Domaine Jean-Luc & Eric Burguet

From vines over 40 years old and from 23 different plots, this wine will spend 18 months in oak, 30 percent of it new (after no new oak last year). As Eric predicted, the wine is very pleasing and there is a gentle creaminess about the palate. Very pleasurable. Drink 2020-2024.

It was very good to see a cellar full of 2017s and ’18s for the Burguet brothers, Eric and Jean-Luc, after the double tribulations of frost and mildew last year. Eric suggests that 2017 is not a year of complexity, but one of simple pleasure. The harvest began on 10th September (five days after Armand Rousseau, Eric noted) and the yields were generous, although their triple sorting of bunches, berries and whole berries did reduce the volume. All the wines will be bottled directly from barrel, without fining or filtration.

This is made from the oldest vineyards, from 30 parcels with no vines younger than 70 years old. This will spend 20 months in oak, 55 percent new. The wine is also held on its lees for the whole period, adding a plusher texture. Its spicy, succulent aroma, supported by an understated ferric infrastructure, is as good as many Premiers Crus. Drink 2021-2026.

It was very good to see a cellar full of 2017s and ’18s for the Burguet brothers, Eric and Jean-Luc, after the double tribulations of frost and mildew last year. Eric suggests that 2017 is not a year of complexity, but one of simple pleasure. The harvest began on 10th September (five days after Armand Rousseau, Eric noted) and the yields were generous, although their triple sorting of bunches, berries and whole berries did reduce the volume. All the wines will be bottled directly from barrel, without fining or filtration.

This wine is a bin-end, discounted by 20%.
This Grand Cru Chambertin Clos de Bèze  shows agreeably fresh, layered and cool wild red berry fruit aromas that are liberally laced with a sauvage character. There is good richness and plenty of volume to the tautly muscled medium weight plus flavors that possess a subtle minerality that continues onto the impressively long finish. Like several wines in the range this is not especially complex at present but my projected range offers the benefit of the doubt that much more will develop with time in bottle.

Eric and Jean-Luc Burguet succinctly described 2012 as a "difficult vintage that was not easy to manage. We lost a lot of the potential crop because of a poor flowering and then at the time of the harvest we lost more due to a careful sorting process. On the plus side the fruit was concentrated and the vinifications were able to pull out this material into the wine with almost no help from us. As a result the 2012s are quite fleshy and generous with seductive mouth feels that should allow the wines to be very popular as they will be easy to appreciate. For us, 2012 is not a great vintage but it is an attractive one all the same." My take on the Burguet 2012s is pretty much spot on with how the brothers feel about their wines, which is to say that the quality is consistent with the general level of the vintage. The 2012s will be bottled without fining or filtration.
91-93/100 Allen Meadows - burghound.com - issue 53 - Jan 2014

Bright purple with dark red berry fruit, lovely purity and good ripeness , and a useful touch of freshness behind. Enjoy the silky and satiny texture and the very long finish. This is a graceful rather than foursquare Gevrey-Chambertin. 
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

The 2013 harvest is the latest ever recorded at Burguet, starting 9th October, in the cold more than the rain – there was even some frost one morning. They have three separate sorting stations, though rot varied by sector. Vinification was normal, a long time in tank but a gentle approach. The 2013 is particularly, and consistently, successful chez Burguet.
 

Glowing purple with an impressive density of fruit, though the detail is yet to emerge. Super-stylish, very graceful, yet the weight of fruit builds gloriously on the palate to a very noble finish with great persistence. It is all about the elegance. Superb. 
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

The 2013 harvest is the latest ever recorded at Burguet, starting 9th October, in the cold more than the rain – there was even some frost one morning. They have three separate sorting stations, though rot varied by sector. Vinification was normal, a long time in tank but a gentle approach. The 2013 is particularly, and consistently, successful chez Burguet.

The Burguets have a contract to purchase grapes from a very particular plot each year and this 2010 is majestically seductive from the first sniff. There is a huge mid palate here, with plenty of detail emerging through the weight of the fruit.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

Alain Burguet has now officially retired and made way for his sons Eric and Jean-Luc who have been working with him for a decade or more. One result of the change of generation is that we can now get prices of the new vintage in time to be offered En Primeur, so this impressive domaine is included in our brochure for the first time this year. The vineyards have always been really well managed and from 2011 will be farmed organically too.

Alain Burguet's Gevrey-Chambertin Mes Favorites reveals a complex nose and textbook Gevrey character with robust structure and big flavours of crushed red berries, game, wet earth and violets.Excellent depth, with a touch of development. The old vine concentration and intensity really stand out in this difficult vintage and the wine quality is impressive for its level.

A brilliant bottling of Gevrey-Chambertin from the Burguets favourite vineyard plots, averaging 70 year old. It has a very pretty purple colour and classy deep red fruit on the nose. The silky texture is allied to a depth of succulent dark red fruit and marvellous persistence.
Jasper Morris MW - Burgundy Wine Director

Strong fermentation aromas dominate the nose though underneath the funk it's possible to discern a good level of ripeness and the classic spiciness of a classic Clos de Bèze. The big-bodied and muscular flavors are not without elegance as is the very serious, brooding and powerful finish that completely coats the palate on the balanced and hugely long finish. This is a clear, and dramatic, step up.
Allen Meadows - www.burghound.com – 30th January 2010

The vines here are 70 years old on average, spread across 30 plots. The wine has a dense, rich purple in colour, with succulent, lively, dark red-fruit notes on the nose. Similarly gorgeous fruit completely fills the mouth, making it sensual and delicious. Drink 2020-2027.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

Although yields were acceptable for the Burguet brothers, the crop was – in the end – 20 percent behind the previous vintage. They began on 15th September and entirely de-stemmed the bunches, following their usual practice. Their ultra-meticulous triple-sorting table system was not needed this year. Beautifully poised, juicy wines.

From a wide range of vineyards with an average vine age of 40 to 45 years, this is dense purple in colour, with a heady, succulent, rich raspberry nose - very seductive. This fills the mouth, with no obstructive tannins, a little oak in perfect proportion and well balanced acidity. A fine 2015 Gevrey which will be accessible reasonably early. Drink 2019-2023.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

Although yields were acceptable for the Burguet brothers, the crop was – in the end – 20 percent behind the previous vintage. They began on 15th September and entirely de-stemmed the bunches, following their usual practice. Their ultra-meticulous triple-sorting table system was not needed this year. Beautifully poised, juicy wines.

This is made with purchased grapes, from a long-term contract. This may be the best yet. Bright purple, this has good juicy notes, with a nice touch of crispness from this higher altitude vineyard. It kicks on very nicely, offering intensity rather than weight, with a very good acid-fruit-tannin balance, with lively red fruit and even some violets. Drink 2020-2029.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

Although yields were acceptable for the Burguet brothers, the crop was – in the end – 20 percent behind the previous vintage. They began on 15th September and entirely de-stemmed the bunches, following their usual practice. Their ultra-meticulous triple-sorting table system was not needed this year. Beautifully poised, juicy wines.

This is our preferred Gevrey Premier Cru at this estate, from vines which are over 60 years old. A bright, fresh, medium-deep purple, this has a pure, clear and chiselled perfume. This is noble, with impressive intensity yet not too soft and rounded, very good length. Drink 2021-2029.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

Although yields were acceptable for the Burguet brothers, the crop was – in the end – 20 percent behind the previous vintage. They began on 15^th September and entirely de-stemmed the bunches, following their usual practice. Their ultra-meticulous triple-sorting table system was not needed this year. Beautifully poised, juicy wines.

The 60-year-old vines did manage two barrels, but the vineyard was very exposed to the freezing air tumbling down the combe. There is a sense of tingling freshness before the weight of the vineyard cuts in. The wine finishes composed, with redcurrant and raspberry fruit. Drink 2021-2027. Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

Barrel-chested Alain Burguet has been one of Gevrey’s most respected vignerons for a quarter of a century. He left school in 1964 to work in the vines and made his first vintage under his own name in 1972. Alain’s muscular physique could be seen in the wines he made in the 1980s, where the tannins were occasionally too firm for the fruit. His style evolved towards a gentler, fruitier style which has been continued by his sons Jean-Luc and Eric since then. Their own vineyards are all located within Gevrey-Chambertin but the range has been supplemented by one or two cuvées from purchased fruit. Eric Burguet was phlegmatic but a little downcast on our visit. The frost was bad enough (taking out 30 percent), but he also lost another 40 percent to mildew. In the end they had to abandon their organic status, just to save anything from the crop. But it was too late for their Vosne-Romanée and Clos de Bèze, of which there is none. They are now under lutte raisonnée, and wonder whether they will ever return to organic. More positively, they do, like almost everyone else, have a decent volume in 2017. The mood of the tasting did not deflect from the quality that has been salvaged by their famously diligent triage processes

Eric and Jean-Luc save their oldest vineyards for Mes Favorites, another kaleidoscope of 30 parcels, with nothing younger than 70 years old. There are some serious vineyards too: Champerrier, Aux Corvées, Combe de Lavaux and so on. This takes 20 months in barrel but, again, none of it new. This is lovely, worth the heartache. A bold, robust and classic Gevrey. Drink 2020-2025.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

Barrel-chested Alain Burguet has been one of Gevrey’s most respected vignerons for a quarter of a century. He left school in 1964 to work in the vines and made his first vintage under his own name in 1972. Alain’s muscular physique could be seen in the wines he made in the 1980s, where the tannins were occasionally too firm for the fruit. His style evolved towards a gentler, fruitier style which has been continued by his sons Jean-Luc and Eric since then. Their own vineyards are all located within Gevrey-Chambertin but the range has been supplemented by one or two cuvées from purchased fruit. Eric Burguet was phlegmatic but a little downcast on our visit. The frost was bad enough (taking out 30 percent), but he also lost another 40 percent to mildew. In the end they had to abandon their organic status, just to save anything from the crop. But it was too late for their Vosne-Romanée and Clos de Bèze, of which there is none. They are now under lutte raisonnée, and wonder whether they will ever return to organic. More positively, they do, like almost everyone else, have a decent volume in 2017. The mood of the tasting did not deflect from the quality that has been salvaged by their famously diligent triage processes.