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.
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