Lavaux Saint Jacques

From 70- to 80-year-old vines, this is Carel’s favourite wine in the cellar, and it’s easy to see why. Around 40 percent whole cluster adds more lift to an already ethereal wine. There is wonderful red berry fruit here, a simmering minerality and chalky, multi-layered tannins which go on and on. A wine which simply flies. Drink 2025-2033.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

In January 2002 Maison Camille Giroud was bought by an American consortium led by banker Joe Wender and winery-owner Ann Colgin, and a new chapter began. David Croix was installed as the winemaker/ technical director and tasked with a major revamping of the winemaking facilities and especially replacement and renewal of the old barrels to make wines in a much purer, more modern style. The company also owns 1.2 hectares of vineyards in and around Beaune. The 2016 vintage was a collaborative effort between the outgoing David Croix and his replacement, Carel Voorhuis, formerly of Domaine d’Ardhuy. The transition is a smooth one, with Carel’s gentle touch following on seamlessly from David’s elegant style. Carel described the 2016 vintage as lighter than 2015, with more elegance and better balance. It is clear he has a preference for 2016, highlighting the expressive, aromatic characteristics of the wines and calling them “ethereal”. He explained that it was important to avoid over-ripeness by picking in good time, and emphasised the value of gentle extraction to prevent obtaining hard tannins.

Denis's top 1er Cru, lying on the cooler northern escarpment, hence the greater sense of freshness and terroir, as well as impression of small red berried fruit, beautiful consistency and flow.

Full purple in colour, with a very dark centre, an amazing come hither nose, real weight, and yet also very classy. Concentrated raspberry fruit, hits the high notes, with a little spice behind, and great length that keeps building. Superb.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Winemaker and general manager, David Croix, has been grumbling that he feels he has the temperament of a grower rather than the deal-making knack of a born negoçiant, so he hasn’t found it easy to fill the cellar in 2012. We also find that tasting with him feels like being in a grower’s cellar, though Camille Giroud only owns a couple of vineyards. There are, nevertheless, one or two really exciting new wines here this year, notably the Volnay Santenots, and the whole cellar is on top form.

The 70 year old vines give an intense deep purple colour, with very concentrated fruit on the nose. This lovely Lavaux offers an exceptional intensity of fruit, balanced between red and black, with great weight and brilliant length.
Jasper Morris MW - Burgundy Wine Director

It was fascinating to taste the 2012 range with Bertrand Maume and his colleagues from Marchand-Tawse, who now assist in the winemaking process since Moray Tawse bought the domaine two years ago. There is still the recognisable, characterful Maume style but some of the inconsistencies of the past have been ironed out. There has been a little more pumping-over to aerate the fermenting vats and thus better manage the reductive aspects of old-style Maume winemaking. 2012 is a lovely vintage here.

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