89 Chave Hermitage, 94 Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillion, 96 Latour-Martillac, 00 Pontet-Canet and more

2007 Antonin Guyon Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles:

Towards lemon yellow. Apples, yellow fruits and some minerals beneath, tropical, bananas and vanilla. Medium acidity, fine tuned minerals keeps it fresher than the acidity manages, yellow fruity, slight flinty touch, long. This wine, or at least bottle as the producer is unfamiliar to me, was untypical of both vintage and vineyard. 90

1996 Château Latour-Martillac:

Golden. Touch of apricots over oxidized apples, orange marmalade notes, minerals and flint. Fresh acidity, fruity attack that quickly gives way to freshness, citrus and lemons, lovely balance, some nuts arriving. Long. 91

1994 Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon:

(Magnum) Ruby, garnet rim. Floral, anise, cinamon, scented, slightly peppery, red berries, some darker berries, needed two and a half hours to open in decanter, almost rusty iron note. Gorgeous nose. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, leaner palate and can't follow up the nose, feels flatter and slightly edgy, refreshing and a bit of iron. Bloody and iodine. Long. 93

1989 Chave Hermitage:

Ruby, garnet rim. Scented, fruity, floral, elegant, refined, red and dark berries, complex and nuanced nose, gorgeous. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, elegant and verging on mouthwatering, refreshing, lively and nuanced, blueberries, red berries and slightly cinamon spicy finish, blood, hung meat, graphite minerals, hung grouse, gorgeous wine. Beautiful texture, very long indeed. Superb now but will soldier on. 96

2000 Château Pontet-Canet:

Deep ruby, garnet rim. Needs air to open. Somewhat scented, cassis, some vanilla, slightly floral, quite intense nose. Anise and fine leather. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, fruity and intense, lively and refreshing, more youthful than I remember last bottle about two years back, youthful, one of the most youthful from the vintage lately as well. Long. Balanced. 94

2001 Château Doisy Vedrines:

Golden, amber tints. Apricots, vanilla, apples, cinamon, pineapples, fruity nose. Fresh acidity, elegant and lively, nuanced, refreshing, a bit leaner than most, lovely balance, long. 92