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. 

Mid ruby/garnet. Smoky, oak-dominated nose that is still  closed at present. There’s a hint of volatility here, but it adds a lift to the sweet, concentrated fruit. The wine is a little over-ripe and jammy, but it has hidden depths. 

Light, mid garnet. Slightly cloudy. Smoky oak is prominent on both the nose and palate, but there’s a lot matter and texture to soak it up. Red fruits, savoury tannins, fresh acidity and good ageing potential. But less new oak would have been welcome. 

Very pale garnet/pink, verging on a rosé in hue. The alcohol is a little prominent on the nose, but there’s good acidity and some texture too. The fruit is a tad over-ripe and confected, but the tannins are gentle, the flavours palate-caressingly sweet. 

Mid-garnet with a ruby/pink rim. Aromatic, oak-infused nose, made in a modern style. Juicy with a hint of stemminess. Structured with an appealing interplay between fruit, acid and oak. Good length, punchy, made to age. 

Youthful, pale ruby-garnet colour, scented red fruits, elegant with a touch oak. Still very young, with marked tannins (for Pinot and this vintage) on the palate and succulent, sweet fruit. Good acidity, very fine, good ageing potential. 

Mid garnet, pale rim. Still quite closed. Red cherry and some Asian spices on the nose. Quite a powerrfu, dense wines with plenty of tannin and oak. Ripe and silky, very well rounded with good ageing potential. Textured and plush, this underlines recent improvements at this Nuits St Georges-based négociant house. 

If you can get past the outrageously heavy bottle (and I had trouble lifting it off the table), this is a superb wine. Bright, youthful, ruby red in colour. Lovely bramble and wild strawberry fruit on the nose. Plush and sweet with good acidity for balance. So Pinot? Silky, scented, beguiling, gentle with impressive delicacy for the vintage. 

Pale ruby/pink with a hint of garnet. This is a rather light wine (delicacy is no bad thing in 2009), but it’s showing far too much oak for the weight of fruit. Chewy and firm, the wine lacks finesse. The barrels have swallowed the fruit. 

There’s no denying the quaility or ambition of the wines from this revitalised domaine. This is a very powerful Pinot, closer to a top Gevrey than a Clos de Vougeot. There’s a lot of oak on the wine at the moment, but this is a wine that is built for bottle age. The underlying fruit is excellent, just waiting to strut its stuff in five years or more. 

Intense mid rubyintense colour. Ripe, aromatic, heady (almost hedonistic?) nose, showing some forest floor and fresh leather notes. Big, ripe and bold, this is something of a statement wine. It’s arguably a little simple, reflecting the vintage as much as the terroir. The wine is ripe, with plenty of extraction and a slightly hot, dry finish. 

Bright pale garnet-ruby. Closed with some reduction and very little fruit on the nose. Hint of rhubarb on the palate, tannic with high acid. Rather scrawny, with almost Italianate levels of acidity and very little flesh or sweet fruit.  More like a 2008 than a 2009.