Domaine Bavard, Wednesday 11th Sept

Time had somehow flown and we were due at our next appointment, at Domaine Bavard. This was a few minutes down the road, and we ended up practically sprinting to get there, laden with purchases from the shop and other bits and pieces. All good exercise and there was no doubt in my mind that we had worked off our three course lunch by the time we got there.

This is a domaine which ACC has discovered relatively recently and despite being in Puligny, they don't actually make any Puligny, just to keep us on our toes. I was very impressed earlier in the year with the Bourgogne Blanc 2010 and red and white Auxey-Duresses, and already have some of these in my cellar, so I was looking forward to trying these and the other wines.

We tasted 11 wines and reviewing my notes, it's quite difficult to pick highlights as I loved most of them. Of the 2012s, the Bourgogne Blanc was everything you'd want in a Bourgogne Blanc with a lovely nose, good acidity and a certain weight to it, while the white Auxey-Duresses les Clous also had a wonderful nose, with more richness and I described it as delicious. The white Chassagne 1er cru Embrazieres was huge, big and fat, and I loved it, while the white Corton had a scintillating nose and an amazing finish - we felt it would need 10 years. G was particularly impressed with it, so hopefully he'll buy some, hint hint G.

Then we decamped to the cellar to try the red Auxey-Duresses which was still in barrel. This was very purple and had amazing legs. It had lovely fruit on the nose and was juicy and pretty on the palate, and running out of adjectives again I wrote that it was delicious. Only 1100 bottles were made, if my French comprehension was correct, so I'll have to make sure I grab some.

Overall, these were impressive wines at every level, and again showed that the 2012 vintage is shaping up to be very good indeed.