Barthod, Felettig, Hudelot-Noellat, Sigaut

Every en primeur campaign has its own personality and we have to adjust to events. So today, in order to accommodate a slightly Bordeaux-like stutter of indecision in Vosne-Romanee, we are giving Chambolle-Musigny more of the attention the village richly deserves. There is a shortage of wine here as everywhere but we're seeing more people than before which helps make up the shortfall.

Our newest discoveries are respectively Felettig and Sigaut. On paper Felettig is a complicated one as thay have 100 plots in the village, though most are contiguous. They're organic throughout and most of their vines are approaching 50 years of age. In the cellar things proceed much more gently than they used to and this added finesse is what attracted us to the property.

Sigaut is organic - indeed, quasi-biodynamic, with the use of a horse for ploughing and observance of the lunar calendar. We like the creative tension apparent here as Anne and Hervé have divided the sites between themselves, with each taking full responsibility for each wine from flowering to bottling. Yields have been drastically reduced and the wines are fine and pure.

At Barthod, Ghislaine always makes a blend from a few barrels of whatever it is you taste. As far as she's concerned 2012 is like 2010 with more matter and balance and a bit less acidity. Oh, and much less wine: the very low yields - fewer than 15 hl/ha - were partly caused by the cold June weather, causing poor flowering.

Just across in Vougeot, Charles van Canneyt nearly missed us: he was trying to sneak out for a quick bit of shopping as we swung into the yard. The Hudelot-Noëllat wines as ever are brilliant - and the village Chambolle is a great example of the quality in the village, but all the examples were great.

Nowhere is the shortage of the crop more acutely felt than at Francois Bertheau. With no Bonnes-Mares whatsoever - and precious little else - all we have for our offer is our picture of this slight, darting, giggly man, the only self-depracating over-achiever in the village. /CW