The 2016 Beaune 1er Cru Montrevenots has a pleasing crushed strawberry and raspberry-scented bouquet, touches of autumn leaves developing with time. The palate is medium-bodied with good tension on the entry, plenty of red and black fruit and fine mineralité toward the finish. Classy.

The 2015 Beaune 1er Cru Montrevenots has a ripe, opulent bouquet with kirsch, blueberry and floral scents. There is certainly good vigor here. The palate is medium-bodied with raspberry and crushed strawberry on the entry, quite saline with fine structure towards the finish. There is not a huge aftertaste, but there is a precision here that is commendable. This is a delicious wine in the making.

The 2014 Beaune 1er Cru Montrevenots has a crisp, quite effervescent bouquet with touches of orange peel infusing the red berry fruit. The palate is medium-bodied and fleshier than I recall the 2013 last year, sweet raisin infusing the red fruit with a hint of spice towards the finish. This is recommended.

The 2013 Beaune 1er Cru Montrevenots has a mixture of red and black fruit on the slightly compact nose that begins to open with time. The palate is medium-bodied with a pastille-like entry. There is fine purity here, not complex, but it feels very lithe and supple in the mouth. There are just barrels rather than the usual seven, one of them new. Fine.

The 2012 Beaune 1er Cru Montrevenots comes from 0.30-hectare of vine that is located just above Clos des Mouches and this sample had not been racked. It has a fragrant nose, the fruit moving towards a black fruit profile, more Pommard in style, with decent definition. The palate is medium-bodied with good weight and mineralite, adorned with a light peppery finish. My first visit of my fortnight stint in Burgundy was to a grower whose wines I have frequently enjoyed in recent years, but whose Pernand-Vergelesses winery I had never visited: Dubreuil-Fontaine. Most people have probably driven past in on their way up to Bonneau du Martray, but my advice is to take time and visit, because the wines make it all worthwhile. Christine Gruere Dubreuil started working with her father Bernard in 1991, tending holdings in Pommard, Volnay and Beaune that were handed down from her mother’s side of the family. The winery itself was built in 1985. She took sole responsibility for the winemaking in 2000, the fifth generation to do so. She currently looks after around 20-hectares of vine tended under lutte raisonnee principles scattered over 20 lieux-dits around Pernand-Vergelesses and Corton, plus nearby appellations. “It was a difficult vintage with the weather,” she told me in her superb English learned from her time in California. “We got hail in Volnay, Pommard and Beaune but in Pernand-Vergelesses it was fine. However yields were not high because of the cold weather during flowering, but finally the grapes looked good and there was no grey rot. We started the harvest around the 20 September and we did not need much sorting. We are happy with the vintage. The whites were just bottled just before crush and the reds will be bottled between December and March. We made pigeage twice daily during fermentation with some remontage towards the end depending on cru. I don’t like to extract too much.” I tasted most of the wines with Christine. I had wanted to return to finish them off but I ran out of time that day. But I thoroughly enjoyed what I did taste. These wines are clean and fresh, adept at expressing their unique terroirs, making the use of their old vine parcels. The use of oak here is nicely judged, around 25% for the village crus and around 30 to 35% for the grand cru. Prices look very reasonable compared to others and I certainly would be stocking up with Christine’s whites and reds in 2012. Importer: APS Wine & Spirits, 9401 San Leandro St, Oakland, CA 94603 Tel; 510 638 5200 and DB Wines in Boston. Also available through Avery’s and Laithwaites/Direct Wines in UK.