A Trip through the Cote d'Or - Alex's 30th Birthday and celebration for William and Gina -

This was a Burgundy night to remember. We gathered early on a Saturday evening in a private room (complete with karaoke screens) to celebrate Alex's 30th, along with William and Gina's birthdays. The theme was supposed to be great wines starting with the suffix "La", "Le" or "Les", but it somehow became the great wines of the Cote d'Or starting with the suffix "La", "Le" or "Les". No one was complaining though - we ended up with one wine from almost all the greater villages in up and down the Cote, a journey as it is through Burgundy, one bottle at a time. All blind as always, the wines were very well planned in their flights by the birthday boy. We had some absolutely beautiful wines where, not for the first time, the one flight of whites threatened to overshadow the reds. It was a truly night to remember.

• 2006 Roses de Jeanne / Cédric Bouchard Champagne Blanc de Blancs La Bolorée 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  Most unusual - a Pinot Blanc champagne. I thought this was excellent. It had a beautiful nose with little bits of flinty mineral floating around a core of lemons, lime pith apples and white plums scents, and then some dried earthy aromas, white meat and lovely waft of white flowers and sage, all this underlined by lots of stony minerality. Lovely. Brilliant stuff on the palate too. Still very young, rather tight, but it had super depth wed to a wonderful sense of balance, focus and direction, so that the wine zoomed across the palate in almost laser-like fashion as it filled the mouth with subtle flavours of ripe lemons squeezed over pure pear and green apple notes. Still not all that complex, but there was a sense of great breadth in the way it expressed itself, and such was the balance that it seemed almost effortless - an archetypal iron fist in a velvet glove. A gentle mousse and a nice sense of extract carried the wine into a very solid back-palate, where a solid stream of earthy minerality stretched away alongside white fruited flavours in a long finish. Still very young, but this had superb potential. I would love to try it in a five or six years' time to see how it ages.

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• 2005 La Chablisienne Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  Beautiful. There was no doubting that this was a top-notch Chablis from first sniff. What a nose! Wow. It just exploded out of the glass with incredibly expressive aromas of honeysuckle, daisies and other white flowers, and then nectar, honey and fragrant pears, a whiff of savoury aged-parmiggiano cheese, all laced with unmistakeably Chablis aromas of lime and saline, seashelly minerality and beautiful chalky notes. Wonderful. The palate was classic Chablis Grand Cru too, melting across the mouth in a lovely glide of saline mineral, chalk and lime on the attack with every sip. Not quite as expressive as the nose, but every bit as impressive in a quieter, more subtle way. It had beautiful depth on the midpalate, with layer after layer of creamily textured, yet ever so wonderfully well-structured lemony, limey goodness moving into a long, minerally finish that was still flecked with rather obvious oak notes. Still super-young, but already very good. This was lovely now, but I can only imagine how good it will be in another three to four years' time.

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• 2006 Yves Boyer-Martenot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru

  Boy oh boy, this was good. It had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of next to a superb Chablis Les Clos and a Sauzet Montrachet - some even voting this the wine of the flight. This wine had another really nice nose. There were lovely savoury inflections here, somwhat like salted butter, cream of mushroom, and then riper, fruitier aromas of Chinese pears, almond cream and a lovely layer of minerality. Subtler than the other two wines on the flight, but lovely nonetheless. The balance on the palate was stunning. It was rich and fleshy in true Meursault fashion, showing in white fruited notes spreading into slightly honeyed yellow-fruited territory. Yet the wine was always elegantly poised with melting acidity framing the lovely rich fruit. At the finish, the savoury notes on the nose peeked out again, showing in some lovely mineral and seabreezy notes. There was still a bit of oak on this, so it needs a lot of time yet, but it was delicious even now. A beautifully elegant expression of Meursault.

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• 1996 Etienne Sauzet Montrachet 96 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

  Fantastic. As good as the first two whites in the flight were, I thought this was on another level completely. It had a crazy bouquet. Just layer after layer of complexity here, unfolding in wonderful aromas of honey, caramel, earth, stewed white meat, cream, sweet pears, figs and ripe lemons - assertive, complex, yet almost gentle and understated in the way the whole melange just wafted out of the glass and seduced you. Glorious stuff. The palate was clearly a lot more mature than the 2005 Les Clos and the 2006 Meursault Perrieres, and after the eager-to-please showiness of the first two wines, this actually suffered a bit at first as a result of its more reserved nobility. Even after two hours in an open bottle, it needed another half-an-hour in the glass to really start singing. On first pour, I actually thought this was more about elegance than power with its beautiful balance and poise. However, with time, the wine just started taking on such a firm grip of the palate, filling the mouth and refusing to let go with layer after layer of deep white fruited depth wed to ripe lemony freshness and more creamy top-notes. Quietly profound on the attack at this point, it then fanned out even more into a fleshy, expansive, flat out impressive midpalate that filled every crevice of the palate with super-integrated accents of mineral, earth and golden honeyed fruit. For all that, the balance and poise of the wine was so that even while it was luxurious, almost opulent, the palate, like the nose, somehow always gave a sense of understatement and elegance. It finished strongly as well. The back-palate was brilliantly integrated with the rest of the wine, so much so that you hardly noticed how wonderfully long it was as it glided away into an incredibly lengthy finish full of stony minerality underlying a delicious mouthful of honeyed lemons, pears and melons that went on and on and on. Absolutely wonderful, this was one of the best white wines I have had in some time. While the first two wines wowed me up-front, this was the one that remained most hauntingly in my memory - a perfect synthesis of power with ethereal elegance, a superb expression of the great Montrachet vineyard.

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• 1994 Domaine des Lambrays Clos des Lambrays 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru

  Blind tastings really are a great leveller. One would never have expected a 1994 Clos des Lambrays to be this good, but boy was it good. One of the best reds on a night of many good reds. It had an incredible nose, where lovely lush fresh-cut flower scents floated amongst deep wells of wet earth, spice, dark cherries and sour plums, a touch of plum wine almost, all playing on a nice meaty backdrop laced with ferrous minerality. Wonderful, complex, feminine stuff that got some people thinking it may have been a Les Amoureuses! The palate was at a wonderful place. Fine tannins had resolved into a still firm but really smooth robe, and bright acidity still girded ripe notes of dark cherries and dark plums touched with the lovely fresh floral notes that made most of the table think Volnay or Chambolle again. I found this a beguiling, elegant expression of Morey. The minerally finish was lovely too. Long without being quite astounding maybe, but it was blessed with a beautiful energy and vibrancy. As good a 1994 as one could hope for and quite at peak, this was a beautiful wine. If what they say about Grand Crus doing well even in bad years is true, then this bottle should put to rest any debates about whether the Clos des Lambrays is worthy of its Grand Cru status.

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• 1994 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru Grèves Vigne de L'Enfant Jesus 89 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru

  Best of the three bottles of 1994 Baby Jesus that we have had, yet this still contrived to be the weakest wine of the night by some distance. It was a world away from the superb 1994 Clos des Lambrays that we had alongside. While that was all flowery charm and spicy, fruity depth, this came across as a bit grumpy, austere and aloof. The nose was deeper, earthier, with a slightly barnyardy, leathery, meaty backdrop to its dark cherry and wet stone top notes. Decent enough. The palate was rather clean, high-toned, with a clear ring of metal ringing through its high-toned notes of dark berries. Really fresh and lively if just a bit thin and a bit herby. Still though, this was rather livelier and weightier than the last recent bottle we had. Unfortunately, it just not all that great though. 1994 does not appear to have been a good year for this cuvee at all.

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• 1999 Louis Jadot Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru

  This was truly excellent and a real surprise when unveiled - most of us where quite sure it was a youngish Le Chambertin when blinded. It had a really nice nose, full of deep red fruited notes, layers of warm earthy goodness and a tiny sprinkle of spice with a little touch of flower stems at the edges. Noble, deep, really nice. The palate was brilliant, with wonderful clarity to its deep flavours of dark cherries sprinkled with more bits of earth and tiny flecks of spice. Great depth here, yet the wine wore it so very effortlessly with its super-fine structure. The finish was really impressive as well, filling the mouth with a satisfying melange of red fruit, earth and mineral. Not for the first time, the word "noble" came to mind. Nothing loud or overtly impressive - this was actually very correct, very complete, very structured, yet somehow not austere at all - really yummy in fact. Very good now, but I can imagine this needing another three to four years before it really starts showing. An excellent wine, much enjoyed by all.

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• 2002 Faiveley Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Saint Georges 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru

  What a waste to pop this now. It was clearly a good wine of breed and quality, but we caught it something like a decade too early. The nose showed some earth and wet stone, some toasty notes, a touch of fresh herbs and wood spice and very indistinct dark fruit perhaps reminiscent of dark cherries and blueberries. Still a bit tight, a little disjointed, almost as if this needs some time to coalesce and come together, but there was quite a bit of complexity bubbling away in there. The palate opened with a burst of exotic spice that spoke of Faiveley's use of stems, along with lovely freshness lacing its pure red fruit attack and darker blueberry notes on the midpalate. I really liked the purity amidst all the substance here as well as the fine tannin structure and nice length, but it was still very hard, very firm, rather tight, so that the back-end seemed to be very one-note and rather unyielding. A real pity - this needs 10 years at least.

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• 2000 Domaine Francois Lamarche Clos Vougeot 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru

  This was another shocker when unblinded. I spotted it as a 2000 Clos Vougeot, but was really pleasantly surprised to see Francois Lamarche achieving such quality in from this plot. It had an amazing nose full of lush undergrowth scents, wilted flowers, earth, and then black tea and ripe black fruit and touches of spice and vine stalks. All warm and lovely aromas. The palate was soft and silky, very plush as it simply melted across the mouth with a rich robe of dark cherries, blackberries and cassis laced with a wonderful stream of bright acidity and back-up by a meaty midpalate. Moreish, savoury, absolutely tasty, this was beautiful to drink. The finish capped it all with a wonderful mouthful of perfumy flowers, dried longan notes, red fruit and earthy, spicy nuances that just lingered on and on - almost a cross between a Vosne and a Clos Vougeot here. Everything was in the right place with this wine. Wonderful stuff, quite at peak.

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• 1979 Bouchard Père et Fils Corton-Le Corton 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

  The second oldest bottle on the night, this was an intriguing wine, starting from a nose that just blasted out of the glass with wafts of soy sauce aromas, wet undergrowth and damp leaves and then, after a bit of air, some dark plummy fruit, haw flakes and a touch of dried cherries. A very challenging, in-your-face bouquet. The palate still had a rich, velvety depth, with lots of red fruited cherries, red dates and haw flakes on the attack moving into a very earthy midpalate, which was again slathered with more salty soy sauce flavours. I like my wines earthy and umami-ish, but there might have been just a bit too much of that here! I must say that there was a nice round feel and solid depth though - all set out in a rather opulent yet pretty well balanced style. It finished with very decent length too, with a nice waft of peppery spice at the back-palate alongside more soil and wilted flower notes. All in all, a very nice wine that was just threw me off a little at some points with its really overt soil and wet earth character.

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• 1977 La Pousse d'Or Volnay 1er Cru Clos de la Bousse d'Or 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru

  There was a lot of disagreement around the table on whether this bottle was affllicted by TCA or whether it was just very old smelling. I thought it was. Yet the fault was so slight that the wine was still very enjoyable. The nose was not too pleasant at first, showing nothing much beyond some dried leaves and twigs, dusty dried earth, wet soil and some wet cardboard scents, very secondary, really indicative of TCA. Thankfully, with time, all those twiggy scents gave way to more fragrant aromas of cherries and raspberries, haw flakes, wet soil, black tea. The palate, for such an old wine and possibly a faulty one as well, was very rich, deep, almost multi-layered, with dark cherries, plums and dark berries starting to take on a very slightly sur-maturite, matured character. It was all still very fresh though, so that the wine remained bright all the way into a lively finish that had a wonderful flowery perfume that was so very Volnay. I thought this was a really pretty wine that was drinking very well, drinking a lot younger than its 34 years in fact. Nice stuff, certainly nice enough to rate and even to rate well - yet for all that, I could not help feeling it was a bit scalped by TCA given the little cardboardy notes that popped up here and there. If so, I would love to try a clean bottle.

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• 2001 Pierre Damoy Chambertin-Clos de Bèze 95 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru

  The first of the strongest flight of the night, this blew my socks off. Who knew Pierre Damoy could make such good Beze! It had an incredible nose. This completely beguiled me with its wafting aromas of dark cherries, mossy undergrowth and fragrant wood spice flecked with violet petals. The palate was very bit as "wow". Velvety texture, pitch perfect balance, Grand Cru depth and presence, gorgeous focus, all tied togther in package of delicious dark cherries flavours specked with wood spice and darkly floral notes. I loved this. It had a really superb finish too - fresh, vibrant and lengthy, with a delicious lick of sweet wood spice, dark cherries and subtle floral notes floating all around the back-palate. Brilliant. Quite clearly a child of its vintage given its slightly lighter than usual feel and almost transparent clarity along with just the slightest touch of green herbs. Yet for all that, no one was in any doubt that this was either a Chambertin or a Beze when blinded - it had all of the completeness and the telltale effortless presence of the plot. Amongst many lovely reds on the night, this was my favourite.

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• 2006 Domaine Francois Lamarche La Grande Rue 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Grande Rue Grand Cru

  By far the youngest of the reds on show, but this was clearly brilliant even in its precocious youth. Opened 6 hours before serving, it had crazy a nose that swayed seductively out of the glass with gentle toasty notes, dried earth andfragrant Vosne wood spice floating over great depths of dark fruit. Woah - that was one crazy nose! What a wonderful palate too. A bit young, a bit tight compared to the other wines on the flight, but this had a lovely sappiness to its dark fruited flavours and a delicious juicy acidity that kept the wine ever so lively as it led into a velveteen midpalate butressed with wafts of earth, wood spice and mineral. There were layers of complexity and lovely density here, unfolding gracefully into a long, deep finish where fine tannins peeked out alongside juicy dark cherry fruit and Vosne wood spice flavours. All wonderful focus and lively energy, this was delicious. Young, but really super solid, a real Grand Cru experience. I loved this.

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• 1988 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny Cuvée Vieilles Vignes 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru

  A lovely wine - this expressed both its vineyard and its vintage very nicely. Like the 1996 Sauzet Montrachet on the first flight, this wine suffered slightly from being put next to two far younger, much more showy wines. It was more understated than the previous two, but really beautiful in its own way - just that you really needed to pay attention to it. This had a wafting, lifted, lilting bouquet, with drifting notes of orange peel, sour cherries and redcurrants touched with bits of earth, soy and a gentle, floral backdrop. Subtle, intriguing. I loved this. Very "Chambolle" for a Musigny I thought - one would almost think it would be a Les Amoureuses instead with that nose. The palate was more clearly a Moose though. Wonderful integrated, absolutely melting across the mouth with superb freshness ringing through lovely flavours of black cherries, strawberries and blueberries, it was at once cool and classy yet charmingly delicious. The finish was nice too, drifting off in a little touch of savoury earth, flowers and soy. This may not have had the power and depth of a top class Musigny, but it was ever so beguiling in its own way - really nice. At a good place now, although a couple more years in the bottle really would not hurt.

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