Les Cras

The nose here – all floral perfume and wispy, chalky minerals – speaks clearly of this vineyard’s prime location up the slope in Chambolle. The purple fruit is initially quite rich, before the chalk and energy of Les Cras kicks in to carry the finish along with floral notes and tension. Drink 2021-2027.

Patrice explains that the hard work they did at the start of the year in pruning short and carrying out a severe de-budding, as well as a little green harvesting on younger vines, paid dividends in terms of avoiding excessive yields and consequent dilution. The dry and warm conditions towards the end of the season allowed them the luxury of choosing when to harvest, in fact beginning on 9th September. Patrice compares the vintage to 1979 and 1989, highlighting the wines’ impeccable balance and freshness (the latter he prefers over power) as particular strengths. Our notes indicate whether the wines are domaine or négoce bottlings.

A medium dense purple, this has a heavenly perfumed bouquet. With some bilberry and oak, it is nicely balanced. The oak is quite prominent at first on the palate but then the fruit takes over and fills the middle and back of the mouth. There is a touch of salinity to keep it fresh, while the fruit completely covers the bone structure. Drink 2023-2033.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

Picking began here on 4th September and took five days in incredibly easy conditions. The thick skins on the grapes and the ease with which the colour emerged meant that it was important not to go chasing the tannins, according to Ghislaine, so she used pumping over rather than punching down. All bunches were de-stemmed as usual. The crop is, once again, slightly on the small side.

With glorious, rich fruit on the nose, this is flamboyant with just the right balance of new wood and a fresh finish. This is beautiful and full of energy in 2011.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director Patrice and son Maxime Rion are tweaking their techniques a little by reducing new oak and slightly increasing extraction in the pre-fermentation stage. The results are impressive; in 2011 the wines have come in naturally at around 12.5% alcohol and they show a true sense of balance.

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This glowing wine displays a wealth of red and black fruit on the palate which is backed up by a really impressive density of flavour and a certain hillside minerality. It shows an excellent structure, balance and length, and is not that far short of perfection.

Most Exciting Value Red
Often among my favourite producers, Patrice Rion's 2008s didn't disappoint. The Chambolle, Les Cras is all that it should be with silky red summer fruits, a touch of cloves and a very well balanced structure.
(Chris Pollington, Fine Wine Sales Advisor)

Delightful dark red fruit greets the nose, while the palate of this wine is balanced, elegant and blessed with a fine backbone. This is up to the Rions’ usually high standard for Les Cras.
(Jasper Morris MW, BBR Burgundy Buyer)

Carnage here: there are only six barrels versus a usual 15. But this is so fine: with a luminous colour, it is beautifully subtle yet intense and composed. It’s more on the mineral end of the spectrum at the moment. Ghislaine and I discussed suitable adjectives: distinguished, aristocratic, intellectual. She vouchsafed she had never seen a vintage like this in her career, and only the quality of her terroir was able to manage this level of ripeness with such freshness. Drink 2025-2035.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

Ghislaine Barthod’s domaine originated in the 1920s with Marcel Noëllat whose daughter married Gaston Barthod, a soldier stationed in Dijon who came to buy some wine and got the girl as well. He gave up military life for the vineyards in 1960. His daughter, Ghislaine, and her partner Louis Boillot bought their current premises overlooking Premier Cru Les Feusselottes in 1986. Though they share the team who work the vineyards, the vinification and commercial aspects of their businesses are kept completely separate. The domaine’s strength is the range of Chambolle-Musigny, with eight separate Premier Cru bottlings. It is hard to know whether Ghislaine has triumphed this year because of, or despite, the difficulties of the vintage. The quality she has produced is superb, perhaps due to the meanness of her yields, but tragically there will be hardly any of this glory to share. Chambolle was the hardest hit by the frosts in the Côte de Nuits and, in most vineyards, she has lost 50 to 60 percent of a normal crop, in some cases 75 percent and, in Combettes and Chatelots, there is no wine at all. For each wine, we have itemised the scale of the loss.