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Joblot from the bottle

At last the 2010 wines from Domaine Joblot, the greatest estate in Givry have been assembled, bottled, shipped and cracked open, this last effort completed by me. What a treat!

Before getting on with the whites, we sneaked a peak at two of the reds: the non-Premier Cru "Pied au Chaume" and the Premier Cru "Clos Marole", the only wine that had been assembled last August when I visited the estate. At that time, this had been the wine which had given me the most trouble but that is not unusual for a recently blended wine (often at Beaucastel tastings, I find the recently blended whole is not greater than the sum of its parts but after a couple of years...). I will come back to these later.

So, the whites. It seemed logical to try the Vieilles Vignes "En Veau" first although, this being Burgundy, logic is not always the best measure, of course. This wine has lovely rounded Chardonnay fruit well wrapped in sweet oak, not too much of course but enough to enhance the wine's slightly fat appearance. Enough acidity there though (to be expected from 2010). The Premier Cru "Clos de la Servoisine" Blanc is more structured and mineral so, perhaps, would have shown even better after the En Veau. With a little time, its refinement came through though but, as with any Premier Cru, a little patience will be rewarded.

Back to the reds, the obvious place to start is Pied au Chaume, a pretty wine which will drink well in its youth I think but will grow into itself if given a bit of time. The Premier Cru "Clos Marole" offers some lovely blackcurrant fruit and quite a big structure. It shows much better on day two so, again, give it time. Actually, that is (inevitably) true of all of these. I would like to see how they have settled down after another year or so then, probably, leave them a decade or so to work themselves out in the bottle.

The other two wines are more structured now. Both Premier Cru wines, the "Clos des Bois Chevaux" and "Cellier aux Moines" are forces to be reckoned with. How often do you come across a Cote de Nuits wine with this much to offer at anything like these prices? Both are subtle but ethereal, structured but generous. The fruit is classic Burgundian Pinot and, frankly, I can't see any reason to trade up. Indeed, a couple of weeks ago, I negotiated a mixed case of semi-mature Burgundies which included some Ghislaine Barthod, Denis Mortet and others and I would be happy to stick with the Joblot wines and not just on financial grounds.

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