Gevrey Chambertin
Gevrey-Chambertin is the largest wine-producing village in Burgundy’s Côte d'Or. Located in the far north of the Côtes de Nuits, the classic style is typically deeper in colour, firmer in body and more tannic in structure than most red Burgundy. While in the past there have been myriad underperformers here, the overall quality is now higher than ever and the best can develop into the most complete and long-lived Pinot Noir in the world.
Bottle
£35.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 61cs
This year Jean-Luc and Eric Burguet purchased some additional vineyards from another member of the family: an additional 0.75ha each in the two village Gevrey cuvées. We may also get a small allocation of Gevrey-Chambertin, Champeaux, 1er Cru and a new wine, Gevrey-Chambertin, Lavaux St Jacques, 1er Cru. They found that 2014 produced decent yields, with picking beginning on 18th September.
Bottle
£39.95
This year Jean-Luc and Eric Burguet purchased some additional vineyards from another member of the family: an additional 0.75ha each in the two village Gevrey cuvées. We may also get a small allocation of Gevrey-Chambertin, Champeaux, 1er Cru and a new wine, Gevrey-Chambertin, Lavaux St Jacques, 1er Cru. They found that 2014 produced decent yields, with picking beginning on 18th September.
Bottle
£45.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 17cs
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer
The domaine was created through the marriage of Jacques Rossignol of Volnay with Mado Trapet from a noted family in Gevrey-Chambertin. Their sons Nicolas and David Rossignol have managed the domaine since 1990, moving subsequently to biodynamic farming. The first experiments started in 1997 with their Chapelle- Chambertin, followed by conversion of the whole domaine in 2004. Vinification includes a small proportion of whole bunches, while the trend in recent years has been to look for an increasingly elegant expression of Pinot Noir. It’s a remarkable cellar this year, with brothers Nicolas and David radiating calm and understanding. As elsewhere, this was a very challenging vintage for them, especially in Beaune, the village Gevrey vines and Le Chambertin. Containing the mildew required an incredible amount of work by hand. Their biodynamic strategy seems to have paid off though; after a slow start to the range, the impression was of incremental qualities. Intensity, not density. Nicolas and David referred us to Nono, Love and the Soil by Gaston Roupnel, a novelist born in Gevrey.
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 21cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
It is not easy to get a tasting with Jean-Pierre Guyon as he likes to be out in the vineyards all day long (“I am the shepherd of my grapes”). His meticulous work in the vineyards enables him to work thereafter with ripe and healthy grapes which can be vinified without sulphur and entirely as whole bunches. The wines have been matured in less new wood than previously, although it’s still two thirds for the top cuvées. Jean-Pierre has also worked his whites to minimise their weight in this sunny year, fermenting in older barrels with no lees’ stirring.
Bottle
£55.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 13cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
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
Bottle
£55.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 29cs
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£55.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 48cs
89-92/100 Top Value wine, Allen Meadows, burghound.com, Jan 2016
Case price (Bottle 12 x 75cl)
Bottle 12 x 75cl 3cs
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.
Bottle
£60.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 20cs
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer
Based in Premeaux, just south of Nuits-St Georges, Domaine de la Vougeraie was created in 1999 when Jean-Claude Boisset decided to group together all the vineyard holdings of the various négociant companies he had acquired over the years. Pascal Marchand was put in charge in 1999, with Bernard Zito in the vineyards, which are farmed biodynamically. Pascal produced powerful wines, fairly heavily extracted in his early vintages but clearly moving to a softer style by 2004. The wines have subsequently been made by Pierre Vincent who has maintained the more delicate approach. Top-quality vineyards continue to be added, especially Grand Cru whites in recent vintages. This is Pierre Vincent’s last vintage, as he is now installed at Domaine Leflaive. Vougeraie is very happy with this year’s result, another domaine to call the vintage “très Bourguigonne”, meaning that the precision and purity of the fruit means this is more terroir-focused than 2015’s broader and more intense style. They are also very happy with the way the frosted and non-frosted vines finally ripened homogenously, giving much of the credit to their biodynamic culture. Given the health of the berries, a lot of whole bunches were used at fermentation.
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 4cs
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 9cs
“This is definitely the best vintage I have made in white,” says Benjamin. “The wines have great vineyard definition; I would just have loved to have made more. It is my style of vintage.” His reds, too, have gorgeous layers of ripe fruit, so 2014 is clearly a significant success all round for Benjamin.
Further cuvées are available from Benjamin and can be found at www.bbr. com/burgundy2014. Note – all the white wines will be bottled under top-quality screwcaps, StelvinLux Plus.
Bottle
£65.00
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer
This excellent domaine in Vosne-Romanée has flown under the radar – perhaps because Jean-Pierre Guyon spends so much of his time out in the vineyards, which have been farmed organically since 2006, certified from 2012. With his high-pedigree viticulture as a great starting point, Jean-Pierre can employ whole-bunch fermentation as the stalks are ripe, eschewing the use of sulphur at this stage, though some is added during élevage and at bottling to assure stability. Despite obvious frustration at the small volumes, Jean-Pierre Guyon is delighted with the quality of his 2016s. He describes it as a vintage of great Pinot Noir typicity, which will be greater than 2015, explaining that the wines' saline character will have you reaching for the next glass. As ever, the grapes here were picked a touch later than many estates to ensure the stems were fully ripe. He only bought six new barrels for the entire 2016 crop, so the proportion of new oak is reduced.
Bottle
£65.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 123cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Louis Boillot came to Chambolle-Musigny, where his partner Ghislaine Barthod is based, from Gevrey-Chambertin, though as his full range of wines indicates, he is descended from the Volnay family of Boillots. He was formerly associated with his brother and father at Domaine Lucien Boillot, but set up on his own from the 2003 vintage. In 2013, Louis supplemented his holdings in the Côte d’Or with the purchase of just over four hectares of well-sited old vines in the north of Moulin-à-Vent (the fruit of which you’ll find on pages 54 and 55). Louis and Ghislaine have recently been joined by their son Clément. Given that Louis thought that his 2015s were among the best wines he has ever made, it is quite a step up for him to say that, categorically, this is his best-ever vintage. It is an assertion that’s hard to refute. His eschewing of current trends in winemaking (no whole-bunch here) and a modest, reflective stance has allowed him to get the best out of his extraordinary array of vineyards and old vines. There are wonderful expressions of each vineyard this year.
Bottle
£65.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 3cs
Though we still have the pleasure of tasting with Christian Sérafin, it is now his niece, Frédérique who is solely responsible for winemaking. Christian describes 2014 as being all about elegance and balance, with neither too much acidity nor tannin. The Sérafin wines always repay patience.
Bottle
£67.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 22cs
Bottle
£69.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 11cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Denis started on 5th October and he reports a decent crop in some appellations but least in Bourgogne Rouge (rot) and Charmes-Chambertin (poor flowering of the old vines). He maintained his usual vinification techniques, making wines which impress in youth but really need a decade to show at their best. His 2013s show Denis at his magical best.
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director
The last few vintages have shown a freshening up of the Srafin style, though absolutely not at the expense of the concentration which is a hallmark of this domaine. The concentration of the fruit comes from their meticulous work in the vineyards, the fresher style from a little less extraction during fermentation. Christian himself thinks that 2010 is notably more concentrated than 2009 and as everywhere else, yields are down this year.
Bottle
£79.50
Bottle
£85.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 13cs
Bottle
£87.00
Though we still have the pleasure of tasting with Christian Sérafin, it is now his niece, Frédérique who is solely responsible for winemaking. Christian describes 2014 as being all about elegance and balance, with neither too much acidity nor tannin. The Sérafin wines always repay patience.
Bottle
£97.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 7cs
This was our pick between the Clos de Bèze and the Chambertin this year. Middleweight, this has bright, elegant fruit on its refined nose. The wine is attractive, floral, graceful through the middle, then comes up nicely behind. Notably floral, and very persistent.
“A vintage of pure happiness,” enthuses Nicolas Potel. He rightly retains enthusiasm for Burgundy as a whole and his own wines in particular, though his life has been made more difficult by the explosion of prices for grapes on the open market. However these cuvées make sense to us: we tasted a wide range and picked out the plums.
*Discount is already applied to the single-bottle price and no further discount will be applied at checkout.
Bottle
£131.60
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Tasting with David Croix at Camille Giroud is always a pleasure, especially so this year as the range of 2014s is delicious. David feels that the wines are all about drinkability and balance rather than exceptional power. His theory is that the great start to the growing season kept the vines healthy through the cool, damp summer.
Bottle
£135.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 7cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle
£135.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 9cs
The 2013 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru has an attractive mulberry and candied orange peel, touches of wild heather lending a bit of wildness. The oak is nicely integrated here. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannins: masculine with very fine tension on the black pepper-tinged finish that just needs to muster more flesh and corpulence. That may develop in bottle, of course.
Neal Martin - Wine Advocate - eRobertParker.com - Dec 2014
*Discount is already applied to the single-bottle price and no further discount will be applied at checkout. Discount only applies to 75cl bottles and does not apply to any other sizes or formats.
Bottle
£140.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
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.
*Discount is already applied to the single-bottle price and no further discount will be applied at checkout.
Bottle
£154.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 9cs
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd