than fruit, with slightly obtrusive, sandy, drying tannins at the back. But here is a wine that takes its time to sing. After about half an hour in the decanter, there is a beautiful core of juicy red and blue fruit, almost a sweetness about the wine. This is a quiet wine - it whispers and softly sings, no shouting about it. But after time in the air, it has a seamless balance and quite a lot of class - far more elegance than one expects from Chassagne rouge and Morgeot in particular - usually a source of rather chunky wine whether red or white. Lacy, pretty, sweetly fruity, delicate, but with a crisp fresh grippy finish, showing just enough acidity and a touch of fine grained tannin to keep all in balance and youthful. The overall profile, to me, is akin to decently made, delicately proportioned Chambolle-Musigny villages.

A bottle opened in early 2017: this is likely as good as this wine will be. It has taken on weight, the fruit has blossomed into a deeper, richer profile on the palate, the nose has taken on secondary notes of plum, grilled crimini mushroom. A very satisfying bottle of wine, no doubt at the top of its game 15 years from the vintage.

Chassagne rouge is not exactly the flavor of the month - not often seen and not highly prized. Thus my notes indicate this wine cost the princely sum of $15 a bottle, a 'close out' purchased at the end of 2008. Money well spent, for certain! If you have it, drink now or over the next few years. It has reached its highest plateau, I think.

3/2/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Color deep red verging on purple, very youthful still. On the nose, black cherry, red bell pepper, slightest hint of sundried tomato, peat and cassis. The palate is ripe but not overbearing, much more refined and composed than the youthful and somewhat rustic nose would suggest. Finishes with plush tannins. The overall impression is round and ripe - far more so than one typically expects from Loire Valley cabernet franc, but this being the dawning of the age of global warming, get used to it. I think the peak will be five years or so from now, at which point one would hope for more complexity, but at present the wine is poised, balanced and very enjoyable for its primary, true to type cabernet franc fruit.

3/1/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Color is still a youthful straw with hints of gold. On the nose, cool, floral, the barest hint of nut butter. The front palate is bright and steely, mid-palate fans out with substantial fresh fruit and at the back end there is a nice warm hazelnut butter note, all of this very tightly wound together in a well proportioned whole. Finish is persistent and piercing, yet there is nothing heavy handed here. Really quite lovely, quite youthful (esp. from a tenth!) and as nice a bottle of Matrot Meursault as I've had in quite some time.

2/23/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Out of the bottle, the wine is bright gold, rather deeply colored for a wine of this age, but not troublingly so. The nose is an exotic tropical fruit cocktail - there are hints of mango, pineapple, citrus peel, lime. On the palate, the wine is bright, but at the same time it has a sweet, oily edge that verges on unctuous. The finish carries through with this exotic, tropical character, and has an unusual sweet-tart candy character, right down to the chalky quality of that artificial confection. This artificially sweet and tart character becomes increasingly obtrusive as the wine takes in air and warms in the glass. It isn't a wine that makes me want to keep drinking. The first glass is the best there is, and it is downhill from there.

I've been called a "moron" by a certain "rarewineman" for opining that I do not enjoy the 2007 St. Aubin En Remilly bottling from this producer. Maybe I am cognitively challenged, I grant that. However, I do not particularly like this wine either. I find it to be a California chardonnay drinker's idea of white burgundy. It is fat, sweet and cloying to my taste. That said, I can understand the wine's appeal. The wine is undoubtedly rich, and in an odd, almost artificial way (is it acid adjusted?), it does have a bright acidity about it that might pass for "minerality," although this aspect strikes me as poorly integrated with the overall profile of the wine in the mouth and merely contributes to a new world, confected style.

This '08 is certainly far better wine than the '07 En Remilly is at this moment, although I also fear that given another year or two in bottle, the '08 will turn out pretty much the same way - cloying, unduly oxidative (not oxidized, and there is a difference), sweet and leesy, overdone. It simply isn't a wine with a lot of finesse or elegance. It makes me think Kendall-Jackson, or Rombauer, or Sonoma-Cutrer, not St. Aubin or Chassagne or Puligny.

If you like this style, it's not a bad example of it. There is certainly a mouthful of wine here, so if you judge value by horsepower per dollar, it's a "value" and "punches above its weight." But it's not to my taste. It's a Mustang or a Camaro, not a Boxster or an M3. My guess is this wine may have shown very well in barrel and early in its life in bottle. I can't say I like the way it shows four to five years from the harvest.

By way of an addendum: I kept this bottle in a cool place for two days after opening. On day two, the sweet, tropical character of the wine remained, but without the brightness of the first day as a counterpoint. Not particularly palatable. By day three, the wine had lost the tutti frutti tropical character, and had become almost muscadet-like, all sharp edges. I admit complete bafflement as to where this wine may be headed. But so far, it hasn't shown me anything I find especially appealing.

2/21/2013 - chambolle wrote:

I'm befuddled by this wine. Tonight, another tenth popped while doing the bachelor thing at home. There are weird things going on inside these little bottles. This one, unlike the last few described in my note from earlier 2013, did not have the dreaded '04 stinkies on opening, but it did show some signs of 'oxidation' - browning in color, brown maple syrupy on the edges in the nose and brown sugar on the palate. But there was enough substance here to make me keep on trying. After an hour in the glass, the color, I kid you not, brightened significantly. So is this reduced, rather than oxidized? Gosh knows. The wine also brightened on the nose and palate. It is reasonably fresh, a tad leafy, primary and fruity in a restrained and somewhat elegant way, and finishes with nicely integrated fine grainy tannins and acidity. Bottle variation is the name of this game. If you get good ones, as this one is tonight, they are quite all right, but still marked by the vintage with its quirky combination of slight surmaturite and contradictory green leafiness, leaning almost towards gout de grele. Baffling.

2/21/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Slow to develop, this wine has at last begun to take on a tiny bit of a lemon yellow hue, in contrast to the palest straw/green that it showed early in its life in bottle. The nose has that lovely lemony sea breeze mineral melon de Bourgogne character, but now there are barest hints of honeysuckle and early maturation. On the palate, still light on its feet, brisk, fresh, but today with a bit more of a creamy quality than in its youth. The finish is a bit clipped, still more to come with more time in bottle no doubt. A lot of wine for what it is and what it cost, and well matched with a simple dish of sauteed rockfish with a light dressing of taggiasca olive oil and julienned Tunisian preserved lemon.

2/19/2013 - chambolle wrote:

The world went gaga over the 1997 Brunello vintage. Ripe, lush, fat, round, in many cases new worldish wines, the usual suspects declared them to be the best wines in human history. I got sucked in and bought quite a bit, and then wondered what the heck had come over me - a Burgundy collector no less. Haven't touched them since, fearing disappointment, and eventually fearing I had waited way too long to see what was under the hood and not wanting to attend the wake for many cases of impulsively acquired Brunello. This wine is certainly encouraging. The color is fresh, a good healthy mid-purple, a long way from inky. A bit of garnet at the rim. The nose is very attractive indeed, with notes of blueberry and some early hints of tar and roses. The palate impression is of a relatively young wine just taking off to the next level. Elegant, softly fruity, a touch of earthiness, a bit of that beautiful medicinal quality I like in well wrought Italian reds. Finishes with a satisfying and encouraging ripe tannic edge. All in all, a nicely structured, classically proportioned wine - not brutal and austere, not corpulent and faddishly new world. No barriques. No cab/merlot that I can tell. No BS. Really pretty lovely.

2/19/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Color is still youthful, straw with barest hints of green and gold. The nose is cool, fresh, sea breeze, tiniest touch of white flowers and acacia honey. Absolutely no 'premox.' The immediate palate impression is taut, lemon/lime, mineral. As it warms and gathers air in the glass, this becomes a rich mouthful of liquid limestone and oyster shell, but there is also a touch of an oily mouthfeel. The finish is persistent and utterly bone dry. This wine seemed to me to be five years from the leading edge of real bottle development and maturity. All the right stuff is there but there is not the complexity and evolution to maturity I expected at nearly a decade from the vintage. Droin typically puts up the top tier grand crus in some new wood - if this wine spent time in new oak, it doesn't show today. My notes reflect that I paid just over $30 for this bottle. It's a long way from here to Dauvissat and Raveneau, but it's also a long way from $30 for this bottle to $150 to $300 or more for a bottle of superstar Les Clos. I'm happy to have half a dozen of these.

2/16/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Color is straw verging on lightest gold - youthful in other words. The nose is cool, refined, a lovely melange of white flowers and lime peel with barest touch of vanilla. On the palate, this is fresh and alive, enough so that it did not suffer at all from comparison with the very young and steely Dauvissat La Forest that preceded it. By no means a heavyweight, but with beautiful balance and very typical Meursault flavors - fresh fruit, finishing touch of hazelnut and a nice slap of lemony acidity at the tail end. All told still a youthful and perfectly wonderful little bottle of Meursault just entering its prime drinking window. Not in the least bit overwrought or prematurely developed as one might fear from a ripe year like '05. I've had perhaps half a dozen bottles of this over the past few years, and it has barely budged in that time.

2/16/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Pale rose to rouge color. On the nose, it seems far more advanced than I would hope for in a '99 - lots of truffles, underbrush, a bit of peat, some higher toned rose petal and just a hint of bright red strawberry/cranberry fruit. On the palate, very much the 'old' burgundy, not a lot of weight or fresh fruit and quite a bit of grilled meat about it. There is a good bit of sandy tannin at the leading edge of the finish and a healthy amount of acidity at the tail. The following day, not a lot to show but the tannin and acidity, mostly a hollowed out shell of a wine. I can see this wine might become a lovely faded rose in a few more years, but at present it lacks balance and it has one foot reaching for the fresh fruit side of the room and the other foot firmly planted on the forest floor. This is one of a few bottles 'acquired from a private cellar' and purchased from Acker Merrall, and perhaps it was not as well cared for as one might wish - it is certainly way more advanced than other '99 1er cru Chambolle bottlings I have had in recent memory, most of which are still somewhat primary and considerably fresher than this.

2/16/2013 - chambolle wrote:

The palest straw color - one notch up from pure well water in fact. The nose seems to suck the warmth from the room - it is that cold, gunflinty, just barely hinting at fruit. On the palate, taut, austere, salty, saliva-inducing. The finish nearly draws a pucker - the wine is that intensely mineral and youthful. Not for sissies. I had expected this '07 to be quite a bit softer and further along in its evolution - mais non. Not to be touched for another 3 to 5 years if you are keeping it in a reasonably cool cellar. This went very well with a platter of oysters, but for those who are not Chablis initiates, it may be a bit of a tough slog at its current stage of development - which is definitely "adolescent."

2/16/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Deep, moderately opaque purple color, brambly and minty on the nose. A big, chewy and moderately tannic palate impression, finishing with blackberry and blackcurrant flavors and a good lashing of tannin and acidity. There is a lot of wine here, but at the moment it verges on the rustic. I have a difficult time prognosticating where this wine will be headed. Overall it displays the toughness I associate with the 2001 vintage, but with far more substance and concentration than the typical Cote de Beaune wines of the year. Will it ever achieve the level of elegance one hopes for in Clos des Epeneaux? Time will tell - and it seems to have years to go before it reaches its apogee. At present, a mouthful of wine and by no means unpleasant to drink - matched perfectly with duck breast in a rich port and duck stock reduction.

1/8/2013 - chambolle wrote:

All right, I will admit I am biased and want to like this wine - purchased in large part in memory of a serendipitous Sunday dinner in this quiet little Alsatian town on a family trip to France. But objectively speaking it also has a lot going for it. Color is pale yellow, fresh and youthful. Initially a bit mute on the nose, tightly wound, with barest hints of citrus and white flowers. With time in the glass, the nose begins to show classic riesling floral qualities along with a pleasant and pungent hint of mace and coriander. On the palate, a bit silky (perhaps a tiny bit of residual sugar) but gives a bone dry impression, largely by way of a chalky minerality and brisk lemon zest finish. My guess is this will fatten and gain in complexity with some time in bottle. For now it is awfully attractive young wine, not merely a wine of potential. Paired beautifully with sauteed filet of cod with creamy polenta, braised endive and a blood orange butter sauce!

1/8/2013 - chambolle wrote:

Opened with some trepidation expecting a typically shut down 2005. The color is medium ruby red with no signs of age. Nose closed on opening. Decanted and tasted an hour or so later, the nose is far more effusive and charming in a Chambolle-ish tiny red fruits mode, tinged with Morey earthiness. The palate is somewhat lush and overtly fruity, on the pie cherry end of the spectrum. With more time in the air, the wine richens up and shows a darker complex of brambly fruit along with the bright tiny red fruit that began its life in the air. This is really quite a lot of pinot noir for this modest appellation and $30ish a bottle price point. Paired with seared duck breast in a duck demiglace, port and thyme sauce, accompanied by a puree of garnet yams with ample cream and butter. Very nice combo indeed! I have no doubt this wine will evolve well over another 3 to 5 years of rest and relaxation. Alas I may not leave it alone that long given its easy drinkability right now. Nicely made and true to type Morey villages.

1/7/2013 - chambolle wrote:

"Wow" is surely not a very helpful note, particularly since from what I find in my glass right this moment, this is anything but a "wow" wine. Like the 2007 "Chateniere" from this producer, this is a wine that trades on oxidative characteristics. It is not a 'premox' wine, it is simply, in my view, lacking in fruit and showing instead a somewhat hollow blend of lemony acidity and winemaking signature, instead of a natural expression of fruit or terroir. Here, unlike the Chateniere 2007 from Prudhon, the wine has a fresh floral note at the front end, a good bit of acidity and a spicy/woody bite at the end, rather than the overwrought leesy, Californicated quality the Chateniere shows. That certainly is a plus by comparison, but there is also a distinct lack of fruit, of substance, of genuine earthiness or spice. What we have is a touch of honeysuckle treacliness allied with the acidic spine, backed up by a woody note - thankfully not vanillin, but not what I consider "wine" all the same. It seems like wine that someone tried to make in the cuverie rather than in the vineyard. I'm just guessing, but as hollow as this wine is, the yields must have been way up there chez Prudhon in 2007.

If that's a "wow," other than a "wow, I wish they wouldn't let people who control good vineyard sites make wine like this," then I must be missing something.

1/6/2013 - chambolle wrote:

I've enjoyed a number of tenths of this wine over the past year or so, but the last two tries have fallen prey to the dreaded 2004 stinkies - big time stinky. Dried porcini mushroom, green tea, peat and above all an overripe cheese/silage/merde stink that really precludes any enjoyment. Perhaps these were just bad bottles, but methinks on the other hand that the wine may be playing out the hand it was dealt. Pyrazine? Brett? A bit of both? Who knows. Whatever it is, it ain't good. It was fun while it lasted, but obviously a CSJ that falls to pieces six to eight years from the harvest isn't what one looks for in CSJ. Either we have some serious bottle variation going on, as bottles tasted a year or two ago were quite enjoyable, or the sickness that has befallen this wine was awfully well hidden - as my earlier note indicates, I did not perceive the green/pyrazine 2004 signature before, although I suppose "notes of 'mapleine'" might have been a warning of bad things to come.

12/20/2012 - chambolle wrote:

Color is deep, crystal clear ruby red - astoundingly youthful as though frozen in time. Nose has some bacon fat, some woody spices and lots of black cherry - a tad disjointed and rustic, but it says Gevrey or Fixin - slightly muscular. On the palate, there is quite a lot going on - the wine is alive with black cherry fruit, grainy/dusty tannins and brisk acidity. It seems, in fact, unresolved and adolescent which, at a decade from the vintage, is something of a surprise. The finish is quite persistent for a wine at this level. With the 1999 in recent memory for comparison, I'd say this wine may yet get better. The '99 was at this phase - but with less intensity -- a few years ago but now has softened and coalesced into a rather plush bottle of wine. I'm guessing this may do the same. If you have well stored bottles I would be in no hurry to drink up, although the wine is a pleasure to drink now, especially with food to tame the rough edges. By no means shy and retiring - it is one of those wines with such intense sappiness it makes you salivate, like the very best, ripe young cru beaujolais. Somewhat unusual, and more to my liking for that - a lot of character and a mouthful of wine for the $20 a bottle tariff.

12/1/2012 - chambolle wrote:

Bright lemon yellow in the glass. The nose is a bit lactic, lemon curd and muskmelon, a tad cloying with sweet vanillin. This impression follows through to the palate, which is somewhat clumsy and flabby in the middle, with an oily, lemony dominant tone, followed by an exotic mango note with an impression of residual sugar and sorrel -- sweet and sour candy. The finish is nevertheless fresh and brightly acidic, although there is the barest hint of maple sugar at the back end. Those who favor the oaky/leesy/oxidative school of Chardonnay winemaking will likely be impressed with this. It seems to be fully developed in its somewhat heavy handed way, and reminds me for all the world of Alsatian pinot gris in its oily, preserved lemon, melon and mango tone. Decent food wine, a nice match with butternut squash ravioli in cream. However, a bit ham handed for my taste and not a wine I would buy again. Dare I admit this? Purchased on the basis of BH's notes - rather than my own prior tasting in barrel or bottle. So much for relying on 'expert' reviews, as if I didn't already know that was a dicey proposition. This might have been a fleshy and seductive wine in its youth, when the pundits always make their pronouncements - it has turned rather tarted up and coarse in its middle age nevertheless.

10/27/2012 - chambolle wrote:

Light gold color. Attractive lemon oil and toasted hazelnut nose. Nicely integrated and balanced on the palate - structure and fruit in perfect blend. There is a deep beurre noisette note in the mid-palate that carries through to the finish. The wine is not oxidized but it does project an oxidative, leesy style. Still, it is light on its feet and finishes cleanly. This seems essentially ready to drink right now and with the hazelnut/brown butter notes that carry through from palate to finish, I would be nervous about holding on to the wine for an extended period of time. It somehow lacks intensity and bite, but would be a good bottle for a restaurant wine list. All in all, a nice bottle for drinking now, but at this price point - pushing $30 on a retail shelf - it doesn't strike me as good value.

10/23/2012 - chambolle wrote:

Deep, bright, clear and attractive fuchsia/red hue; the nose is a touch warm, with coulis of red raspberry and hints of pie cherry and cassis foxiness; palate entry is a touch warm but the fruit is delightfully ripe and straightforward. Finish is soft and easy, with nicely balanced fine grained tannins and enough acidity to keep the very ripe fruit fresh and alive. There is a bit of a medicinal note on the finish as well - actually a pleasant earthiness that binds this to its Savigny roots. I would not hold this wine a long, long time but instead enjoy it over the next few years for its exuberant, ample and youthful fruit. There is another note here that calls this wine thin, green, "mouth-puckeringly tart" and essentially unappetizing... I'd counsel ignoring it. This is everything a good, young warm vintage Savigny should be and, particularly at its sub $25 price point, it's extremely attractive wine. No, it's extremely attractive wine regardless of price point.