Monthélie 2009, Sébastien Deschamps

I think of Monthélie as the "sleepy hollow" village on the Côte de Beaune, tuckes away up a tributary valley above Meursault and Auxey-Duresses. A wine which can be rustic and a tad green in tricky years like 2004, 2007 and 2008, by contrast the Monthélie in warm years like 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2009 can be rewarding. Beautiful deep ruby colour. Very pleasant cherry and strawberry nose, vanilla, charming, damsons. Good structure, plump, savoury, ripe tannins, still has that chunky, chewy Monthélie structure. There will never be elegance but this would rock with a boeuf bourgignon. An excellent wine from an excellent vintage. Scores 25 / 30 for a Monthélie. This shows good evolution from the positive tasting note in April 2011 for the same wine.