2021 Fixin, La Croix Blanche, Château de Charodon, Burgundy

Château de Charodon

Located just five minutes from Beaune, Château de Charodon is the project of Louis Vallet, his brother Thibault and their father, Bernard. The Vallet family is from Gevrey-Chambertin, where Bernard is still part-owner of the successful Pierre Bourrée estate. However, Louis decided to take a different direction. For many years, he lived the life of the flying winemaker, making two vintages each year: one in Burgundy and one in the Southern Hemisphere. He picked up experience from the likes of Pascal Marchand. He made his first vintage at Ch. de Charadon – a grand total of 1,200 bottles – in 2010. By 2021, he was producing more than 10 times this volume. While Louis stands to inherit several hectares from the family holdings, these are presently rented out on long term contracts; the production currently comes from a mix of bought-in fruit and farming contracts. This is a hugely exciting project which we are delighted to be a part of.

Louis’ production is growing quickly to keep up with demand, and he has made 42,000 bottles this year. The biggest struggle is perhaps renovating the buildings around the château to make more space for tanks and barrels. While he is always optimistic, Louis is clearly much happier with the 2022 vintage than the ‘21s. Last year, he was missing several cuvées because he couldn’t get hold of fruit, but ’22 has allowed him to make the full range of wines, and add a couple of new lines. In both colours, Louis has made the kind of wines that he likes; forward, fruit-driven and generous. Like him, these wines wear their heart on their sleeve.

Fixin

Fixin is a wine appellation in the Burgundy region of France covering the communes of Brochon and Fixin – which was first elevated to AOC status in December 1936. White wines can be made from either Chardonnay or Pinot Blanc (Pinot Gris used to be permitted, but this grape variety was removed in 2011).

Red wines are sturdy and muscular, made principally from Pinot Noir, but they can have small quantities of the three white grapes in them. Situated just north of Gevrey-Chambertin, the red wines are often likened to miniature Gevreys. 

• 108 hectares of village Fixin
• 22 hectares of Premier Cru vineyards (five in all). The best include Clos Napoléon, Clos de la Perrière

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.

Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.

Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.

The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.