Continuing my catching up from mid-May, here are mainly whites with a Jurançon playing in the big league, a mature Meursault showing what premox deprives us of and a mature Sancerre from P.Cotat which is fascinating in spite of a flaw.
2002 Domaine Patrick Javillier Meursault Les Clous Cuvée Spéciale - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault (5/12/2015)
13 year old white Burg which tastes as it should seems to be such a rare wine type nowadays that there is a risk of over-praising it but I think that I am on target here by rating this as very good. Lightish gold colour and lovely nose of white fruit and flowers with hints of honey and cigar box. The palate was medium bodied with typically creamy fruit, fresh acidity, attractive stony minerals, underlying roundness and backbone supporting a decently long finish. What a relief after at least a dozen bottles of white Burgs, mainly 96s, poured down the sink in the last 12 months, which should have tasted like this or even better.
2013 Paul Beaudet Brouilly Chateau de la Motte - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Brouilly (5/15/2015)
The restaurant served this too warm. It was possible to detect some body, attractive fruit and complexity but there was a lack of focus and liveliness at this temperature. Quite likely an "I like" wine at cellar temperature.
2007 Clos Lapeyre Jurançon Sec Vitatge Vielh de Lapeyre - France, Southwest France, Jurançon Sec (5/16/2015)
Made from Gros & Petit Manseng and Courbu organically grown. I feared that this might be over the hill but in fact I don't need to change much from notes on previous bottles two and four years ago. This is a lovely wine and the only evolution is that the flavour strands seem more seamless and focussed than before. The nose was invigorating with complex notes including passion fruit, minerals and honey and could have presaged a sweeter wine. The long palate was dry, medium bodied with generosity and some roundness and gras and was infused with lively fruit, acacia hints, complex minerals and juicily crisp acidity. The high alcohol did not obtrude. It went very well with dorade fish and even better with Valençay goat cheese. Excellent
2006 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru (5/17/2015)
First impressions were of a wine prematurely aged, if not premoxed, with a lot of wax and some honey. However, with exposure to air, this medium/light bodied dry wine revealed some creamy white fruit and became increasingly expressive showing agreeable underlying roundness but acidity was smooth at best and there was not much minerality, probably a function of the vintage but nevertheless disappointing in Chablis. Only quite good for the wine type.
2006 Domaine Pascal Cotat (Pascal & Francis) Sancerre La Grande Côte - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre (5/18/2015)
It is hard to rate a bottle like this which is partially flawed but also has some fine qualities. Like the previous bottle, there was a distinct prickle on the tongue but I think that the bubbles were less visible and I am managed to look past the flaw and discover a likeable wine. There was medium body with underlying roundness and very attractive and complex fruit, flower and grilled meat aromas with a hint of honey quite unlike the simple primary SB aromas in a young Sancerre. Acidity and minerals were muted but delicious and the prickle provided a liveliness in the place of more acidity. The backbone seemed less bitter than I noted before. This wine provided a glimpse of how Cotat can sublimate SB in Sancerre without being a total success.