The 2016 Aloxe Corton Village has an attractive bouquet of blackberry, raspberry preserve and a light marine influence that comes through with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp, fine tannin. It is quite structured and strict at the moment and just needs to develop more fruit and fleshiness toward the finish. However, there is a pleasing focus and linearity here for a village cru.

The 2015 Aloxe-Corton Village has an uncomplicated, slightly gamey bouquet that opens nicely in the glass, red fruit rather than black. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin, a crisp line of acidity and a judicious squeeze of bitter lemon lending tension towards the firm, quite masculine finish. Give this a year in bottle.

The 2014 Aloxe Corton Villages has a well defined bouquet with raspberry and wild strawberry scents, hints of sous-bois developing with time, although the aromatics never fully let go. The palate is well balanced with a mineral-led entry and quite firm tannin for a village cru, with a foursquare finish that should open up with aeration.

The 2013 Aloxe-Corton Village, which is mostly sold domestically, is rather closed on the nose and offers light floral scents with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannins, a core of chalky black fruit and a touch of bell pepper just on the short, abrupt finish. Fine.

The 2012 Aloxe-Corton Village has a simple, crisp, light-hearted bouquet with blackberry and briary aromas. The palate is nice balanced with sappy red fruit on the entry, good weight and a rounded finish that is very satisfying for a village cru. Fine. 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.