Dry (but not high) and a mini-vert of Geantet-Pansiot Charmes

The past Christmas break was uncharacteristically domesticated for me. I found myself manning many-a-household duty from which I learned that operating a household is indeed a task for no mere mortals...

And so despite the one-and-a-half-week or so of no office work, I was quite untainted vinously speaking. There were however some bottles shared over a few lunches which provided some entertainment and education.

As my friend Arif was in town we did a mini-vertical of Geantet-Pansiot's Charmes-Chambertin. 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2002 were featured. Incidentally, I also consumed my last bottle of 2001 just two nights prior to this lunch -- a task I regretted, for its addition to this impromptu tasting would have made it a more complete vertical -- and it was, as always with Pansiot's wines, delicious.

The Charmes from Pansiot are always accessible, striking a nice balance between the senses and intellectual interest, although I must add it's more about pleasure. Short of writing a whole bunch of tasting notes, suffice it to say, the 1999 did the trick for me. It is also after this tasting that reminded me of the greatness the greater wines of this vintage could achieve and I pondered subsequently whether the wines of this vintage are finally awakening from their deep slumber these past few years. The 99 Charmes in my opinion showed the most typicity (alongside with the 96 and 01 version, which I had earlier). It was a perfect combination -- at least in the context of Pansiot's style -- of power, minerality, elegance and ripeness. To me, the appearance of oily fatness in very bright red fruits and penetrating gentle sweetness -- features I prize so much in the best Burgundies -- made the wine almost complete. Frankly, I am seriously revisiting 1999 reds now which IMHO is the most complete vintage of the 1990s...

A few more highlights included the Arnaud Ente's Meursault Clos des Ambres 2002 (ultra high-pitched, bright and intense for a villages), Deux Montilles' Corton-Renardes 03 (very atypically elegant and not-overripe for a 03) and the Bruno Clair's Cazetiers 96 (not particularly the wine per se, but more so the Clair's style, which clearly shows its brooding, serious, introspective strides only close to 10 years after the vintage).

Come to think of it, not too dry a break after all. Hmmm...