Youthful mid garnet/ruby. Made in a very aromatic, modern style, that might be OTT to some. It’s got quite a bit of grip and tanni, with lots of flashy oak and ripe, sweet fruit. I’d like fewer splinters, but this is still an ambitious wine. 

Another heavy bottle award contender from Burgundy. The nose is a little over-ripe and alcoholic (a pitfall in 2009), with lots of oak and a tannic finish, possibly from slight raisining. I’m not convinced this will age. 

A new name to me, but one to remember, for this is a stylish wine. Youthful and light, albeit in a modern, fruity style, with sweet oak backed up by scented pomegranate and raspberry fruit and subtly interwoven oak. Fresh and lively on the palate with very good length and appealing sweetness. 

Consistently among my favourite négociants in Burgundy, Drouhin makes very good wines at every level. This is delicate pink in colour. On the nose and palate, it’s remarkably elegant for a 2009, with no sign of high alcohol. Refined and aromatic with rose petal and tomato leaf scents, leading on to fresh, cherry and wild stawberry fruit. Appealingly understated. 

A Nuits St Georges-based producer whose wines are improving with every vintage, Thibault Liger-Belair makes wines that age well, but have plenty of fruit in their youth. This is a little alcoholic on the palate (hard to avoid in 2009), but has attractive cherrystone and raspberry fruit, subtle oak and enough frehsness and minerality to develop in bottle. 

Mid ruby/garnet. There’s some slightly off-putting reduction on the nose here, that’s emphasised by the smoky oak. The wine finishes with high acidity and not enough friut. In short, it’s out of kilter. Or was when I tasted it. 

Not the most exciting Clos de Vougeot on the market. It’s decently made, with lots of sweet fruit and oak, but the wine seems rather four-square, with too much extraction and a rather firm, dry finish. 

Mid garnet with a pinkish rim. Ginger spice and some reduction on the nose: smoky, well balanced and structured. The wine is both jammy and a teeny bit reduced on the palate, but it’s sustained by fresh acidity and medium weight tannins. It should age, but the alcohol may start to dominate in bottle. 

Youthful, mid garnet. The nose is a little closed and showing some meaty, reductive notes that hang around in the glass. A hint ot redcurrant, sweet oak and also some evidence of over-ripeness, with a figgy, currant-like note. A good wine, but the tannins are a little dry. Not a Pinot to cellar for a long time. 

Slightly cloudy mid-garnet hued. Leafy, truffley, red fruits nose. The wine is oaky and dense on the palate with fresh acidity. It’s pretty closed at the moment, but this is serious stuff: concentrated, smoky and naunced. Give it at least five years. 

The De Montille family (remember them from Mondovino?) are more commonly associated with the Côte de Beaune, but that is beginning to change thanks to some recent acquisitions in the Côte de Nuits. This is very pale in colour, showing marked whole bunch character on the nose and palate. And what a wine it is: a Grand Cru that lives up to its name: balanced, sweet, nuanced and very long with refined tannins and complexity to age.