Burgundy 2018 – S–Z

Higher alcohol than usual (11%). Bottled before harvest – to make room for the next harvest. All from Pommard. ‘I have always loved this variety’, says Fanny Sabre. ‘It has tension and is great in great terroirs.’ Fruit sorted in the vines. Settled for 48 hours without enzymes etc. Fermentation and malo in the same (new) 500-litre barrel.
New oak doesn’t show. Wild herbs and dried grasses. Cedary green fruits and quite full in the mouth but lots of tangy freshness. Clean, creamy and so fresh. Generous fruit. Creamy richness on the mid palate and a nice little sour cedar touch on the finish. (JH)

Vines in Pommard and Meursault, below the château. ‘All the parcels for my generics are in good places’, says Fanny Sabre. 30% new oak. Bottled.
Delicate creamy nose with a light mineral stony quality. Tight, super-fresh but rounded in the mouth. Both fresh and gentle. Long, too, with a cedary/herbal-fresh finish. (JH)

Fermented in big oak. 50% new because the overall volume of the wines is less than for the Bourgogne. SO2 added after malo and the total is usually only 30–40 mg/l. Sabre adds it a little at a time to avoid a blast of SO2, which she thinks you get if it is all added at bottling. Bottled.
Creamy/leesy on the nose. Deep in both fruit and freshness. Creamy but super-fresh. Tight and a little cedary. Refreshing, tight and long. (JH)

Above Les Avaux and was originally planted mostly to Pinot Noir. A 2-ha (5-acre) clos with a mix of soils. Sabre has replanted, including 4 ares (0.01 acre) of Pinot Blanc. Forest all around. Ecosystem with wild peonies. ‘I love this place’, says Sabre, which she bought at considerable personal cost.
Pure, bright, ripe but fresh citrus with a hint of clementine. Oak (500-litre barrels) is super-subtle and more in roundness than flavour. Generous and mouth-filling. Depth and a lovely creamy texture. Complete and long, elegant, lightly spiced. Mouth-watering and just a hint of white mushroom reminds me of Pinot Blanc. (JH)

Next to Charmes. Having bought 3 ouvrées, ‘I am in debt for the rest of my life’, says Fanny Sabre (1 ouvrée, the area a person was supposed to be able to work in one day, is 4.28 ares, so 3 ouvrées is about 0.13 ha or 0.32 acre). Tank sample, filtered.
Fine balance on the nose of spicy oak and fresh lemon fruit. A touch of ginger. Creamy and savoury on the palate, lightish on the mid palate, savoury on the finish. The recent filtration has taken some matière out of the middle, suggests Sabre, and it will need some time to settle and regroup after bottling. Builds in the mouth to a long finish. (JH)

The vineyard is just 5 km from Pommard. Mostly clay. 100% whole bunch. Fermented in unlined concrete. No carbonic maceration. Ferments quickly so she slows it down by cooling the must down, allowing her the time to do remontage and now also more pigeage, mainly for colour. Pigeage is harder with stems but whole bunch brings freshness and reduces the alcohol, which is very important in these warmer vintages (this is around 12.5%). Bottled.
Pretty with wild strawberries. Perfumed, fine boned and delicious. Lively, lightly stemmy finish. So drinkable. (JH)

13 months in 100% new oak, 400 litres. Barrel sample.
Smoky and darker fruited than the Beaune Chouacheux just tasted. Dark, savoury and spicy nose, dark fruited and smoky/charry but not dominated by the oak. Peppery and dark yet scented with peony. Pine forests around the vineyard, apparently, which might contribute to its lovely wild fragrance. Tannins are paper-fine like layers of tissue. Elegant. (JH)

Barrel sample, not racked.
Gentle, charming dark-red fruit. Red cherry but not too sweet. Generosity of fruit in the palate is nicely tied together with the fine, dry tannins, like a birthday present to unwrap. Good depth of vanilla-laced cherry. Has depth but no fat or weight. (JH)

Rich in red fruit and there’s some CO2 here, which changes the wine. But it has such lovely sweet fruit. Vanilla-laced cherry. Rounded, intense fruit, so seductive, deep and fresh. Finely chewy texture, totally satisfying and refreshing at the same time. Great potential here. My score is based on how I think this will taste when it has settled down. (JH)

Crab-apple fruit with a crispness that is often missing in 2018, and lovely pithy texture on the palate. Finishes quite simply, but this has the fruit and zest that could support short ageing. (RH)

Biscuit and apple on the nose, with an autolytic quality that reminds me of champagne (in a good way). Long, chewy texture with sweet spices on the finish. (RH)

Musk and green apple on the nose with a vein of crisp acidity on the palate. Not especially lengthy but the clarity of fruit is very appetising. (RH)

Inviting aroma of creamy crisp apples with just a touch of spice. More spicy on the palate too, the oak in evidence but the whole in balance. A generous but fresh wine and juicy on the salty finish. (JH)

Richer and more creamy still than the Mâcon-Villages. Lovely caressing texture cut through by bright citrus freshness and a light note of clementine. Very good length. (JH)

Here the oak gives a lovely creamy oatmeal aroma that is so inviting, with a hint of spice to add pep. And there is still a stony mineral quality to the ripe citrus. Rich, creamy and full in the mouth, rounded texture; spreads across the palate then tightens up on the finish. Very good. Definitely from southern Burgundy, with precision. (JH)

Some creamy notes as well as a chalky tightness. Quite a linear and focused style. Nice fruit character, drops off a tiny bit on the finish. (AC)

Very chalk-led nose, oodles of acidity and ripe opulent sweet fruit too, just a hint of tinned pineapple. Nicely put together and attractive style. (AC)

Good balance of sweet and ripe fruit with a chalky fresh and textured mid palate. Layers of fruit, and a golden, ripe feel to the fruit. Enough acidity keeps it fresh and lively. (AC)

Pure green-apple fruit with a leesy, chalky texture and crisp acidity. Balanced and smooth, but surely that can't be the right price for Bourgogne, can it? If so, this is bad value, I'm afraid. So many other Chardonnays can deliver more at the price. (RH)

Tank sample. Light nose and creamy texture. A little fatter than other vintages but the balance is fine – unlike the price. Rather an ungenerous finish. (JR)

Delicious nettle and apple aromas with an elderflower note and lots of chalkiness too. A good example of an appellation punching above its weight – loads of persistence and purity here. Keeps on going. Excellent. (RH)

Slight soapiness on the nose, and vivid green apple on the palate. Glossy texture. Doesn't quite convince me in the way that their Jardin du Calvaire Hautes-Côtes de Beaune did. (RH)

Tank sample. Fragrant with dusty lemon fruit. Opens up to quite an intense citrus aroma. Ripe and deep fruited on the palate. More flavour than elegance but well balanced between depth and freshness in this vintage. (JH)

Toasty oak makes itself felt on the nose and palate, and persists on the finish too. The fruit is rich and thick – perhaps overwrought in this warm vintage? It's not unbalanced, but it certainly couldn't be called elegant. (RH)

Tank sample. Very different from Chassagne Les Encégnières with the creaminess of the oak more obvious. Almost a touch buttery. Ripe, veering towards honeyed though it has very good freshness to balance. Spicy, oaky but fresh finish. (JH)

Flinty, ripe, generously fruited and thickly textured. Better balance than their Champ Gain, for me, with more harmonious fruit integration, especially on the finish. (RH)

Quite a deep greenish straw. Notably floral nose. But the palate has great precision and charm. I can imagine encountering this in a smart hotel – definitely not in a funky wine bar. (JR)

Lemon and lime on the nose. But a little lacking crispness and grip on the palate. A tad formulaic. (JR)

Less expressive and darker-fruited than the Pommard on the nose. A slight herbal note even though this is 100% destemmed. Spicy and elegantly dry on the palate. Another lovely wine from this Thibaut Marion – they are all distinctive and yet have a family likeness in restraint with no lack of pure fruit. Chalky dry finish, perhaps a little less fruit on the mid palate than in the Pommard. But I think the tannins will become wonderfully silky in time. Real persistence. (JH)

30% whole bunch – depends on the vineyard more than on the vintage.
Lightish smudgy crimson. I’m not sure I would have put this in Pommard if I had tasted it blind. On the nose, pretty red fruits as well as something halfway between floral and stemmy. Very pretty but not excessively sweet-fruited. More typically Pommard on the palate but firm and smooth and well moderated. Complete and lovely, dry finesse on the finish. (JH)

Mid crimson. Lightly spiced dark-red fruit. Peppery on the nose. Firm, dry tannins, slightly rustic but really satisfying in its balance of darker fruit and firm structure. Freshness from the tannins. Tannins need time. (JH)

30% whole bunch – depends on the vineyard more than on the vintage.
Lifted, open red fruits, sour cherry tanginess. Dry, tight, almost chalky in texture. Straightforward (at the moment), tannic grip and freshness. Favours freshness rather than extreme ripeness. (JH)

30% whole bunch – depends on the vineyard more than on the vintage.
Intense and sweet-fruited on the nose with an attractive hint of stone-dust to add another dimension. Juicy and scented with pure fruit on the palate. Delicate but long. Fine-boned and beautifully balanced. (JH)

Mid crimson. Much the ripest in fruit character of the Domaine Seguin-Manuel wines tasted today. Intense, pure, fresh red cherries and marked Chambolle floral scent on the nose and palate. Deep, chewy, whole-hearted and long. Scrumptious and with a way to go. (JH)

Mid crimson. More evident oak on the nose adds a slight cedary edge to the dark-red fruit. Remarkably open and inviting already. After all the richness on the nose, there’s lovely finesse and restraint on the palate, finest of tannins, dry but not drying. Very long. A subtle beauty. (JH)

Screwcap. There’s a light creamy sweetness on the nose, as well as that lees freshness that is so hard to describe. Lovely balance of ripe lemon fruit, fresh pears and zesty grapefruit-like acidity. Lots of wine for the price. GV (JH)

Screwcap. A little bit more stony/mineral than the Petit Chablis, less immediate sweet fruit, but again there is excellent balance, here with the lightly grainy texture adding depth and length to the zesty citrus fruit. Classic Chablis with good length and fruit intensity. GV (JH)

This has the creaminess of the Petit Chablis on the nose and scented with lemon, grapefruit and green apple. Almost a touch of blossom. Creamy texture and cool, fresh length. Dry thanks the acidity but zippy in its freshness. You could drink it now but it should get more complex in the bottle. (JH)

Bottled one month ago.
Very tight nose with a tiny whiff of gunflint and chalk. Nice balance between red-apple fruit, fresh acidity and a textural bite to finish. (AC)

Tight and compact with a steeliness to the nose. Bags of fresh acidity and just a hint of a nutty almond note. Has more tension than the Vaudésir, as well as a bit more richness to the fruit. (AC)