Vintage variation's a bugger if what you want is a reliable quaff, but picking apart this variation can be highly educational if you're an obsessive wine geek. A magnum of Bin 65 for those who guess into which camp I fall.
Domaine Christophe Vaudoisey
Price: $A25.50
Closure: Cork
Case in point: this wine versus its 2005 sibling. Admittedly, these are Borgogne-level wines where vintage variation may not be instructive in terms of individual sites but, nonetheless, between these wines there are points of similarity and difference that make both worth tasting.
Like the 2005, this wine is pretty to look at, but lacks substantial colour density. Entirely appropriate for the variety, one might posit. On the nose, there's some complexity deriving from rubber, or stalk, or something equally funky and aside from fruit. The fruit's profile, though, is almost entirely different here. It's harder, deeper and has a dominant jammy character that was entirely lacking from the earlier vintage. The whole verges on a creaming soda-like aroma profile.
It's on the palate that a lack of fresh fruit becomes most evident. The citrus, herbal flavour profile is consistent with 2005, as is the overall shape and flow of the palate: rustic acidity, slightly thin throughout, building from entry to after palate. But an impression of overcooked fruit dominates the palate, and will be very much divisive in terms of who might enjoy this wine. Certainly, it's no easy drinker, and I'm glad I had food alongside to soften its angularity and, to an extent, mask its lack of freshness.
I understand life was difficult in 2006 for producers in the Côte de Beaune, and perhaps this wine encapsulates the drama to an extent. A curio.
Domaine Christophe Vaudoisey
Price: $A25.50
Closure: Cork
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