Francoise & Denis Clair Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Sur le Sentier du Clou

over the hill

First bottle in precisely 5 years. Aromas are youthful and show lots of briar, spice, seedy raspberries. Beautiful high tones but they require attention (I barely noticed the nose until I sat down to write the note). Palate entry is fairly light in body, showing immediate tannins and quite a lot of exuberant red fruits and minerals as its held in the mouth. It's like juiced strawberries, but only a sip of that as it's not too strong. Nice acid …

Really like this wine, and find it deceptively underrated. Not so much tart cranberry, but maybe a fruity lingonberry? It has real complexity and a gravelly quality I dig.

Tart cranberry, elevated acidity, medium tannins and medium bodied. A touch too young started to develop after being open an hour. Not as earthy as I was hoping for but good clean tart fruit.

From a half bottle. Thoroughly red fruited and intensely tangy on the nose with notes of cherry, cranberry and some leafiness. Medium-bodied with a nice rich mouthfeel. Quite tart-fruited, bordering on underripe. A bit heady, there seems to be an attitude about it. Very much firm and tightly-packed, markedly youthful. Wonderful acidity. Not a crowd-pleaser and not that pleasant at least at this point - did calm down overnight to something more civilized though.

Tartness at the forefront, as to be expected from a terrible vintage. Medium+ body with a soft tannic kick. Better with food, and it paired rather well with a baked rockfish smothered with soy sauce, scallions, and lemon juice. No vinegary notes this time around. 88-89 Update: it drank equally well on the next day -- will probably find its sweet spot around 2020.

Not getting the vinegar/dustiness that others are talking about. I do get the sour cherries but I rather liked the tartness.

sour cherry fruit, earth, and some nutmeg. not too much going on and the earthy note was more "dirt" than "interesting", but the sour fruit profile on this was decent.

Very, very tart at the outset, but mellowed with air. However, this is very much on the leaner side of Burgundy - the old school Burgundian nose was a plus. I hope this will integrate in the future.

Turned quite tart and dusty after one hour, then started to lean toward vinegary notes two hours in. 13% ABV. 88-89

This wine is just lovely. I could drink it nearly every day and not complain. For Saint-Aubin 1er and the price point, I am very pleased. The color is on the lighter spectrum, the aromas are very pretty and expressive of lean tart berry fruit, briar, slight anise, but the thing is those aromas are incredibly powerful for all of their lightness. The wine is so lithe that it doesn't seem the aromas should be this "loud," but boy do …