Drouhin 2006 Chorey-les-Beaune (Burgundy) – Dusty red fruit, trembling and just clinging. Far, far more advanced than a bottle from just a few months ago. Drink up. (5/12)
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burgundy
Moor or less
de Moor 2007 Bourgogne Chitry (Burgundy) – There’s aroma and flavor here, like strolling through a field of…something-or-other, but what marks this wine at the moment is texture: not rich, exactly, but well-lived and confident, rolling rather than tumbling. I’ve thought, considering previous encounters, that the wine was approaching a rest position, but based on this bottle I’m no longer sure. (2/12)
The rest of the Chorey
Drouhin 2006 Chorey-les-Beaune (Burgundy) – Surprisingly mature, though I don’t know that one couldn’t hold it a little longer at need. Rough-cut earthfruit, strong in will but soft in texture, with gentled old red berries turning to amber, sumac, and fine dustings of earth. Starts, exists, finishes, with a little acidic abruptness to the finish (the only worrisome note, but also the aspect that keeps this a wine of its class rather than something greater). A very fine value Burgundy…and how often can anyone say that? (2/12)
Grin & vers it
Luquet 2009 Saint-Véran “Vers Les Monts” (Burgundy) – Characterful…whether site or maker I can’t say (probably both)…with fulsome citrus aromatics and Makrut lime leaves, sweet tea, and a deft use of cooperage. (1/12)
Beg & Gravel
Maréchal 2004 Bourgogne “Cuvée Gravel” (Burgundy) – Really good, as of now. Biting, brittle, flowing, wholesome. Contradictions in pinot. It’s sharply dark reddish, yet it’s as appealing as a Bourgogne from anyone but the absurdly decommissioning producers (who use young-vine grand cru fruit, etc., and whose Bourgognes tend to be priced at premier cru levels) could possibly be. (12/11)
…to the argument
Marie-Pierre Germain 2009 Bourgogne Rouge (Burgundy) – A bit tough, despite a quite pleasant sand art-like procession of layers of fruit. Eventually, though, the structure pummels and then desiccates. Maybe more time will help, but I don’t know that I see the balance for aging; maybe best to manage this wine with food, rather than cellaring. (10/11)
Maréchal law
Maréchal 2007 Bourgogne “Cuvée Gravel” (Burgundy) – Surprisingly harsh and gritty; whether a stage or an endpoint I don’t know for sure, but I do know that I’ve been pretty disappointed with this wine for the last few vintages, in youth or near-youth. Have they changed, or have I? (9/11)
Monot prix
Gachot-Monot 2006 Côte de Nuits-Villages (Burgundy) – A little bit gangly and awkward, but the sinews are good. Red berries tinged with hints of black’n’blue, snappish tannin in a thin wedge, good persistence with a tart afterthought. More time? Sure, I suppose. I don’t know this producer well enough to even guess. (8/11)
The Burgundian prince
Thibault Liger-Belair 2007 Hautes-Côtes de Nuits “Le Clos du Prieuré” (Burgundy) – Gentle strawberry/raspberry tartness, balled up tight at points but westering into softness at others. Very pleasant, not really much more than that. (7/11)
Lambots field
V. Girardin 1996 Pommard Clos des Lambots “Vieilles Vignes” (Burgundy) – Soft and anonymous, and not exactly unmarked by the supremacy of aged wood over aged whatever-else-there-once-was. For reasons that seem inexplicable to me, at some point around the time this was released I bought a bunch of Girardin, and I’ve regretted each as every purchase as I’ve opened it in the years since. These are not wines for my palate, at all. (7/11)