Gevrey Chambertin Premier Cru

Made using tiny berries, this is Louis’ most concentrated wine in 2014. A rich, magisterial purple, with plump, ripe, dark fruit, this is extremely pure. Despite the concentration, the wine remains very fresh and crunchy behind: ripe, vivacious and impressive.

The good thing about having a domaine shared between Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits is that you are unlikely to sustain hail damage in every vineyard in any given vintage. The bad thing is that your Côte de Beaune vineyards will have suffered three years in a row. So this year we concentrate on Gevrey-Chambertin, where Louis’s results are excellent in 2014.

Faiveley has brought the yields down here, now obtaining intensity while retaining seduction. This is bright purple in colour with a lively seductive nose; there are some black fruit notes, quite a strict savoury character and good tannins behind to keep the wine complex. The finish is persistent.

Erwan Faiveley believes that 2014 would be regarded as a great vintage – if only 2015 had not come along to trump it. He feels that the changes which have taken place in the cellar since 2007 have had a discernible effect on the quality of Faiveley wines, while similar qualitative changes in the vineyard are only now bearing fruit. Here, balanced but restricted yields are the key.

This is Vougeraie’s monopole . It is ready to go, and is absolutely delicious now. The slightly strict aspect that Côte de Nuits whites usually present is moderated by a vivacious blast of exotic, passion-fruit notes, and then it all calms down to a cool, crisp, white-peach-stone finish. Drink 2018-2022.
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.

Glowing purple, this has a really engaging colour with a vibrant, heady nose to match – beautifully supported by the oak. A huge wealth of fruit in the mouth, quite firm structure, this is very backward but will make a great bottle. The pure fruit really lingers on the finish.

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.

Glowing purple, this wine is all fruit on the nose with lovely deep plum and dark cherry notes. Concentrated dark cherry, blueberry and black fruit dominate on the palate with exceptional intensity in the mouth, and great weight behind. It is suave and concentrated at the same time, while the oak adds a touch of creaminess but in no way distracts from the lovely crunchy coolness of the fruit. 
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

 

Pure, pale colour, this is quite stylish with lovely gunflint and more character than we have ever seen before. Juicy and mineral, it makes one salivate, filled with really pretty white fruit. Well worth looking at.

The domaine has developed its white wine holdings, with four new cuvées this year, arising out of Boisset’s purchase of Vincent Girardin’s business. Girardin had farming arrangements in Puligny- Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet Champ Gain Premier Cru, Bienvenues-Bâtard- Montrachet Grand Cru and a tiny holding of Chevalier-Montrachet: Monsieur Boisset has now bought these vineyards. As well as these excellent whites, Pierre Vincent considers 2014 to be one of his best red wine vintages, with something in common with 2006 and 2010.

A mid-purple colour, this has plumper fruit on the nose, concentrated dark cherries. Again the wine has a fine and balanced structure, stylish and persistent. A little bit tight in its youth, but we really quite like this.

Nicolas and David Rossignol began the harvest on 22nd September, picking over eight days. Yields were up, the grapes were ripe, but some sorting was necessary after a little hail in Beaune and some Suzukiengendered rot in the lower vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin. They are very pleased with their new Pellenc de-stemmer which leaves the berries intact, while continuing to use a percentage of whole bunches as well.

This has a heady, yet classy nose with real depth and no sign of the oak until the wine is in the mouth. On the palate, barrel and stem tannins that reflect the 80% whole bunch fermentation and the use of 100% new wood, come to the fore with dark chocolate, deep red fruit and blackberry all in attendance. This wine always shows exotic notes in youth, which in time in bottle blend into the class of the St Jacques terroir. Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director Sylvie began picking on 3rd September, the earliest ever at this domaine, and she notes that the wines have kept an attractive freshness, which you might not expect in an early vintage. The stems were also ripe enough for her to slightly increase the proportion of whole bunch fermentation, and there were hardly any unhealthy grapes to be deselected, so yields are slightly better than for 2010.

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Jasper divides his time between England and Burgundy. His unique position led him to write the ultimate guide to the vineyards of the region, Inside Burgundy. Described as “the greatest reference work of our generation” by Bill Nanson (www.burgundyreport. com), and “an essential book for anyone remotely interested in the region and its wines” by Neal Martin (www.erobertparker.com), this outstandingly detailed book, in 656 pages, covers one thousand specific vineyards, from Grands Crus to obscure plots.

Jasper Morris MW’s award-winning classic volume ‘Inside Burgundy’ is now available as a series of beautifully designed, interactive, Multi- Touch eBooks for the iPad and iPad Mini.
Inside Burgundy: The Côte de Beaune is the first volume is available for £14.99 on the Apple iBookStore. It is accompanied by the first edition of an innovative new Annual Report on Burgundy by Jasper Morris. Inside Burgundy The Annual Report 2012/13 is downloadable for free.

From the vineyard just below Grand Cru Chapelle- Chambertin comes another wine of pure purple colour. Without being blockbuster this has notable intensity and is very long. There is a touch of velvet fruit and fine firm structure behind.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Quantities were down a further 15% on the previous two vintages. However Nicolas Rossignol reports that there were no problems in vinification, and they have added a further refinement this year with a new state-of-theart de-stemmer, which leaves the individual berries whole as it takes them off their stems. Given the natural concentration of the fruit in 2012, there was no need to seek much extraction. Once again this domaine offers superb quality at reasonable prices.

Fine mid-purple, this displays quintessential class on the nose. It is discreet, then an amazing wealth of fruit comes forward – dark berries, some coconut and a mineral thread, really complex. Exceptional length allied with delicacy, despite the sumptuous fruit.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Faiveley use three picking teams. Two started in the white wine vineyards on 28th September and were finished in four days. Then it was all hands to the red grapes. In general the harvest came in healthily, the hard work all year round in the vineyards paying dividends. We were once again very impressed.

Glowing an imperial purple, this has a richly fruited nose and explosive fruit on the palate. Dark red cherries dominate this beautifully balanced mouthful that is elegant and precise with fruit covering the tannins.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director Christian Sérafin notes that 2011 was a surprising year, with results much better than expected. These are elegant wines even by Sérafins standards and since Frédérique, Christian’s niece, has been responsible for vinification, the wines have been showing a fresher style, with slightly suppler tannins. Christian is partly retired, though he still looks after his favourite Cazetiers vineyard, as well as conducting tastings in the cellars. There is a bit more volume available than in the 2010s.

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The nose here is very dense but rather backward, before it surges forward. Brilliant and complete wine with ethereal class on top of a sturdy bone structure, it is certainly one for the long term.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director

Les Evocelles has an attractive, medium range purple fruit and quite perfumed nose. Very juicy, with a lovely limestone lift at the back from this hillside site, this is very stylish.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Louis Boillot seemed remarkably cheerful for a man who has made so little wine this year, the poor flowering taking as much toll as the hail. Most cuvées have slightly more new wood in 2012 because of the shortage of wine, but the concentration of the fruit is easily able to absorb this.

This wine is still very backward but it will certainly be dark in colour and exceptionally concentrated. We will have to wait to understand the detail of the fruit. 75% stems were retained.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Sylvie feels that her 2012s will benefit from a long maturation in barrel; the wines were certainly at a very backward stage of development when we tasted them in November. There was no hail in Gevrey- Chambertin but the poor flowering conditions restricted her crop to 25 hl/ha overall and she began picking on 24th September.

Medium purple with a stylish, this has an elegant nose, some lifted raspberry notes, and is very elegant. There is a lovely steely core behind, with some toast from the wood, but plenty of energy at the back and excellent length.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Nicolas Potel has retained the majority of his regular contracts in 2012, though a couple are missing after the hail. Like everybody else, he has had to pay more for his grapes though, especially at the top end of the hierarchy. But as ever there are some delicious wines in the range, and at the lower end the prices are thoroughly competitive.

Bright rich purple. Very classy nose with lots of energy. Rich fruit but poised and chiselled, generous in the middle yet structured and fresh behind. Fabulous blackberry and red fruit finish which stretches out magically. Haute Couture.
Jasper Morris MW, Fine Wine Buyer

This hillside vineyard has produced a lighter coloured wine with lovely perfume and intricate detail in this Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles from Louis Boillot. There are little red fruits throughout, which are not weighty, but silky and stylish.

Shining a lovely purple colour this wine evidently must come from a first rate source. There is scintillating fruit on the nose, which is just on the border between red and black, with raspberries and dark cherry notes shining through on the palate which is lively, fresh, silky and long.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

The old order changeth slowly at Maison Louis Jadot. Veteran winemaker Jacques Lardire is still very much in charge, but his eventual successor Frdric is starting to play a more prominent role. Dont expect a revolution, but a little evolution is doubtless possible. The acidity of 2010 very much suits the Jadot white wine style, while their fullish extraction of Pinot Noir has worked notably well in several red cuves such as the Volnay, Clos de la Barre which we have selected for the first time this year. Where the wines come from one of the various Jadot domaines we supply the relevant information in brackets.

We have exclusive access to this Gevrey-Chambertin and it is a brilliant mid purple colour with a really stylish nose. Good density on the palate is followed by a finale that has perfect balance between fruit, acidity and tannin. Brilliant texture is in evidence once again.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director

Maison Roche de Bellene Production has recently moved to a new facility on the outskirts of Beaune, which is making life much easier for the Roche de Bellene team. The philosophy stays the same: work with excellent grape sources and get the wines out into the market at competitive prices. The reds have had an excellent following for many a year now, while recently the whites have shown the same impressive price to quality ratio that makes this such a good address.
 

Faiveley are the talk of Burgundy at the moment, a change of generation with Erwan Faiveley now in charge has resulted in a change of style since 2007 (the old style was often very tannic). I have to say I love the new style and the famous Gevrey Premier Cru vineyard of Cazetiers epitomises it. Beautiful lifted nose, with red cherry and some bramble fruits. The palate is seamless, seductive almost, with the same red fruits showing and a lovely pepper spice finish. Burgundy of the very highest order.
Matthew Tipping - Fine Wine Sales Manager

Several parcels with vines of different ages add to the complexity of this superb Cuvée. It has a darker centre of cherry fruit and the blend of older and younger vines is very interesting.
Jasper Morris MW - Burgundy Director

The resurgence begun by the trio of Erwan Faiveley, Bernard Hervé and winemaker Jérôme Flous, who arrived in 2007, is very apparent in this brilliant series of 2011 wines. They began the harvest on 31 August and picked for 9 days. There are some new wines this year from a contract for the whole production of an estate in Chambolle-Musigny and the Faiveley white wines from totally healthy grapes are particularly successful in 2011, perhaps the best we have seen from the new regime.

This small premier cru lies just below grand cru Chapelle Chambertin. The 2005 is a rich, pure, powerful wine with impressive muscle. Keep for at least 5 years.