Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru "Clos St Jean" 1983, Domaine Ramonet

Last Sunday G and I felt the need for something decent to accompany our dinner, and he brought up this Chassagne which had been lurking in his flat completely forgotten about, by me at any rate. This was my penultimate bottle. I can't believe I haven't blogged about it before, so this shocking state of affairs must be corrected immediately.

I'm a huge fan of red Chassagne and of Ramonet, so when this appeared in an auction catalogue, I jumped at the chance. I suppose there was some risk involved (murmurs of "provenance" can be heard wafting up from SW2) but on this occasion I got lucky and got 5 bottles for a fraction of what they're worth, if you could get them on the open market which it appears you can't.

What's remarkable is how well this wine has aged. It certainly looked old, and in the glass could best be described as mahogany, but in the decanter with a lit candle on the other side, it glowed a beautiful ruby colour, an effect I tried to capture with my camera, with a little assistance from G. Having checked previous posts, I see I was equally thrilled with the appearance of the 2007 red Chassagne that ACC shared with us last year.

A levitating decanter full of delicious Chassagne

On the nose I found it quite sweet with stewed red berries, while G detected a hint of the farmyard. It was a glorious nose which led created expectations, and it delivered! It was clearly made from ripe fruit and was rich but also earthy and with a certain savoury quality on the finish too. The tannins had softened and the fruit had faded but what was left was full of charm and elegance. G did actually use the word "transcendental" in a bid for a place in Pseud's Corner. All in all, tres Chassagne. It was hard to imagine a wine in this style tasting any better than this, so it was a very clear 10. It even worked with tuna fishcakes (although it was better with cheese).

One bottle left. I really hope it's not a duffer!

Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Aux Combottes" 2007, Domaine Odoul-Coquard

Having neglected the Premier Cru Project lately, we got back on the case a couple of weeks ago with this wine which G bought en primeur after a visit to Domaine Odoul-Coquard in Morey-St-Denis back in 2008. It was a blazingly hot day and we arrived to find nobody about apart from an exceedingly elderly gentleman in a pair of blue overalls sporting the horniest toenails I've ever seen. Fortunately, shortly afterwards the rest of the family emerged from somewhere, the toenails retreated out of sight, and we had a damned good tasting.

As previously mentioned, I'm not the biggest fan of Gevrey as a style of burgundy as I often find it too macho, but I was hoping that the fact that this was from the relatively light and charming 2007 vintage would make it more approachable. It was a dark, plummy colour and glinted in the glass. On the nose, it was lively and fruity with stewed plums and star anise. On the palate, it was refined and supple but we felt it was still a baby and would need to be tucked away for a few more years. So currently a 9, but with potential to become a 10. Old school Cote de Nuits premier crus often need 10 years so I wouldn't be surprised if this came into its own in 2017. I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

A trio from Domaine Felettig

A few weeks ago, we were having lunch at ACC's place and he offered G and me a glass of rose wine en aperitif and invited us to guess where it was from. After about six wrong attempts, eventually we whittled it down to the Cote de Nuits. ACC then revealed that it was a rose wine made by Domaine Felettig in Chambolle-Musigny. Pink burgundy is unusual, and as it opened up in the glass we could tell this was something special. Often rose wines are too sweet for my taste or just not very interesting, whereas this had lovely berry fruit and good acidity. We promptly ordered a case and have been getting through it at a rate of knots. It's only 12.5% alcohol and the perfect refreshing wine for the summer, either with or without food. We'll have to make sure T gets to try some in due course as I'd like to hear his opinion as a connoisseur of rose wine.

We also received a case of the long-anticipated Cremant de Bourgogne, Blanc de Blancs which is as elegant and toasty as I remembered and could certainly be confused with champagne but is much better value. Also, it's just 12% alcohol which is a good thing in my book.

A rare sighting of a bottle of Vieux Marc with some marc still in it

And finally, G ordered some Vieux Marc de Bourgogne as supplies sadly ran out some time ago. If the photo at the top looks rather like a husband and wife pairing, this is the granddaddy. Note the fabulous yellow wax seal, which causes mayhem as it has to be hacked off, spraying shards all over the kitchen sink. The effort is well worth it, however, as the contents are so delicious. This is an old favourite and rightly so - we shall soon be needing to place another order!

All three are first-rate examples of their type. Felettig ranks no.1 on my list of domaines I haven't visited, although G has, the lucky so-and-so. One day I would love to go to Chambolle-Musigny and rectify this glaring omission! In the meantime, the wines are available from the Burgundy Portfolio.

Audiffred tasting, 29th March

On Thursday night I took the snazzy new Metropolitan Line round to the City for what was described as a Domaine Bernard Audiffred Supper hosted by ACC of Burgundy Portfolio fame. This was no mere "kitchen supper" and there were no jerry cans in evidence either.

We had a glass of champagne to start and then moved swiftly on to the main event, five wines from this domaine which ACC discovered last year. And what a discovery it has been!

First up was this white Beaune. It's described as Chaume Gaufriot which I believe is a specific vineyard but not a premier cru. Waffly versatile...

ACC had been looking for a white Beaune to replace old favourite Clos de Mouches from Yves Darviot, as Yves has now retired. This was a 2010 as were all the wines we tasted, so it was incredibly young at this stage and had a lot of oak but it had the acidity to suggest that in 3 years or so it will be something really interesting. I detected tropical fruit, bananas and cream on the palate and wrote that it was lovely with a great finish. Let's just say a case is on order.

Next, we had a village Gevrey-Chambertin "Les Marchais" alongside an Aloxe-Corton "Les Valozieres". This was a fascinating comparison.

The Gevrey was a purple colour and was mouthwatering with the trademark note of liquorice and some redcurrant fruit. It had a core of acidity and the finish went on for minutes. Usually I'm not a big fan of Gevrey as I tend to find it too powerful and hardgoing but even I loved this, and everyone else did too. It also went very well with the steak we were eating.

The Aloxe, by contast, was more of a ruby colour as hopefully the photo shows (it's the one on the right). You rarely see Aloxe on sale in the UK which ACC maintains is because the French regard it highly and keep it all to themselves. This seemed a bit dumb on the nose after the Gevrey, but had elegance and a burst of amazing berry fruit. The view was that it didn't go as well with steak but that game would have suited it better. Also, whereas the Gevrey should be ready in 4-5 years, the Aloxe will need 7-8. Drinking it so young was infanticide!

Finally, we had two wines from Vosne-Romanee, where Domaine Audiffred is based. One was a village wine, the other was from the vineyard "Au Champs Perdrix". Conversation was flowing so much by this stage that I failed to make proper notes, but the gist was that the Perdrix was a step up in terms of quality, as you'd expect. The general consensus was that it was worth the premium. ACC provided us with a map of Vosne-Romanee and we pored over it to see the location of the vineyard, which is a stone's throw from several grand cru vineyards including La Tache, Richebourg and Romanee-Conti.

Considering that these wines were from the 2010 vintage and had been bottled so recently that the vintage labels weren't ready and had been stuck on by hand, they showed extremely well at all levels. A great tasting, and a domaine to watch.