Let the celebrations commence!

OK, not quite christmas day yet but with a bottle of Burgundy to hand every day feels a bit like a holiday. This was an absolute bargain.

Auxey-Duresses Premier Cru 2005, Comte Armand

This has a tightly-wound nose of brooding intensity. There is really quite a lot to it, but it is clearly going through a bit of a closed phase. But that fruit, yeah! This is the nose of proper Burgundy and manifestly has more to give in the future. The tannins are a touch on the austere side, but there is so much fruit, lovely, ripe fruit, that the balance is there. I suppose one should really be expecting big tannins from this village and this producer but, honestly, it is really well balanced. This in not at its most flattering phase of development; I think it would have given one hell of a lot of pleasure when it was fresh (although it must have been quite intense) and will again in… oh… seven more years time. Given its bargain price this has a really long and pleasure-giving life ahead of it. If you pop a bottle now give it a good shake in a decanter and eat with slabs of lovely meat.

It is wines like this that back up J-Dog’s suggestion that Burgundy is a bargain region for good wines.