The 2015 Savigny les Beaune les Champs Chevreys demanded more coaxing from the glass than the Les Lavières, offering more blue fruit here with touches of violet. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe tannin, plenty of juicy, fresh blueberry and raspberry fruit with a twist of citrus peel on the finish. It should give a decade's worth of pleasure but be irresistible in its youth.

The 2014 Savigny les Beaune les Champs Chevrey 1er Cru has a little more vanilla on the nose compared to the Les Lavières, a tad richer perhaps. The palate is sweet and candied with coconut and raspberry notes, forward and generous with the oak showing a little more here than the Lavières. This just needs a little more restraint once in bottle.

The 2012 Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Champs Chevrey is Tollot-Beaut’s monopole (word of warning: there will be no 2013 that was destroyed by hail and the fruit will declassified as a village cru.) It has a beautiful, open, expressive bouquet where the limestone soils lend tangible mineralite. The palate is crisp and pure on the entry with strawberry puree and raspberry fruit, supple but toothsome tannins and a long, tender finish. Excellent. This was my second visit to Domaine Tollot-Beaut – ever. The first was circa June 1997, a milestone in my career since it constituted the first winery that I ever visited. As I quipped to Nathalie Tollot on my return some 16 years later, I know a bit more than nothing about wine. Nathalie herself looks about the same age as she did back then, petit with jet-black hair, slightly Mediterranean looking perhaps, probably takes I.D. with her whenever ordering at a bar. She is one of Burgundy’s most personable vignerons, the kind you fancy going out for a beer with after work. Nathalie actually started her tenure back in 1987, five years after Jean-Paul who is married to Anne Gros in Vosne-Romanee and three years prior to Olivier making the trio of current co-proprietors. They farm approximately 23 hectares mainly close to their winery in Chorey-les-Beaune, including several premier crus and three grand crus. Much of their vineyards are planted at a comparatively high density to other growers at around 11,000 vines per hectare, they eschew chemical fertilizers but will spray if absolutely necessary, completely de-stem their crop, skip cold maceration and practice a short cuvaison. I remarked to Nathalie that in Burgundian terms her winery has positively acres of space, to which she replied that she is grateful for the foresight of her ancestors (indeed, Tollot-Beaut was one of the first domaine’s to bottle their own wine back in the 1930s.) After we had tasted through the reds, we returned to the ground floor level to finish with their Corton-Charlemagne. Unfortunately, Nathalie could not find it. “I’m sure it was up here,” she says in similar to fashion to you and I losing our car keys. After five minutes of searching, she gives up and one assumes she later found her Corton-Charlemagne down the back of the sofa. This is a reliable source of quality wines from Chorey-les-Beaune. Occasionally I feel that the level of new oak can be a little too conspicuous. There certainly lend the wines a modern sheen, if not modern to their core. The aromas and flavors at this address might be described as “strident” and some might argue that they lack subtlety. Nathalie feels that the wood just needs time to fully integrate and having tasted mature examples of her wines I can understand her point. The nuance here develops in bottle as those tannins melt away, so do not be afraid to allow them to age. Chorey-les-Beaune and Aloxe-Corton are two appellations that did relatively well in 2012, two that continue to offer great value for money. I would include Tollot-Beaut’s consistent wines within that category. Importer: Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines (NY) tel. 1 707 738 22 55 (Jonathan Nahrgang). Also available through several merchants in the UK included Justerini & Brooks, Berry Brothers & Rudd and Howard Ripley.

The 2002 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Champs Chevrey is drinking very well, offering up a pure and expressive nose of candied peel, dried cherry, blackberry and forest floor. On the palate, the wine is sweet, supple and medium-bodied, its supple tannins cloaked in sweet fruit, its finish long and sappy.

The 1999 Savigny-Les-Beaune Les Champs Chevreys has an intensely spicy, delightful nose. Blackberries, fresh herbs, and black currants can be found in its structured, medium-bodied personality. It is satin-textured, firm, and loaded with fruit. Drink it between 2003 and 2008. Importer: Seagram Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 572-7725.