Burgundy 2018 – E–F

Intriguing style – very youthful, paint-type fermentation aromas, but a sense of slight skin contact too, from the orange-peel aromas. Ripe, soft texture. I'm not sure I'd guess this was Chablis, although I like the style. (RH)

Fleshy and spiced on the palate, although not from new oak, I suspect. There's a touch of musky mousiness on the finish, which makes me question the stability in the long term. (RH)

Excellent clarity of fruit, in a far more conventional Chablis mode than their Beauroy. Full body with fairly low acidity giving a glossy texture. (RH)

10% new oak.
Accomplished combination of fresh acid with full body and very subtle oak spice in the background. Not the fruitiest number, but makes up for it with savoury saltiness and loads of flesh. (RH)

Full-bodied, powerful and thick in texture. Clearly the product of a ripe vintage, but it maintains balance and savoury fruit. Generous and genuine for Chablis Grand Cru in this vintage. (RH)

This comes from two vineyards, two-thirds from Puligny and one-third from Meursault. More Puligny because the yields are higher there. Vinified in demi-muids. Tank sample.
Focused citrus on the nose, super-precise with just a touch of creamy oak spice. Fully ripe and yet so tightly coiled and fresh. Fabulous Bourgogne Blanc. Impressive concentration of tight, bright fruit. Mouth-watering. So persistent. (JH)

Planted in 1938. Fermented in demi-muids and cuve. Lots of hydric stress – so much so that they did not pick the fruit from the younger vines, which did not ripen properly. Tank sample.
Ripe but steely, with minerally spice and herbs. Intense and yet very high acid. Powerful, dry and still full in the mouth. Fabulous length. Chewy and dense but a on a high wire. (JH)

60% fruit from En l’Ormeau and 40% from Les Casse-Têtes lieux-dits. Barrels, demi-muids and foudres. Tank sample.
Herbs and green fruits nose. Incredible tension that feels like pétillance on the palate but isn’t, it’s just tension, freshness and purity – direct citrus. Not fruity but has fruit at its deepest core. Mouth-watering and long. Stunning directness and length in a village wine. (JH)

This is a selection from En l’Ormeau. Tank sample.
Tight, bright discreet cedary lime. Very precise, mouth-watering, linear but with a covering of fruit around the shaft of the arrow. Firm and almost chewy on the finish. Salty too and mouth-watering. Not full in fruit but extreme in length and salty precision. Almost eye-watering in its tension. (JH)

This parcel is between Les Grands Charrons and Les Chevalières lieux-dits. All barrels, 15% new. Tank sample.
Deeper fruited on the nose compared with the Clos des Ambres, rich aroma. Lightly spiced. Deeper and more intense citrus here, great intensity all wound up with pure zingy citrus. At the core is an arrow of tension and freshness, as in the Clos des Ambres. A high-wire act but the wire is clothed in fruit. Like a pipe cleaner. Long, spicy finish that spreads across the palate. Endless. (JH)

A selection from En l’Ormeau. Vines more than 120 years old. Average yield under 30 hl/ha and the total quantity keeps decreasing. Light racking a month ago. Tank sample.
Deep minerally spice and great depth of fruit. A very very slight reduction that enhances the mineral character. ‘I want it to disappear at bottling’, says Ente. ‘It’s fleeting. Reduction must be discreet.’ Salty, smoky, mouth-watering and with a core of fruit that only old vines can deliver. Deep in fruit without being fruity. Dramatic intensity without being showy. Mouth-watering. Power as in a coiled spring. Salty mineral finish. (JH)

Fruit from young vines in Les Referts, which he did not make in 2018, because all the old vines were pulled out. Tank sample.
Smells riper and spicier than the Meursault village wine, more open. A more sunny site, apparently. Aromatics of a young wine, like a puppy. More ‘excitable’. Higher pH on young vines. Softer and more rounded, with that lower acid. Gentle and fruity. Firm on the finish but not the same tension as in Ente’s best wines. (JH)

20% new oak. Tank sample.
Bright creamy citrus aroma, so much more obvious fruit than in the La Sève du Clos just tasted. More spicy than La Sève though it was so hard to move on from that wine. This wine is probably the most likely to cope with the tasting order, says Ente. Deep and full-fruited, creamy texture, fuller in the mouth but has less dramatic power than the Sève. More rounded but still incredibly fresh, more generous in its fruit. More seductive. (JH)

2014 was his first vintage of this wine. Vines were worked by his younger brother Benoît Ente. Tank sample.
Bright citrus and spice that I thought might have been new oak (but isn’t) and the pure citrus fruit opens up to a bright light of intensity. Almost floral in its lifted scent, then more mineral and savoury on the palate. Super-complex and deep. Gentle in its creamy texture. Generous, rich, spicy and rounded yet still with a tight mouth-watering finish that pulls everything in like a belt. Amazing length. (JH)

Meursault (Les Magny). No oak, ever, on this wine. ‘I treat it like the whites and rack before harvest’, explains Ente. Tank sample.
Essence of sweet pure cherry fruit, tangy rather than overly sweet. There’s spice too and a hint of orange. More savoury on the palate, sweet and creamy tannin texture complementing the freshness. Vivacious and deep. Savoury spice on the finish. (JH)

Aged in one-year-old demi-muid.
A little less expressive than the Bourgogne though deeper in fruit, a little darker in character and still with seductive fruit sweetness. Spicy on the palate and has a little more grip but still beautifully rounded. Opens to perfume and length. Firm on the finish then washes back to fruit, to and fro. Beautiful balance and length. (JH)