Domaine Ghislaine Barthod

From the Bons Bâtons vineyard, not specified on the label. Beautiful purple in colour with a gorgeous, one might say “mini-Chambolle”, bouquet. Crunchy mineral energy on the palate with great length and class.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

These wines all reflect the magical Barthod house style of perfumed energy, while each one retains the differences of its terroir. Ghislaine started relatively early, on 22nd September, and reports that vinification was straightforward compared to the viticulture. Her yields are 15 - 20% below the small harvests of 2010 and 2011, so overall a meagre half crop in 2012. Or to put it another way, one whole crop missing across the three vintages.

From the Bons Btons vineyard, but not labelled as such, Ghislaine's Bourgogne Rouge always tastes like a baby Chambolle. If we had more of it to sell we would be even happier to declare that it is fine, pure, graceful, and just plain charming.

This deep purple, star-bright wine is just as intense as the other cuvées but with a fresh acidity at the back of the palate. Power is in evidence, but also length and a fine sense of style.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

Ghislaine Barthod harvested her small crop, 35% to 40% down on 2009, from 24th September over 5 days. She feels that the wines are riper than 2002, our suggestion for a comparable vintage. We tasted on a day shrouded in mist when everything seemed dank and dour, so it is more than likely that Ghislaine’s wines will turn out more lively and fragrant than reported below, when the structure appeared to dominate.

With a lifted redcurrant and raspberry nose that is tight, tense and chiselled, this wine is not a heavyweight, but it does show extremely impressive length. The perfume in the glass afterwards is scintilating.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director Given that the sugar levels are not high in 2011, Ghislaine Barthod expected something lighter this year. However, the wines have come out with good texture and density. While accessible in the medium term, they show an attractive freshness and energy which puts them into a different class from the attractive 2007s. Chambolle-Musigny has done well in 2011, since the style of the appellation appreciates the fresher aspect of lower alcohol levels.

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Lying adjacent to Grand Cru Bonnes Mares, on the Morey-St Denis border, the beneficial influence of limestone rock just below the surface is immediately apparent. Theres a firmer delivery, almost an underpinning of iron on the palate, held tight by vibrant minerality. Vin de garde indeed.

Made from 65-year-old vines, this is the usual glowing purple colour, a softer fatter style of wine than Châtelots, always gourmand always graceful. Dark red fruit, kept fresh by the touch of acidity of the vintage.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Ghislaine started picking on 1st October, for one week, bringing in grapes with a natural alcohol level of 12.5 to 12.8. The fruit certainly tastes properly ripe though there is a beguiling freshness behind to keep the saliva flowing. Volumes are a fraction better than last year.

Bright purple, and with a touch of reduction, this is lean up front, yet builds very nicely to the back. It hovers on the cusp of red and black fruit with a crisp minerality behind.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Ghislaine started picking on 1st October, for one week, bringing in grapes with a natural alcohol level of 12.5 to 12.8. The fruit certainly tastes properly ripe though there is a beguiling freshness behind to keep the saliva flowing. Volumes are a fraction better than last year.

The best bit of Les Cras is classified as Premier Cru and is at the same height as Bonnes-Mares, but facing more towards the combe, and its colder air. The wine is highly perfumed and then the cool stone structure asserts itself. Nevertheless a sunny, smiling Cras this year. Drink 2022-2028. 

Ghislaine Barthod’s domaine originated in the 1920s with Marcel Noëllat whose daughter married Gaston Barthod, a soldier stationed in Dijon who came to buy some wine and got the girl as well. He gave up military life for the vineyards in 1960. His daughter, Ghislaine, and her partner Louis Boillot bought their current premises overlooking Premier Cru Les Feusselottes in 1986. Though they share the team who work the vineyards, the vinification and commercial aspects of their businesses are kept completely separate. The domaine has an incomparable range of ChambolleMusigny terroirs, with eight separate Premier Cru bottlings.

Given the carnage here last year, one could have been concerned that yields might have been high, but these worries were needless. Although there was a certain amount of green harvesting on the younger vines, the old vines (of which there are lots here), if properly pruned and with excess buds eliminated, regulated themselves to reasonable yields well below 50hl/ha. The harvest started on 3rd September and was completed in eight days, with everything beautifully healthy. For Ghislaine, 2016 was about energy; 2017 is about purity.

The challenge in a frost-hit vintage is to manage the concentration that comes from the inevitably low yields. In a village like Chambolle, the wine must not be too heav y. Here the wine seems to have the weight of a Premier Cru, because of the concentration, but not the complexity. But what it does have is razor-sharp definition. Only 19 barrels from an expected 35. Drink 2020-2028.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

Ghislaine Barthod’s domaine originated in the 1920s with Marcel Noëllat whose daughter married Gaston Barthod, a soldier stationed in Dijon who came to buy some wine and got the girl as well. He gave up military life for the vineyards in 1960. His daughter, Ghislaine, and her partner Louis Boillot bought their current premises overlooking Premier Cru Les Feusselottes in 1986. Though they share the team who work the vineyards, the vinification and commercial aspects of their businesses are kept completely separate. The domaine’s strength is the range of Chambolle-Musigny, with eight separate Premier Cru bottlings. It is hard to know whether Ghislaine has triumphed this year because of, or despite, the difficulties of the vintage. The quality she has produced is superb, perhaps due to the meanness of her yields, but tragically there will be hardly any of this glory to share. Chambolle was the hardest hit by the frosts in the Côte de Nuits and, in most vineyards, she has lost 50 to 60 percent of a normal crop, in some cases 75 percent and, in Combettes and Chatelots, there is no wine at all. For each wine, we have itemised the scale of the loss.

Rich, imperial purple with lively, dark raspberry and some cherry notes, it is mouth-filling. Still quite firm at the moment, the wine has a little touch of attractive oak and a notable concentration of fruit. Drink 2020-2028.
Jasper Morris MW, Buyer of Wine

Picking began here on 4th September and took five days in incredibly easy conditions. The thick skins on the grapes and the ease with which the colour emerged meant that it was important not to go chasing the tannins, according to Ghislaine, so she used pumping over rather than punching down. All bunches were de-stemmed as usual. The crop is, once again, slightly on the small side.

This wine is a full deep colour with aromatics which are yet to develop fully. Powerful black and red fruit abounds on the palate and there is a notable concentration.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

Ghislaine Barthod harvested her small crop, 35% to 40% down on 2009, from 24th September over 5 days. She feels that the wines are riper than 2002, our suggestion for a comparable vintage. We tasted on a day shrouded in mist when everything seemed dank and dour, so it is more than likely that Ghislaines wines will turn out more lively and fragrant than reported below, when the structure appeared to dominate.

Rich, friendly purple with an attractive perfume, this is tight and concentrated, the fruit balanced by quite high acidity which will soon resolve into the heart of the wine. This is very backward but highly promising, especially given its provenance from the Bons Bâtons vineyard. Drink 2020-2025.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

With prices in Burgundy still rising, even if often for understandable reasons, the appellations Bourgogne Blanc and Bourgogne Rouge are great places to look for affordable wines. You get the opportunity to drink wine from a top winemaker, from vines which are adjacent to the famous villages, and which will be accessible earlier. The 2005 Bourgognes Rouges are still delicious and youthful more than 10 years later, but most wines have been drinking well for a few years now. 

To be fair, there is a little more wine here than in the village, as the lower vineyards were less touched by the frost; but, being from the Bons Bâtons vineyard, which is higher than some village land, there were still important losses. This wine paves the way for the quality ahead: it has a delightful, primrose-scented nose, a medium-weight palate and some ripe but, naturally, slightly bucolic tannins. Drink 2020-2026.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

Ghislaine Barthod’s domaine originated in the 1920s with Marcel Noëllat whose daughter married Gaston Barthod, a soldier stationed in Dijon who came to buy some wine and got the girl as well. He gave up military life for the vineyards in 1960. His daughter, Ghislaine, and her partner Louis Boillot bought their current premises overlooking Premier Cru Les Feusselottes in 1986. Though they share the team who work the vineyards, the vinification and commercial aspects of their businesses are kept completely separate. The domaine’s strength is the range of Chambolle-Musigny, with eight separate Premier Cru bottlings. It is hard to know whether Ghislaine has triumphed this year because of, or despite, the difficulties of the vintage. The quality she has produced is superb, perhaps due to the meanness of her yields, but tragically there will be hardly any of this glory to share. Chambolle was the hardest hit by the frosts in the Côte de Nuits and, in most vineyards, she has lost 50 to 60 percent of a normal crop, in some cases 75 percent and, in Combettes and Chatelots, there is no wine at all. For each wine, we have itemised the scale of the loss.

The aromas have a hint of compôte, showing a bit of the warmth of the year, but on the palate things get more interesting. There is a very underplayed hint of spice, perhaps the oak peeking through, but then a wild strawberry note ascends. Drink 2020-2024. 

Ghislaine Barthod’s domaine originated in the 1920s with Marcel Noëllat whose daughter married Gaston Barthod, a soldier stationed in Dijon who came to buy some wine and got the girl as well. He gave up military life for the vineyards in 1960. His daughter, Ghislaine, and her partner Louis Boillot bought their current premises overlooking Premier Cru Les Feusselottes in 1986. Though they share the team who work the vineyards, the vinification and commercial aspects of their businesses are kept completely separate. The domaine has an incomparable range of ChambolleMusigny terroirs, with eight separate Premier Cru bottlings.

Given the carnage here last year, one could have been concerned that yields might have been high, but these worries were needless. Although there was a certain amount of green harvesting on the younger vines, the old vines (of which there are lots here), if properly pruned and with excess buds eliminated, regulated themselves to reasonable yields well below 50hl/ha. The harvest started on 3rd September and was completed in eight days, with everything beautifully healthy. For Ghislaine, 2016 was about energy; 2017 is about purity.

This is a lovely, easy supple style marked, as always, by wafts of passing summer floral scents. The accent this year is definitely on the aromatics; the palate is front-loaded and the finish pretty but a bit ephemeral. Charming and instant. Drink 2019-2023.

Ghislaine Barthod’s domaine originated in the 1920s with Marcel Noëllat whose daughter married Gaston Barthod, a soldier stationed in Dijon who came to buy some wine and got the girl as well. He gave up military life for the vineyards in 1960. His daughter, Ghislaine, and her partner Louis Boillot bought their current premises overlooking Premier Cru Les Feusselottes in 1986. Though they share the team who work the vineyards, the vinification and commercial aspects of their businesses are kept completely separate. The domaine has an incomparable range of ChambolleMusigny terroirs, with eight separate Premier Cru bottlings.

Given the carnage here last year, one could have been concerned that yields might have been high, but these worries were needless. Although there was a certain amount of green harvesting on the younger vines, the old vines (of which there are lots here), if properly pruned and with excess buds eliminated, regulated themselves to reasonable yields well below 50hl/ha. The harvest started on 3rd September and was completed in eight days, with everything beautifully healthy. For Ghislaine, 2016 was about energy; 2017 is about purity.

A pure and passionate purple, with a very dense nose on which the sensual, heady Chambolle quality of raspberries and violets cannot help but emerge. The intensity is retained across the middle, then a perfect brisk fresh ultra-concentrated purple fruit finish. Wonderful.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

These wines all reflect the magical Barthod house style of perfumed energy, while each one retains the differences of its terroir. Ghislaine started relatively early, on 22nd September, and reports that vinification was straightforward compared to the viticulture. Her yields are 15 - 20% below the small harvests of 2010 and 2011, so overall a meagre half crop in 2012. Or to put it another way, one whole crop missing across the three vintages.