Les Corbeaux

Sérafin’s vines sit within a clos of sorts, in what used to be a cemetery. The vines are 50 years old and the wine has an appealing fragrant top note with a touch more complexity than the village wine. Karine views this as a typical expression of Gevrey. Drink 2022-2027.

The harvest was done early and quickly here, starting on 6th September and finished by 12th. Karine Sérafin explained that the estate was harvesting earlier than before, to keep more freshness in the wines, and also working more with leaf coverage. The old vines negated any need to green harvest and yields are up by only 20 percent from 2016, but otherwise Karine and her cousin Frédérique are intent on preserving the individuality of Christian Sérafin’s style for vins de garde, with 100 percent new oak for everything upwards from the Gevrey Vieilles Vignes.

Corbeaux always gives a lighter colour, with more finesse and less obvious intensity. It is all there though, thanks to the old vines dating back to 1920. There is a sweetness to the fruit, and an almost ethereal style.

The joy of this domaine is Denis Bachelet’s mastery of pure fruit from ancient vines in his various locations around the village. Denis has recently changed barrel supplier to enhance further the finesse of his wines and in 2014 has employed a slightly lighter extraction. Even so there is a magical concentration to his wines.

Bright purple with a graceful elegant nose. As always this is more about finesse than power but it is dnse all the same, with some blackberry and dark raspberry notes. Very exciting. A touch of oak helps lengthen the finish. 
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Denis started on 5^th 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.

This is very fine, with beautiful and lively dark currant fruit leading the nose and judged with perfect extraction. Succulent fruit comes to the fore through the middle, yet it still shows delicacy with good tannins and excellent length.
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.

These vines are approaching 50 years old. Just medium purple in colour, this has a really elegant nose. With perfect balance, there is a fine intensity all the way through the wine, rather than overt weight, and beautiful acidity. Drink 2022-2032.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

Christian Sérafin’s niece Frédérique follows very much in her uncle’s footsteps, using the same vinification and maturing principles as before, though possibly with a fractionally lighter touch. She is also reviewing the management of the soil in the vineyards to encourage more microbial life. They made what turned out to be the excellent decision not to do any leaf plucking in 2015, thus avoiding any burning of the grapes and so maintaining a respectable yield.

An extension of Mazis-Chambertin, this walled vineyard has deep soils, giving a broad-shouldered and somewhat masculine expression of Gevrey. It’s spicy and brooding, with menthol notes and a supple blackberry mid-palate that gives way to a spicy finish. Drink 2023-2033.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

This domaine was originally put on the map by Christian Sérafin’s father, Stanilaus Sérafin, a Polish émigré, who settled in Burgundy before the war. He initially worked as a mason, before purchasing some land in 1947 and establishing himself as a vigneron. His son Christian inherited the domaine in 1988, though he had been making the wine for the previous 20 years. Christian Sérafin is now past retirement age, but with a niece (Frédérique) in the vineyards and cuverie, and a daughter (Karine) in the office, continuity is in place. The style here is for powerful wines which age exceptionally well. Christian Sérafin’s niece Frédérique feels that 2016 is “une grande année de garde”, and could well surpass 2015. In fact, her confidence in the vintage is such that all the wines will be raised entirely in new oak barrels. The most badly-frosted vineyards were Bourgogne and Chambolle Baudes, which suffered 60 percent frost. Overall yields were down by around 50 percent but the cousins expect to release a larger proportion of the crop than usual en primeur in order to minimise the immediate impact of the losses. These are certainly wines which deserve long- term ageing.