A few 2014 red Burgundies

For me, at least, closure seems to affect smell more than taste, even though taste, of course, comes from the nose. In this particular case, the fruit had no smell, but had flavor in the mouth, all of it dark. But I suppose the closure might have affected only some part of the retro-olfaction, to the detriment of the red fruit side.
 
Last night I was pleasantly surprised with how friendly the 2012 Rapet Île de Vergelesses was upon opening. It was juicy fun and a real delight with dinner. That said, I suppose these are early days. There is a nice blend of succulence, clarity and emerging structure, which probably bodes well for the future. But with air it gets firmer, more tannic, and less approachable.

Plus, the Rapet had none of the dazzling brilliance or depth of my recent 2014 CdB IdV, so I was very much looking forward to tonight when I opened another bottle of 2014 Chandon de Briailles Île de Vergelesses. And then... FUCK! Corked! My last bottle.

Perhaps will try to find more.

In the meantime, I opened a delightful 2015 Merkelbach Ürziger Würzgarten Auslese #8 Lang Pichter. Juicy, exuberant and a fresh chiseled focus. Absolutely lovely. Saved my spirits tonight.
 
On the subject of Ile, rather than 2014, who has dabbled in Dubreuil-Fontaine. I brought a bottle to a 2010 off-line a few years ago, which was perfectly good, if a bit lighter in style than Briaille's (or Bize's) wines.

D-F's website recommends surprisingly short cellaring times for some of its 1ers - 2 to 5 years for its Pommard Epenots; 5-8 for its Corton Clos de Roi.

My note from back then:

this wine showed very well, with pleasant, generous aromatics and surprisingly accessible fruit on the palate, tending towards the dark end of the fruit spectrum - cherries, plums, etc. A babe, but worth opening one now if you have several. The house style contrasts with that of Chandon de Briailles, which ferments with stems, producing a tauter, more structured and elegant Ile, at least in youth.
 
Next to last bottle of the sans soufre version of the 2014 Chandon de Briailles Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Les Lavières 12.5% was aromatically a pretty piece of joy, predominantly showing a fruit that Brazilian pinot lovers readily (and frequently) identify as pitanga, a purple berry "most commonly translated into English as Surinam Cherry." I suspect it may be what the French mean by griottes, though those are supposedly Morello Cherries. In any case, the acidity was a little bit strident this time, as if the sans soufreness is finally beginning to make the fruit suffer. The liminal volatility that can give any wine a bit of snap was here beginning to fall on the other side of that brave frontier.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
... the 2014 Chandon de Briailles Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Les Lavières 12.5% was aromatically a pretty piece of joy...
Click to expand...

Despite the strident acidity, it sounds good. I think I have one bottle of 2014 IdV, hadn't planned to open soon. But maybe. Back to the original post, I have a few 2014 Louis Boillot Brouillards that may come first.
 
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