JEAN-NOEL GAGNARD Cuvee L'Estimee , Chassagne-Montrachet

Ample and dark fruited, with a smoky, savoury feel. Plenty of spice amid the berry fruits, with lovely earthy and graphite notes running through. Predominantly from Garagiste's Balnarring, Tuerong and Merricks vineyards, with a small proportion of Red Hill fruit. The grapes were sorted then destemmed--a small percentage of the Merricks portion was fermented with a 100% whole bunches--and fermented in small open fermenters using indigenous yeast, minimal hand plunging and spending 25 days on skins. The wine was aged for ten months in 10% new hogsheads with the balance being raised in older hogsheads. Unfined and unfiltered. Barnaby Flanders created the Garagiste label following his amicable split with Allies co-founder David Chapman (who continues with the Allies label). Barney now focuses on a snug range of small-batch wines from fruit sourced from the highly prized Merricks Grove vineyard, the Silverwood vineyard (Balnarring), and the Hugh Robinson vineyard in Moorooduc. Garagiste, the main label, is ably supported by delicious entry-level wines under the Le Stagiaire banner. Barnaby and Cam (Marshall) manage all aspects of the viticulture and winemaking themselves and a range of succulent, finely tuned and elegantly crafted cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay is what results.

DOMAINE DE CHATEAU DE MEURSAULT 1er Cru Clos de Chenes , Volnay

Cuvée de lAulne Gevrey-Chambertin A blend of grapes purchased from seven or eight growers, across 10 to 12 different communal parcels smattered throughout the village. Again, this is the approach that Ponsot advocates in order to glean the essence of the regional terroir, in this case that of a single lauded village. Red and dark fruit essences mesh with the smoked meat parlayed by Gevreys heavier, ferrous limestone. A richer wine in the context of Burgundy, without the edges and creases that need too much smoothing with time in the cellar. Accessible across the earlier to mid-term.

LAURENT PONSOT 1er Cru Les Charmes Cuvée du Tilleul, Chambolle-Musigny

DOMAINE DE CLOS DE TART La Forge de Tart 1er cru, Morey-St-Denis