Chablis

Domaine Drouhin Vaudon

The Beaune-based merchant Joseph Drouhin has restyled its Chablis Domaine 'Domaine Drouhin-Vaudon' to emphasise its ties with and holdings in (38 hectares) the Chablis Vineyard. The Moulin de Vaudon, an 18th Century watermill straddling the Serein River, close to the Grand Cru vineyards of Chablis, is the headquarters of the Drouhin Domaine in Chablis. The Drouhin Grands Crus in 2010 are remarkably mineral and intense as well as delicately pure.

Light, firm nose, a whiff of the sea, salty oyster-shell stones. Enough volume to give a full, soft mouth feel and to partly cover the rapier-like acidity and mineral drive. Very pure. Minerals still popping away on the finish. Lovely pure length.

Côte d'Or

Domaine Hubert Lamy

Olivier Lamy, a gifted winemaker, has built on the solid foundations his father Hubert prepared with twenty years and more of work in the vineyards. The reputation of the domaine is now made, but the Saint Aubins, both red and white, remain some of the bargains of Côte d'Or, and challenge the supposed superiority of the grander villages on a regular basis, both in terms of young and mature wines. His winemaking style and preference is to privilege the fresh and the mineral side of his wines, and he is now down to a mere 10% of new wood, and that is with the wines in 600 litre demi-muids rather that the classic Burgundy fût.

Filtered the day before I tasted, but not really showing any ill-effects. Very pale, very fresh and pure, a sense of more limestone power, dry and with serious intent. Quite a cool crystalline expression, with a tiny touch of bitterness which adds interest to the structure.

Domaine Rémi Jobard

Rémi just says: 'me, I like the 2010s because they are more concentrated - fruit and substance', saying that they have the attack of the 2009s (with ripeness) with the crunchy freshness on the finish of the 2008s. Cordon pruning has been extended over the entire vineyard. There has been no use of fertiliser since 1994, and the vineyard is grassed-over to encourage the vine roots to go deep. The entire domaine is certified organic from 2008. Rémi has two vast new presses, to enable him to press very slowly over six hours, and is sure that this has resulted in a big jump in finesse. The élevage now lasts nearly fifteen months, so as to allow the wines to develop slowly and to avoid fining. As a result these are wines which take a moment to show, but which reward the patient with complexity and great depth of flavour. Rémi has had a number of large foudres constructed. He likes the way the wines develop in these large volumes, in which the 'oaking' effect is minimised.

Big wine, with a touch of smoke, complex ripe fruit, tingling balance and purity. Even at our January tasting this still had a lot of gas and was difficult to taste, but there is no doubting the combination (and balance) of ripeness, minerality and complexity.

Even broader than the Poruzots, but this is still a focused and precise wine. Citrus melded with peach and complex notes of subtle oak spice and a lively bright line of pure mineral. Bracingly fresh, this has all it needs to age gracefully over six to ten years.

Domaine Henri Boillot

Domaine Henri Boillot is now quite simply one of the very top domaines of the Côte de Beaune, in red and white alike. Henri, or 'Kiki' as he is known, is rightly proud of what he has achieved. Henri has had his son Guillaume working on the domaine in the vines for the past five years, and now he is beginning to take his place in the cellar too. Stunning 2010s in both colours.

Bright deep yellow-gold. Rich, with quite distinct oaky notes at this stage. Brightly airy mineral middle floats above the oak and body. True class. Very long. Superb stuff.

Domaine Joseph Drouhin

Small refinements continue to be made made here. The presses have been changed - a reversion to basket pressing for the reds, and for whites the presses are open - along with a number of other growers they are following the trend to think that slight oxidation of the juice before fermentation is not a problem and may add complexity as well as avoiding later problems of premature oxidation in bottle. For the reds there has been the introduction of 15-20% of whole-bunch fermentation in the Côte de Nuits wines. The house style remains one that emphasises 'the natural elegance of great Burgundies' as their new brochure states.

As so often a distinct greenish cast to the colour. Lively sappy mineral flavours. All of a piece, acidity well-covered, very directed. A purposeful 'knows where it is going' feel. Nearly painful... I want to swallow so badly as it is just so mouthwatering. Another great Clos des Mouches.