1978 Hautes-Cornieres Santenay Gravières, 2007 Comte Lafon Meursault-Charmes, 2002 Emmanuel Rouget Échezeaux…

These tasting notes stem from a dinner at Jinjo on 12 September 2019 in the presence of Desmond Lim (still over the moon about his restaurant Les Amis obtaining its third Michelin star) and Grant Ashton (founder of 67 Pall Mall), where the highly satisfying Japanese cuisine was matched with a diverse Burgundian line-up. Prior to that, we’d already downed a couple of large format sake as aperitif and it’s a miracle we were still sober enough to find our way home. The wines are detailed in the order drunk. Many thanks, everyone, for your generous contributions.

Jinjo: fried rice with truffles

2007 Domaine Comte Lafon Meursault-Charmes 1er, courtesy of Pipin. Liquid gold. Lovely mouldy old feel on the nose with overtones of goat cheese. Very fresh, displaying superb transparency of clear citrus on the palate with a certain delicate elegance and understated intensity at the side. Took on a distinct sheen of paraffin, finishing with lovely supple intensity. Excellent.

1995 Domaine Coche-Dury Meursault, courtesy of Sir Robert. Superb clear luminosity, marked by sophisticated crème de la crème with an understated chalkiness on the nose. Very shy and gentle at first though that classic Coche-Dury signature is unmistakable: great structured mouthfeel, crisp clean finely chiseled minerally detail that shone with tremendous clarity and definition along with that extra layered dimension and verve, yet superbly smooth and elegant. Outstanding!

2014 Antoine Jobard Meursault Poruzots 1er, courtesy of Tim. Gentle earthiness whilst hinting at rich crème de la creme and vanillin. Highly refined with a gentle minerality that’s slightly briny, borne on the palate with a certain lightness and gentle intensity, almost aloof, finishing with good persistence.

2012 Domaine Roulot Meursault Meix Chavaux, courtesy of Kieron. Icy distant delicate bouquet of white floral tones with distinct minerally tones on the palate, marked by a certain salinity. Very well layered, utterly seamless, displaying superb depth and delicate elegance at a cool distance. Very very fine. Yet to really develop.

1978 Domaine des Hautes-Cornieres Santenay Gravières 1er, courtesy of Sir Robert. Tasted blind. Well evolved in colour, exuding a wonderful tertiary complex of distilled dark cherries, dark currants and grilled meat tinged with orangey tangerines amid a slight reductive tone. Highly lifted. Open, rounded and fleshy with a deep understated intensity that yielded further notes of bright red fruits and camphor, displaying superb suppleness and persistence. Excellent.

2011 Domaine Dujac Vosne-Romanée Aux Malconsorts 1er, courtesy of Kieron. Very shy. Light-medium textures with sandy undertones. Rather delicate with open suppleness. Distinctly feminine. Displays good presence and linearity but not showing much at this stage. Still rather backward and short, probably a function of the vintage.

2012 Domaine Georges-Noellat Vosne-Romanée Les Beau Monts 1er, courtesy of Tim. This wine opens with a slight reductive tone, imbued with abundant red fruits. Open with gentle understated intensity, slightly earthy but bright and utterly seamless, finishing well.

2009 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos des Porrets Saint-Georges 1er. Monopole. Good colour. Shy, just a faint whiff of red fruits. Medium-bodied. Shows good inner detail and typicity of terroir with some lovely understated intensity towards the finish. Quite open and seamless, taking on heightened intensity after four hours. Very fine.

1997 Domaine Bruno Clair Chambertin-Clos de Béze Grand Cru, courtesy of Stephen. Still quite darkly coloured though the nose is distinctly evolved, more of mature dark cherries and mulberries. Fleshy and subtly structured with good succulence, concentration, depth and layering, finishing on a note of austere minerals. Caught at its best.

1997 Domaine Faiveley Chambertin-Clos de Béze Grand Cru, courtesy of David Tan. Great pinot tint, proffering a great allure of roses, red cherries and raspberries on the nose and palate. Very fine concentration of glorious fruit, perhaps a tad more extracted than the preceding Bruno Clair but it feels correct, gently structured with a lovely feminine intensity that finished with gentle glow. Excellent.

2002 Domaine Emmanuel Rouget Échezeaux Grand Cru, courtesy of Desmond. Displaying a classic pinot tint, this wine exudes a wonderful glow of distilled red fruits and haw flakes, revealing lovely gritty inner detail on an open rounded palate layered with glorious dark fruits that bore exciting acidity and understated intensity. Still youthful. Quite superb.

2008 Domaine Hudelot-Noellat Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru, courtesy of Vic. Notably darker shade of pinot, quite richly imbued with very good concentration and presence of dark cherries and currants on a raspberry floor, structured with understated tannins. Finished with good linearity amid traces of sweet but missing in layering and detail.