Burgundy

Our Chablis has been made for us by Sébastien Dampt. The warm and dry 2022 vintage has given a ripe and fleshy citrus fruit character which combines harmoniously with the classic Chablis notes of iodine and oyster shell. Entirely unoaked, this is perfect as an apéritif or with fresh seafood.

Drink 2024 - 2027

Adam Bruntlett, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd

The nose of our 2022 White Burgundy offers up a bouquet of juicy white stone fruit and subtle, toasty oak. Succulent peach and nectarine flavours fill the palate, tempered by zesty citrus and rounded out with notes of melted butter and a sizzling, iodine finish.

Drink now to 2026

Adam Bruntlett, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd

This is deliciously moreish, with sweet strawberry fruit and cranberry bite for lift. The final blend included some wine aged in large foudres (three out of the thirteen barrels made), which adds a heartier, richer texture and rounds out the wine. While this is simple, it is far from one-dimensional. The wine comes from vines in Les Conardises and the village section of Les Fourneaux vineyards. This is very appealing and at its peak now.

Mark Pardoe MW, Wine Director, Berry Bros. & Rudd (January 2024)

We’ve worked once again with the magical Merlin family to bring you this distinguished and characterful Pouilly-Fuissé. Carefully selected fruit from late-ripening vineyards in Vergisson, Fuissé and Chaintré gives a wine with freshness and energy. This offsets the generous stone and citrus fruits beautifully, combining with subtle oak spice, yielding a complex and layered wine. It pairs beautifully with white meats, seafood and goat’s cheese.

Drink 2024 - 2028

Adam Bruntlett, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd

Pierre Girardin Bourgogne Chardonnay Éclat de Calcaire unveils itself with a discreet presence and a velvety touch that gently caresses the palate. Olfactorily, it unfurls a spectrum of scents highlighted by crisp apples and succulent pears, interwoven with delicate hints of citrus. On the palate, its enveloping texture and well-balanced acidity lead to a pristine and invigorating finish.

The excellent Domaine Guyon in Vosne Romanée has been below most people’s radar  Eperhaps because Jean-Pierre Guyon spends as much of his time as possible out in the vineyards, which have been farmed organically since 2006, certified from 2012. The wines are extraordinarily good, yet are priced very sensibly indeed, a winning combination.This range of wines is hugely impressive, from the simple Bourgogne Rouge up to the Grand Crus. Finding high quality Vosne Romanée at this pricing level is a rare thing indeed.

As usual, this comprises fruit from the lieux-dits L’Ormeau, Sous la Velle, La Monatine, Les Herbeaux and Lameroses  Ewhich all lie in the middle and to the north of the appellation. Twenty percent of the wine is in barrel. There is lots of creamy fruit, a well-textured body and an open Meursault style, finishing with satisfying tension.

Drink 2022-2028.

This 2019 vintage is the best yet of our Nuits-St Georges from Benjamin Leroux. The nose is a heady perfume of dark berry fruit, violets and white pepper. The palate is creamy and succulent with a hint of vanilla. The tannins are like crushed velvet. This would be a perfect pairing with spiced lamb or lentil dishes.

Drink now until 2028

Adam Bruntlett, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd

Arguably the most complex and age-worthy wine in the cellar, this is very tight in its youth, with a little floral character poking through a muted nose before some stony minerals emerge. The palate is tightly structured with densely packed, stony tannins a touch of oak spice and some rich red fruit. This needs time to open up, but will reward those with patience. Drink 2024-2032.

François is keen to highlight the importance of the solidarity shown by the Côte’s vignerons at the end of April, when everyone came together to burn dampened bales and create cloud cover to ward off the frost. Without such action this could well have been another catastrophic yield. Having avoided this threat, the rest of the season was fairly straightforward with careful vineyard management and harvest began on the 30th August. He feels the whites are a mix of 2015 and 2014, while the reds are pretty and will drink well from an early age.

From the walled clos surrounding Château de Puligny-Montrachet, this is fast becoming an iconic wine. The deep silt and clay soils help to resist dry conditions. The attack has juicy citrus and white stone-fruit. Pleasing acidity runs right through the wine. The white-flower notes and gentle, lacy texture make this feel like a Puligny in all but name. 

Drink 2023 - 2030

Berry Bros. & Rudd

The Gevrey-Chambertin is becoming somewhat totemic for Ben, produced mostly in a beautiful 35hl foudre which Ben feels gives the wine more elegance, finesse and precision than traditional 228-litre barrels. With gorgeous, sweet red cherry fruit, a charming softness and supple tannins, it is hard to disagree with his assessment.

Classified as Vin de France. From five parcels of old vines planted between 1902 and 1953. Fresh and mineral, pleasant fruit weight with a slight tropical edge, pure and elegant style, ripe and juicy acidity, just a hint of yeast, crème patissière, good length. Not a very typical Aligoté, but a lovely wine.

Pretty pink purple with medium depth, this is extremely elegant, fills the mouth discreetly but with perfect composure and very good length, lightly marked by vanilla oak. Extremely attractive fruit that has not got too ripe.

Jasper Morris MW, InsideBurgundy.com (November 2020)

Les Aussy is a generous Premier Cru vineyard, and the 2017 characteristically offers rich and earthy red fruit, more concentration and density than the village wine and a more refined tannic structure. There is plenty of charm and approachability here, but a little more stuffing than its little brother.

Francois is keen to highlight the importance of the solidarity shown by the Côte's vignerons at the end of April, when everyone came together to burn dampened bales and create cloud cover to ward off the frost. Without such action this could well have been another catastrophic yield. Having avoided this threat, the rest of the season was fairly straightforward with careful vineyard management and harvest began on the 30th August. He feels the whites are a mix of 2015 and 2014, while the reds are pretty and will drink well from an early age.

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Ben has made this monopole wine since 2006. The vineyard is almost in the middle of the village and the wine is ebulliently cherry-fruited. Ben adds some polish (using a third whole-bunch this year). This is quite a major wine for Ben, with 13 and a half barrels this year. Drink 2022-2027.

It is fair to say that Ben is very happy with 2017, describing it as the kind of vintage he would sign up for every year. The whites, he says, are beautiful, and not far from 2014 in style, with purity, finesse, great definition and balance. He describes the reds as pretty, appealing and with body to support ageing, while highlighting the importance of lower-yielding old vines for serious ageing. He eloquently explains that there is no “black sheep” in 2017, that no village has underperformed. For reason of space, the limited volumes of Grands Crus have not been included in this brochure. Since the 2014 vintage, all white wines are bottled under screwcap.

The fear with removing the oldest vines from a blend is that the main bottling might suffer, but the average age of the other vines is still impressive at over 50 years old and the result is a wine of real intensity, with arguably more freshness, purity and elegance than usual. An ethereal and delicate expression of the clos. Drink 2020-2026.

Château des Quarts was created in 2012 by two of our favourite vignerons, Dominique Lafon and Olivier Merlin, who are old friends. The vineyard is managed by Olivier and the wine made in his facility at La Roche Vineuse. This monopole vineyard of 2.23 hectares in Chaintré is surrounded by a high stone wall, facing east, overlooking the Saône valley. The 2017 vintage saw the 100-year anniversary of the planting of the oldest parcel of vines in the Clos des Quarts. The key to their longevity is riparia rootstock and an old-school training and pruning regime.

To celebrate the centenary, Dominique Lafon and Olivier Merlin, custodians of the special property and vineyard, have decided to bottle the wine made from these ancient vines separately. Production is 10 barrels, equating to just 1,500 magnums, which are offered in individual wooden cases.

All the fruit is sourced from 1.5 ha within the Meursault commune which cover all aspects, from north to south. Aged in 600l and 500l barrels to avoid oak influence and retain the wine’s energy. There is a good spicy attack and, at tasting, some crispy reduction. A neat and delicious wine.

Drink 2023-2027

This is actually quite aromatically similar to the Fichots with perhaps just a bit more sauvage character. The supple but punchy middle weight flavours deliver similar depth and persistence on the slightly firmer and more rustic finale.

Drink from 2025 onward

Alan Meadows, Burghound.com (April 2020)

This is one of the firmer and denser wines in the range, influenced more by the clay, which is more evident here than in the neighbouring Roncière wines. A compact and positive wine that will require a little more patience. Drink 2023-2029.

Jean Grivot, whose name continues to appear on the labels, took over from his father Gaston in 1955 and handed the estate on to his son Étienne in the early 1980s. Étienne, married to Marielle Bize from Savigny, has been through a number of incarnations as winemaker here. When he took over, his father’s style was for gentle, graceful wines which perhaps were a little weak in the lesser vintages. Since then Étienne has found his own voice and made a range of increasingly fine wines. The drive to reduce yields and fine-tune his work in the vineyards and cellar since the mid-2000s continues to enhance quality. The succession to the next generation is now well underway, with Mathilde and Hubert increasingly influential, under their father’s experienced and wise guidance.

Here the decision was to wait for a bit of rain, to get the skins and berries fully ripe. The rain did the trick and the resulting wines are among the best of the Côte this year. Adjectives tumbled from Étienne during the tasting: seductive and precise, glamorous, graphite and saline, luminous and suave. We both agreed we rather liked “resonant E Volumes are up 50 percent but Étienne warned us that the run of short vintages has depleted their reserves, and as such allocations this year will not move up in line.

Perfumed and attractive, this is a ‘95 that is ready to sit up and take notice. Very graceful lines, still fresh behind but the fruit is maturing nicely. Just getting there.
(Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director)

Nicolas Potel, took his first steps as winemaker in the family Estate in Volnay, Le Domaine de la Pousse d’Or. He established his own negoce operation in 1996 , followed by Maison Potel-Aviron in Beaujolais region in 2000 and his efforts culminated in his own Estate, Domaine de Bellene in 2005, with 15 ha of organically-farmed vines in Côte de Beaune.

In 2008, after leaving the SAS Nicolas Potel company, Nicolas Potel launched a new, "Haute Couture"-style negociant business called "Maison Roche de Bellene" which focuses on offering the rare and fine cuvées.

The Bellene range encompasses wines from the Côte de Nuits, and has the widest selection of Grand Crus from Burgundy, as well as a number of prestige 1er Cru cuvées such as Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses, Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Les Combottes.

Recently , Nicolas Potel introduced a range of very rare older vintages, under the name "Collection Bellenum".
These exceptional wines, dating back from 1959 are the result of a strict selection of old vintages originating from the cellars of some of the most acclaimed wine producers in Burgundy.

Dominique rents this from the same owner as Vignes Franches, and the vines are also 60 years old. Arguably Beaune’s best vineyard, this has an extra layer of dark, meaty richness alongside the usual bright, floral notes.

Drink 2024 - 2031

Pale straw with a very faint, green tint, En la Barre is muscular yet also elegant, offering a huge volume of fruit in the mouth, crisp acidity, perfumed red fruit notes, cherries and an excellent finish on which the fruit lingers.

Overall yields were better than Antoine feared in 2014, but some of his vineyards, including those used for his Bourgogne Blanc and Meursault En la Barre as well as part of Poruzots, were particularly badly hit by the hail. He picked from 13th September and has made his usual range of outstanding, ageworthy wines which will not be bottled until next summer. The secret to his style is not clarifying the juice out of the press, and no stirring of the lees.

The wine's intense red color reveals aromas of ripe red fruits and spices, with a beautiful tannic structure in the mouth. The vines for this wine are traditionally farmed by the winemaker Pierre Girardin, thus guaranteeing exceptional quality. For vintage 2021, this wine reflects the unique terroir of the region and fully expresses all the viticultural expertise of the house. Ideal to accompany meat dishes, this red wine is a real gem to enjoy in a convivial atmosphere.

This has a bright pink-purple colour, displaying darker fruit compared to the Vosne-Romanée and somewhat firmer tannins, combined with very good acidity behind. This is an excellent, intense, structured village wine. Drink 2020-2027
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

Etienne Grivot held off until 10th September because he felt the tannins were not quite ripe before then. Sugar levels never rose too high and acidity levels are good. When asked to describe the vintage, Etienne opined that 2015 has “charm and sensuality up front, energy behind; a charming but sophisticated vintage”. The vintage continues a superb recent run from the Grivots, with Etienne as éminence grise and Mathilde taking increasing responsibility during vinification.

From five plots around the vineyard, Arnaud doesn’t use any whole-bunch here, feeling the floral profile of the vineyard does not need further embellishment. The nose is beautifully perfumed, with wild strawberry and delicate flowers drifting from the glass. Juicy, ripe red berries fill the palate, rounding out the middle, before the arrival of intensely fresh and chalky tannins. Seductive but serious.

Berry Bros. & Rudd

From five plots the vineyard, this is a wine for which Arnaud never includes any whole bunches. It has a wonderful, floral, red berry lift to the nose, while the palate is defined by the acidity and ethereal energy. Still discreet and hidden, this needs time to open. The new oak (70 percent) is so well-integrated as to be barely noticeable.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

The domaine was founded by Charles Mortet, but rose to fame with the exceptional 1993 vintage crafted by his son Denis who tragically died at the age of 51 in January 2006. Denis believed with a deep passion that the work in the vineyard was everything. He has been succeeded by his equally, indeed exceptionally, talented son Arnaud, now also with the assistance of his sister Clémence. At the domaine everything starts in the vineyard, where every measure is taken to produce the finest, ripest fruit possible, creating a style of wine which, as Denis used to say is “a pleasure to drink young or old”. Arnaud Mortet is very happy with the quality of the 2016 vintage, explaining that its balanced profile with a mixture of ripeness and elegance will please everyone. Yields are very variable across the range, with anything from 30 to 70 percent of the crop having been lost to frost. Fortunately, mildew was not an issue as he acted swiftly to treat the vineyard when conditions began to deteriorate. He has generally used fewer whole bunches this year than in 2015.

Domaine Denis Mortet in Burgundy was founded by Denis Mortet in the early 1990s. He died at the age of 51, after taking his own life in January 2006. In his brief, but highly acclaimed passage from the winemaking scene, he rose to become a colossal figure in Burgundy, fashioning wines from relatively modest vineyard holdings which punch far above their weight. He rose to fame with an exceptional range of wines from the 1993 vintage. 

This bright purple Clos de Vougeot wine is a blend from two holdings, one near the top of the Clos and the other lower down. The fruit is a little reticent on the nose at first but develops strongly to the back of the palate. A deep, rich, complex, and spicy finish envelopes the palate, with a noteworthy structure also in evidence.

Two recent trends that winemaker Pierre Vincent has continued here are a slight reduction in the amount of new oak, which now mostly comes from the local forest of Cîteaux, and a slight increase in the use of stems during vinification. The latter is subtly judged, though, as there is rarely any outright feel of the stems in the bouquet or palate. 2010 is a tiny crop, averaging 24 hl/ha across the cellar, but the wines are magically concentrated.

Berry Bros. & Rudd

The 2014 Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru les Véroilles has a perfumed and floral bouquet with touches of violet infusing the red berry fruit, complex and engaging, more mercurial in the glass - perhaps a Chambolle with secrets to covet. The palate is very supple and silky in texture, and there is wonderful, saturated tannin here matched with a sorbet-like freshness and great precision towards the tender finish. This is a divine, delectable wine from Ghislaine Barthod. - Wine Advocate 92-94/100

Formerly known as the cuvée "La Croix Blanche," Tremblay's 2018 Bourgogne Côte d'Or derives from well-situated parcels in the communes of Vosne-Romanée and Chambolle-Musigny. Offering up an inviting bouquet of red berries, woodsmoke and raw cocoa that's framed by a deft touch of oak, the wine is medium to full-bodied, velvety and concentrated, with a fleshy core of fruit, elegant structuring tannins and lively acids.

William Kelley, Wine Advocate (January 2020)

From a mix of Meursault, St. Aubin, Puligny and Chassagne.

A fresh and ripe nose combines notes of apple, pear and a pretty floral whiff. There is good vibrancy and very good density as well to the delicious flavors that conclude in a citrus-tinged finish that is refreshing and sneaky long. This is quite good for what it is and worth checking out, especially as an all-around house white.

Drink from 2021 onward

Allen Meadows, Burghound.com (June 2020)

This parcel of old vines is situated at the top of the vineyard, alongside Drouhin’s Clos des Mouches.  The aromas are of red and black fruit, with some  spice adding complexity. On the palate, it is all  cherry, with real richness, plenty of power and chalky but ripe tannins. The finish is creamy and floral. Drink 2022-2027.

After the famine of 2016, this year is something of a feast, at least in the case of the reds. Sadly, the whites, which Dominique praises as having excellent clarity, are in slightly smaller volumes than 2016. The good news is that the full range of red wines has been made, and in good volume too. Dominique is effusive in his praise for the 2017 reds, describing them as appealing, with beautiful balance, a lightness of touch, refined tannins and a floral character with stunning red fruit.

Ripe purple, with a dense concentration of dark cherry fruit, there is something a touch firmer behind, with more structure, as befits a Premier Cru. The bones are covered by delicious, unctuous fruit. This is a wine with great persistence. Drink 2020-2028.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

Paul Zinetti’s second harvest at the domaine has at least given him a few more grapes to play with than 2014 and fruit of exceptional quality. Nonetheless 2015 was once again a very short crop because of the previous hail damage, delivering just one third of what used to be normal. The grapes were mostly de-stemmed, although some whole bunches were used, but always a minority.

Brilliant purple in colour with a lively bouquet of vivid dark raspberry. Medium-bodied yet really intense with glowing fruit, really long. A Gevrey to put away for a decade.

Half on alluvial soil and half on sand, the former adding spice and weight. Half raised in foudre and half in tank. Glowing purple and much fresher than Wild Soul. This is really classy with the lovely grip that Julien gets to reinforce his wines.

La Voûte Saint-Vincent is the Desvignes’ calling card: an accessible expression of Morgon made from vines planted on sandy soils. Made entirely without oak, the nose has a beautifully lifted perfume of red berries and peonies. In the mouth, the attack is juicy and saline, a theme that runs through the 2021s. This is already very expressive and charming in youth. This is a moreish and thirst-quenching wine, ideal for the summer months.

Drink 2023 - 2027

The colour here is a beautiful, brisk pink-purple. The nose is heady with pure red fruit, a little touch of new oak, good concentration. Bright red fruit follows on the palate, stretching out very nicely to the back. This wine is very much about the fruit and the delicacy of the approach. Good length. Drink 2022-2030.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

The Lamarches began on 10th September, picking over six days and realising better yields than in 2014. This year Nicole Lamarche has been able to make exactly the wines which she wants to make, avoiding deep extraction while using around 30 percent whole bunches. Do not expect dark colours and overt concentration, but if your taste is for elegant, floral, eventually ethereal wines then this is the place to be.

This is on very cool Comblanchien limestone; the vines need Champagne rootstocks to prosper. For this, Laurent selects his oldest vines (some 70 years old) from Clos du Roy. It’s raised two-thirds in demi-muid, the rest in barrique. This has more Marsannay grip and a spicy graphite finish, but then it unfolds, and there is a delicacy, too. 

Drink 2024 - 2032

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Benjamin Leroux’s Savigny-lès-Beaune blend is from Conardises and Fourneaux as usual; however, this year, no whole bunches were used, as there was too much fruit variation from the latter. The vineyards didn’t see too much frost damage, so yields were only down 15%. As in previous years, the wine was aged in 600l foudres. The wine behaved well in élevage, with a quick malolactic fermentation. This is a beautiful wine with good consistency and length. 

Drink 2023 - 2030

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting in Beaune. The 2012 Volnay 1er Cru Santenots du Milieu showed just a touch of reduction, but otherwise there is appreciable blackberry and briary fruit here, tertiary/woodland scents with just a splash of balsamic. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, good backbone, more backward than its peers and probably befitting another 12 months in bottle. Broody perhaps? Yet there is appreciable balance and its sturdiness will soften with time.
Neal Martin - 30/10/2015

The 2018 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champeaux, 1er Cru, comes from the southern flank of the vineyard and comprises just two barrels this vintage. It includes a little whole bunch, around 10%. When I tasted this from barrel, it had a reticent nose, quite distant and not as immediate or as seductive as Duroché’s other 2018s. The palate is mDuroché’sied with fine, pliant tannins matched with well-judged acidity. It develops a pleasant rondeur toward the finish, almost as if compensating for the aromatics. A multifaceted wine that becomes more and more floral with aeration. Mercurial and endlessly fascinating.

Drink 2022 - 2040

Neal Martin, Vinous.com (January 2020)

This is picked, vinified and aged in four distinct parts, based on vine age and location, although Paul feels there are eight or nine distinct terroirs in the clos. Each adds something different, and the final blend is greater than the sum of its parts, with a dense fruit perfume leading on to a palate that is at once rich and fresh, with chalky tannins and floral touches. A rather delicate and elegant expression. Drink 2027-2040.

Vinified with 50% whole cluster.

A fresh, cool, and airy mix is composed of perfumed aromas of rose petals, violet, red currant, and a background hint of earth. There is a first-rate intensity to the mineral-driven and muscular medium-weight flavours that exhibit terrific persistence on the firm and moderately rustic finish. Pommard villages wines rarely get much better than this, though it is necessary to have extended patience.

Drink from 2028 onward

Allen Meadows, Burghound.com (January 2018)

A perfumed and very pretty nose speaks mainly of various red berries and soft earth. The delicious, succulent and rounded flavours possess good vibrancy while exhibiting only a touch of rusticity on the moderately firm finale.

Drink from 2023 onward

Allen Meadows, Burghound.com (January 2021)

Reduction. This is completely different from the Beaux Monts, particularly in terms of size and weight as there is real muscle to the impressively concentrated and ripe medium-bodied plus flavors that culminate in a hugely long finish that coats the palate with dry extract. The supporting tannins are also markedly firmer and it's clear that this will require around 15 years to completely realize its full, and considerable, potential yet it should be approachable after 10 years or so. In a word, impressive.
Allen Meadows - burghound.com - Jan 2014

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.

The vineyard is farmed by Benjamins right-hand man, Jean-Charles Carr, and the Clos de la Cave des Ducs is the epitome of perfectly balanced Volnay not massive but with an exquisite delicacy of red and black fruit and great persistence.

The outstanding wine in 2007 is equally brilliant in 2008. Deep purple in colour with exceptional power on the nose. Some fresh mulberry fruit at the start leads to more complex flavours and even a touch of bacon on the palate. Stems used in the vinification. Brilliantly put together. Very long finish, suffused with energy.
(Jasper Moris MW, BBR Buyer)

Dominique has this parcel on a fermage contract. It's an elegant expression of Beaune, with a bright purple colour, floral aromatics and rich fruit on the palate.  The tannins are silky, seductive and perfectly integrated with the fruit. A wonderful, floral finish. Drink 2021-2026

After the famine of 2016, this year is something of a feast, at least in the case of the reds. Sadly, the whites, which Dominique praises as having excellent clarity, are in slightly smaller volumes than 2016. The good news is that the full range of red wines has been made, and in good volume too. Dominique is effusive in his praise for the 2017 reds, describing them as appealing, with beautiful balance, a lightness of touch, refined tannins and a floral character with stunning red fruit.

This wonderfully sophisticated wine wears its newly awarded Premier Cru badge easily. A charming perfume wafts from the glass – a heady cocktail of white flowers, ripe white peach, nectarine and smoky oak. The palate is succulent and mouth-watering, with dense fruit layered between chalky limestone notes and saline acidity carrying the lingering finish.

Drink 2025 - 2035

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Antoine observed that his higher vineyards have loved the 2017 vintage. This has much more bulk than usual, but it is well-toned, resolving to an assertive and intense finish, through which the year’s bright freshness glitters like a quartz lode. Drink 2023-2031.

Antoine feels that 2017 is a little less rich than 2015, but also fresher. He likes wines with body, so the freshness is a bonus, adding another dimension. He will bottle in December and January; he feels that after a warm summer, two winters in barrel is too long and earlier bottling is necessary to capture the fruit. He now wonders whether he should have bottled his 2015s sooner. Harvest began on 31st August – even for his Blagny, which used to be one of the last to ripen, indicative of the warming conditions in the region.

Fine, bright colour, this has a brilliantly concentrated nose, showing power and muscle, plus beautiful fruit. It is an astonishingly gorgeous mouthful of fruit with richness, density, and a lovely finish. This is accessible, adorable, but with the structure to age well.

Jean-Philippe is serene in the knowledge of the quality of his 2014 vintage. The grapes were entirely healthy, there were no problems in vinification, the maturation process is happening as it should and the wines are set to give a great deal of pleasure all round. There is less reduction than last year, so they will be accessible reasonably early, while still having good keeping potential.

This Nuits-St. Georges, Clos de la Maréchale has a heavenly and hedonistic nose with black cherries and sweet ripe fruit in abundance. The fruit is really velvety and is rounded off with an elegant finish.

This parcel of 60-year-old vines is at the top of the vineyard, alongside Drouhin’s Clos des Mouches. This fine vineyard makes wines of persistence and density, with fine, linear tannins. Drink 2024-2030.

Pitures is François’s only Volnay from the north of the village. It’s a higher vineyard close to Pommard and stylistically very different; François refers to it as a distant cousin. Certainly, there’s a Pommardian dash about the wine, with a sturdiness and more pronounced tannins. In 2019, it works really well, with the deeper creases seemingly ironed out.

Drink 2025 - 2038

Berry Bros. & Rudd

The Maranches vineyard has a significant proportion of old Chardonnay Muscaté vines, a variety which provides a floral note to the fruit. The vineyard faces south but has a high proportion of active limestone, so marries warm fruit and cool acidity. The wine is sunny and floral, with plenty of weight and a fresh finish.

Drink now

Berry Bros. & Rudd

From Gilly-les-Citeaux and below Chambolle. Dense dark purple. Ripe raspberry but better balanced than En Bollery. Spicy finish, and I enjoy the wealth of fruit.

Jasper Morris MW, InsideBurgundy.com (December 2021)

Bachelet's 2019 Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes has turned out beautifully in bottle. Soaring from the glass with aromas of cherries and raspberries mingled with sweet spices, licorice, rose petals and orange rind, it's medium to full-bodied, velvety and layered, with terrific concentration, lively acids and a long, perfumed finish. As readers will remember, this cuvée incorporates the domaine's holdings in Les Evocelles this year.

Drink 2025 - 2055

William Kelley, Wine Advocate (January 2022)

Not old by the standards of this domaine's other vineyard holdings - it was planted in 1980 - this 0.5ha piece of Les Petits Vougeots always seems to produce a delightfully scented, hedonistic Pinot in the hands of Charles van Canneyt. It's crunchy, juicy and vibrant, with chalky minerality and enticing raspberry and red cherry fruit. Drinking Window 2023 - 2029. - Decanter 95/100

This wine expresses the exceptional character of a great terroir combined with a great grape variety. Its fine, complex nose features notes of red and black fruit (cherry, raspberry, blackcurrant) combined with delicate nuances of oak and subtle hints of spices. On the palate, this wine's smooth, full-bodied texture is supported by elegant tannic structure. An exceptional, classy wine that is endowed with remarkable length.
On the palate, all the crispiness of Pinot Noir with very pleasing, smooth, mouth-filling tannic texture.

The 2016 Vosne-Romane 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts actually has a similar bouquet to the Les Beaux Monts but with heightened mineralit which is prioritized over the fruit. I was momentarily whisked back to my youth, pot-holing in the Lake District, that tang of limestone and moorland in the air. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin. As Alec Seysses remarked, there is more wine in the Malconsorts compared to the Beaux Monts. It has brilliant delineation and a very complex finish that fans out with real confidence. This is one of the top wines from Dujac. Chapeau.
Neal Martin - 29/12/2017

Tasted at the Domaine

The 2016 Vosne-Romanée Les Chaumes 1er Cru has an expressive bouquet with blackberry and raspberry. It is quite floral, with touches of orange blossom surfacing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannin. There is plenty of matière here, with a masculine, spicy, and saline finish that appears to have gained length since I tasted it in barrel. This is very promising.

Drink 2023 - 2040

Neal Martin, Vinous.com (October 2019)

An overtly floral and spicy nose is quite restrained if exceptionally pretty with its cool array of spice, Asian-style tea, and red and blue pinot fruit scents. There is a terrific vibrancy to the much more mineral-driven medium-weight flavours, which also culminate in a linear and delineated finish that really firms up as it sits on the palate. This is very much built-to-age and will need at least half a dozen years to unwind. In a word, excellent.

Drink from 2027 onward

Allen Meadows, Burghound.com (January 2018)

From a south-facing vineyard immediately above the hamlet of Gamay, this delivers immediate pleasure. There is a pure expression of the redcurrant end of Pinot Noir’s spectrum, both aromatically and with the energy on the palate. This is more than a simple, pretty wine; there is a surprisingly well-layered palate, with more strawberry notes among the sapid tannins.

Drink 2023 - 2028

Berry Bros. & Rudd

The nose is complex and fascinating, slightly floral, with a little bit of graphite, giving the idea that the main block of wine is not even starting to show but is just giving off a few little waves of flavour to amuse us with. Huge potential here, more acidity at the back, what a wealth of fruit! Startling stuff and really very long indeed.

Jasper Morris MW, InsideBurgundy.com (February 2022)

This vineyard is located right next door to Vosne-Romanée and this Nuits-St Georges Les Damodes 1er Cru from Pierre Vincent shares many of its aromatic characteristics, with lovely soft, fleshy fruit and an impressive purity.

From Lavières and Bas de Combe plus two vineyards nearer to Nuits. Again there is no especial depth of colour, yet with this sublime fragrance. The whole bunches are a bit firmer but the fragrance comes behind.

Jasper Morris MW, Inside Burgundy (Novemeber 2018)

There is exceptional weight to the nose of this majestic Montrachet; the fruit absolutely dances in the glass, keeping the wood in check. With massive weight, real elegance and perfect balance, this is a winner!

The 2018 Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières opens in the glass with notes of citrus oil, pear, oatmeal and struck flint, framed by a deft touch of smoky reduction. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and intense, with racy acids and a searingly chalky finish. Anne Morey tells me that her father farmed this 0.55-hectare parcel before acquiring it at the end of the 1980s, and the composition of the soils suggests that this was the location where rejected stones from the quarry that lends the climat its name were discarded. - Wine Advocate

A lovely wine, the 2018 Meursault Les Grands Charrons opens in the glass with notes of pear, peach and apple blossom, framed by delicate hints of wheat toast and praline. Medium to full-bodied, elegantly textural and precise, it's built around lively acids and fine-structuring dry extract. This may not be the most long-lived rendition of this cuvée, but it's among the most immediately charming.

Once again, the bearded Bernard Boisson presided over my annual tasting in the usual, refreshingly old-school, manner, offering splashes from a variety of bottles, some open for several days and some opened for my benefit. As readers will remember, Bernard's holdings have been entirely divided between his son Pierre and daughter Anne, who work together in the vineyards and cellar, since 2017. As I've written before, in his day, Bernard Boisson was one of the village's latest harvesters; and his wines only spent a year on the lees, with much of the production sold to the négociants.

With Pierre's arrival at the domaine some 15 years ago, that changed dramatically: the domaine has returned, as Bernard puts it, to do things as they were done in his grandfather's era. That means early harvesting, little débourbage, long sur-lie élevage ranging from 19 to 22 months and restrained use of new oak—up to 30%, largely from Saint-Romain's Tonnellerie Gillet. The entire production is now bottled without filtration. This is a fine address, and this first look at the 2018s—as well as some later-released 2017s—revealed wines that are very much in the classic style that followers of these domaines have come to expect.

Drink 2022 - 2035

William Kelley, Wine Advocate (January 2021)

From Laurent’s oldest vines in the Clos du Roy, this cuvée is brimming with its customary griotte aromas. On the palate, firm tannins, a cool berry fruit profile and crisp acidity point to the vineyard’s soil of hard Comblanchien limestone, and to the wine’s capacity to age.

Drink 2021 - 2028

Berry Bros. & Rudd

This is a wine with real personality. It’s from four plots of vines planted in the 1940s, including one on gravel to which David attributes its spicy, savoury aromas. Lots of juicy black fruit on the palate, with just the right degree of firmness to the tannins to give an extra sense of freshness.

Drink 2021 - 2025

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Another new lieu-dit bottling is the 2017 Mâcon-Verzé Le Monté, which derives from a vineyard located above the hamlet of Escolles on a plateau rich in flint, and fully one-third of which was fermented and raised in wood. Unfurling in the glass with scents of pear, pastry cream, smoky and toasted nuts, it's medium to full-bodied, with a broader attack and a more saline finish than the Chênes, though it shares the incisiveness that distinguishes all of Leflaive's Mâcon cuvées this year.

Drink 2018 - 2028

William Kelley, Wine Advocate (August 2019)

South west and sunny despite the altitude. Clear pale colour, a fine ripe but balanced nose, with real grip on the palate, some weight. Good tension despite the flesh.

Jasper Morris MW, Insideburgundy.com (November 2019)

Their first year of conversion to biodynamics. Vines were planted in 1934 and the late 1960s—half whole bunch.

Dark garnet. Very sumptuous, well-developed, rich notes on the nose. It has fully evolved already with some meatiness and delivery of finesse. It is a really useful, quite precocious 2005 Grand Cru. There are no infinite layers but lots of pleasure and good structure. Just a hint of dustiness. Mildly chunky on the end. Lip-smacking. 

Drink 2015 - 2030

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (August 2015)

From vines averaging between 60 and 70 years of age located in Les Champs Perriers, En Derée, Sylvie, Les Jeunes Rois, La Justice, La Burie and La Platière.

A perfumed and very pretty nose features notes of various dark berries, spice, earth and a hint of violet. The rich, naturally sweet, very round, medium-bodied flavours possess both excellent mid-palate volume and outstanding depth in the well-balanced finish. As it almost always does, this boxes well above its weight for a villages level Gevrey.

Drink from 2022 onward

Allen Meadows, Burghound.com (January 2018)

Deep dark purple, slight lack of freshness on the nose, but that soon blows off. Much riper fruit and drier tannins, this vineyard has been caught out a bit. - Jasper Morris

A heavenly, heady bouquet enthrals the nose whilst supple, vigorous black fruit flavours dance across the palate. This may have a firm, tannic finish but there is so much fruit here that this will develop beautifully over a decade or more.

From the villages portion of La Bossière among other parcels.

A slightly riper mix of dark currant, plum and freshly turned earth introduces very rich and attractively vibrant middle weight flavors that exude a subtle minerality on the youthfully austere finish. This too is very good for a villages level Gevrey.

Drink from 2026 onward

Allen Meadows, Burghound.com (January 2020)

Two thirds comes from their normal grape purchases to which is added a plot of Aux Leureys, recovered as part of the Daniel Rion inheritance. A rich even purple. Lifted raspberry fruit, not too dark, then a bundle of dark red cherries on the palate. Just fills the mouth out a little more than the very fine Bons Batons. Good length, a Côte de Nuits-Villages of considerable charm. 

Drink 2026 - 2034

Jasper Morris MW, Inside Burgundy (October 2023)

From this vintage onwards, Thierry has incorporated the fruit from vines that are 30-years-old or older to give an extra kernel of concentration to what is a beautifully harmonious wine. Drink from 2015.

Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2014 tasting, Ghislaine Barthod's 2014 Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru les Cras has a slightly leathery, animally bouquet, but behind that is plenty of gutsy red fruit laced with pressed flowers. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin, quite Morey-Saint-Denis in style in terms of structure, with a slightly tarry finish that needs more elegance to show through. I am certain that it will with time; indeed, the wine appeared to rapidly improve and gain cohesion in the glass as it aerated. Tasted September 2017.
Neal Martin - 31/10/2017

14.3% alcohol

Rich dense purple with ultra lush extrovert raspberry, a thick sweet texture, plump through the middle, not unbalanced but you can still see the heat a bit. The tannins are ripe though and there is some acidity. 

Jasper Morris MW, InsideBurgundy.com (November 2021)

This is from two domaine vineyards near Clos de la Maréchale in Prémeux-Prissey – Chaillots and Roichottees – and purchased fruit from Bons Batons in Chambolle-Musigny. Each represents roughly a third of the blend. This is lovely with the spicy, limestone feel of Prémeaux and perfumed elegance of Chambolle. Juicy, creamy and saline, it will offer much pleasure in the short and medium term. 

Drink 2024 - 2030

Berry Bros. & Rudd

An explosive nose and dark fruit layered over a velvety texture. Though it is tightly knit, the exuberant fruit keeps trying to burst out. Made with 80% whole bunch and 80% new barrel this year, this is a dense glowing purple with a super succulent nose; very Chambolle. Hugely seductive with astonishing length and intensity. Bravo.

This superb domaine grows in reputation and also in size: this year sees the first vintage of Nuits-St Georges, Clos de Thorey. Look out for even further additions in the next two years. Winemaker Pierre Vincent’s style is for lighter colours and very sensual wines and he has done a cracking job again in 2012; a vintage which supported the plentiful use of whole bunch fermentation. The domaine is certified organic and fully biodynamic.

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Only a small holding, alas, but the wine is very grand.Thoroughly rich, robust fruit, a mix of darker fruit and pureed berries, is supported by an excellent tannic structure.This will repay keeping for a decade. Drink 2015-2020

The 2019 Bourgogne Chardonnay is a medium to full-bodied, round and fleshy wine evocative of peach, fresh mint, pastry cream and vanilla pod. Open and demonstrative, it will drink well young. - Robert Parker

There is both good freshness and reasonably good typicity to the white orchard fruit scents that are laced with soft citrus nuances. The vibrant and nicely concentrated medium weight flavors possess a caressing and succulent mouthfeel while delivering fine depth and persistence though there is a bit of perceptible backend warmth. This is a quality Petit Chablis that could be enjoyed young or cellared for a few years first.

Drink 2023+

Burghound (Nov 2020)

Firm reduction knocks down the underlying fruit at present. There is more size and power to the equally mineral-driven flavors that aren't especially dense, though neither are they dilute, while offering outstanding depth and persistence on the notably firm finale. Patience suggested.

Drink 2034+

Burghound (Apr 2019)

A cool, pure and airy nose reluctantly expresses notes of red cherry and whiffs of spice, humus and freshly turned earth. There is good power to the succulent and enveloping medium weight plus flavors that offer even better minerality if, somewhat surprisingly, a bit less concentration, on the youthfully austere and mildly awkward finish as there is just enough dryness to mention. This may well come together as the supporting tannins seem ripe but that is not a certainty.

Drink 2029+

Burghound (Jan 2019)

A very late malolactic fermentation  Efinishing only on 17th September, allowing extended time on lees  Ehas given this wine a fabulous texture. Aged in new (50 percent) and second-fill barrels, this is benchmark Vosne, with expressive aromas and a nugget of fruit at its core. Just 13 barrels were made. Drink 2020-2027.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

Sylvain Cathiard’s grandfather, a foundling from Savoie, came to work in Vosne-Romanée, subsequently buying a few parcels of vineyards for himself. His son André Cathiard began to bottle some of the crop. In due course Sylvain began work with his father but then separated to start his own small domaine, until, on his father’s retirement in 1995, Sylvain could take back the family vineyards on a renting agreement. He has now passed the domaine on to his son Sébastien and a spacious new cellar has been constructed. There is a sense of frustration about Sébastien Cathiard this year. Of course, the loss of so much fruit sets the tone, but he also had to take emergency action to control the aggressive mildew, losing his organic status in the process. Who can blame him? Thus he states a preference for 2015, a significantly easier vintage and one for the long-term, but there are still some very notable wines here. The vintage began on 28th September and was over in three days, as the small berries on the frosted vines had caught up after the welcome September rains. He describes the year as gourmand, balanced and pure.

There is enough reduction to notice though not so much as to completely dominate the floral-suffused nose. This also possesses relatively fine-grained tannins though there is notably more size, weight and power as well as a bit more complexity to the mineral-driven and impeccably well-balanced finish that is both explosive and palate staining. This is most impressive as it manages to deliver stunning intensity and depth of material without any undue heaviness. Note however that this is one very structured wine that will require a lengthy stay in a cool cellar to arrive at its full peak.

Allen Meadows - burghound.com - Jan 2015

The 2015 Beaune 1er Cru Celebration is a rich, radiant wine. Sumptuous and expansive on the palate, the 2015 possesses striking inner perfume and fabulous depth. The flavours are dark, bold and incisive in this decidedly potent, somber Beaune 1er Cru from Jadot. Even with all of its natural richness, the 2015 is massively tannic and shut down. I wouldn’t dream of opening a bottle anytime soon. The combination of 19 climats results in a Beaune of unusual complexity and pedigree, butders will have to be patient. The 2015 was only bottled in December 2017.

Drink 2030 - 2055

Blended with 10% whole bunch, the 2019 Moulin-à-Vent Vieilles Vignes was acutely affected by millerandage and yields were just 8–10hl/ha. This has a well-defined bouquet of blueberry and black plum aromas, the whole bunch neatly interwoven. The palate is well balanced with juicy ripe black fruit, fine acidity and very good structure on the finish. An excellent Moulin-à-Vent.

Drink 2022 - 2030

The 2017 Auxey-Duresses Les Cloux is lovely, delivering an incipiently complex bouquet of pear, woodsmoke, dried white flowers and fresh pastry. It's medium to full-bodied, satiny and textural, built around racy acids and chalky dry extract.

Drink 2022 - 2037

Moulin- à -Vent was badly hailed in 2017, so Olivier did not make a bottling of his single-vineyard La Rochelle, instead blending the fruit into this single bottling. Théo looked after the vinification, de-stemming the fruit and using very gentle extraction to produce a gorgeous, pretty wine with rich red and black cherry, white pepper and a concentrated but fresh feel.

Olivier is taking many steps to counteract the warmer summers and earlier harvests; managing the canopy to protect grapes from sunburn, using late-ripening rootstocks, reducing the amount of new oak he uses to keep the wines feeling fresher, and bringing harvest dates forward to retain acidity. The 2017 crop is around 15 percent down due to the dry summer which stressed the grapes. Picking began on 27th August and Olivier feels the wines are a little richer than 2016, but still with very good balance and well-integrated oak.

Drink 2019 - 2025

From Derrière la Four, Chardannes and Herbues. Again, I sense a little touch of volatile on the nose, but perhaps it is just me today. Pale to mid purple with light rim, elegant wine with an attractive supple character and a particularly long finish.

A ripe and mildly exotic combination offers notes of lychee nut, white peach, spice, jasmine tea and a hint of matchstick character. There is impressive richness to the opulent, round and full-bodied flavors that coat the palate with dry extract on the bitter lemon and slightly warm but well-focused finish. This is a relatively tightly wound 2015 that should age well. - Burghound

Very smart nose with a hint of oak. Lots of race and energy though the oak is just a tad obvious. You'll need to wait quite a while for this.

Drink 2019 - 2028

A brooding yet softly perfumed nose features a pretty mix of both red and dark berry aromas that are just beginning to display some secondary development along with background nuances of spice and exotic tea. The delicious and relatively accessible medium-bodied flavors exude a discreet minerality on the complex, balanced and lingering finish. For my taste this hasn't quite yet arrived at its peak though it's not far away and could easily be enjoyed now. That said I would advise hold this for another 2 to 4 years first. In a word, lovely.
Allen Meadows - burghound.com - Oct 2014

Truly a classic wine despite the sumptuous aspect of the fruit in 2003 there is nonetheless a real sense of elegance. Extraordinary length. Certainly 5 to 10 years, maybe much longer.

Rich, elegant and generous. Lovely fruit. Harmonious and intense. Very good indeed, especially for a village 'appellation controlee'. From 2007.

This is a wine of immense potential but it is rather raw at the moment and will certainly need decanting. Underneath the reductive elements, the fruit is superlatively rich, sumptuous yet also stylish, with dark fruit notes, weight and yet excellent structure.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

The 2014 Clos St Denis Grand Cru has a very refined, very cohesive, elegant bouquet with red cherry, wild strawberry and rose petals - wonderful. The palate is medium-bodied with chewy tannin on the entry, a thickly layered Clos Saint Denis with dense, ripe raspberry and cranberry fruit, though it just needs a little more detail on the finish if he wants to strut like the Amoureuses.
Neal Martin - 31/12/2015

Bright fresh purple colour. Here there is a trace of a minor reduction but much less severe than the Bourgogne, otherwise a much prettier raspberry fruit with a light cherry touch. Perfectly clean fruit, quite juicy and with good length. Will be a treat. No great acidity.

Drink 2024 - 2028

Jasper Morris MW, InsideBurgundy.com (January 2023)

Delicate, light colour with faint green notes, this has a very elegant, classy nose, still with a layer of velvet. This is lively, vibrant and very dense, with pure ripe pears. It is very long and has quite a bit of power behind it; there is exceptional potential here.

The sometimes hesitant Caroline Gagnard was confident when showing us her excellent range of 2015s, and rightly so. Poor conditions during flowering have resulted in a small crop in red but somewhat better for white. Caroline began picking on 31 August and thinks that 2015 resembles a mix of 2010, ‘12, and ‘13, describing the wines as being both “glace et sorbet” – i.e., with the fresh precision of a sorbet and the richer texture of ice cream.

Berry Bros. & Rudd

5-10% fermented and aged five to six months in old barrels, the rest in tank and aged therein for 10-12 months.

Light notes of citrus and cedar, more open and expressive than some. With the rounded texture of that oak-fermented portion determining the overall style though there is no oak flavour. Gentle and creamy but still very fresh on the longish finish.

Drink now

Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com (October 2017)

Reduction. Otherwise there is both good verve and a lovely sense of freshness to the relatively big-bodied flavors that possess a velvety texture while delivering excellent depth and length on the dusty, palate coating and moderately austere finale. I like the fine balance as well as the underlying material and this beauty should amply reward 10 to 15 years of bottle age. - Burghound

Tasted blind at the Burgfest tasting in Beaune, the 2013 Nuits Saint-Georges 1er Cru Clos de la Maréchale has a more sophisticated and nuanced nose compared to its peers, red and black fruit here and well-integrated oak.

The palate is smooth in the mouth, supple and quite plush, with some quality new oak that is almost Cathiard-like in style (which appears to have evolved in the last few months).

However, there is fruit to support that here. Give this 2-3 years in bottle; it should turn into a decent Nuits Saint-Georges. Tasted September 2016.

Drink 2018 - 2030

Neil Martin, Wine Advocate (November 2016)

One third whole cluster. Decent solid fruit on the nose here, rugged perhaps. Dark fruit with a redder final touch, a mite of spice, good tannins, slightly taking the fore over acidity, the fruit stays equal to it and continues on well behind.

This is discreet, stylish and exceptionally long with a wonderful heady Vosne perfume and plenty of stuffing on the palate. A delicious wine. Drink 2008-2012.

This wine comes from an outlying vineyard, sitting between the railway line and airfield near Nuits-St. Georges. The land is low-lying here but there is clay and limestone. The little parcel of 0.15 ha that Jean Pierre has found has a mix of two-thirds chardonnay and one-third pinot blanc, with 50-year-old vines. The enjoyment is all front-loaded with lots of aromatic character and some exotic fruit notes. The palate gives pleasure although the lowly provenance finally wins out on a shortish finish. Nonetheless, this is exceptional for what it is, and where it comes from.

Drink 2023 - 2026

Berry Bros. & Rudd

From five plots around the vineyard, this is a wine for which Arnaud never includes any whole bunches, feeling the floral profile of the vineyard does not need further embellishment. The wine has the perfect balance of ripe, sunny fruit, gorgeous silken tannins and vibrant acidity. The 70 percent new oak is so wellintegrated that it is unnoticeable.

Self-assured Arnaud Mortet is rightly proud of his capacious, extended cellars on the edge of Gevrey, explaining that the extra space allows him to work with the same precision in the winery as he does in the vineyard. Arnaud is meticulously thorough in the vines, explaining that he loves vintages like 2017, where all that hard work really pays off and gives just reward for the true vigneron. His carefully managed yields have given wines with ripe tannins and good concentration. Overall, he reduced the number of whole bunches as he didn’t want to reduce acidity levels in the wines.

Drink 2022 - 2032

Berry Bros. & Rudd

Initially this just delivers a huge amount of sensual ripeness. Hedonistic, yes, but there is also more grip and structure than the first impression suggest. As on his Clos de Vougeot, Étienne has been working hard here to deliver more finesse, with evident success.  Drink 2025-2032.

Jean Grivot, whose name continues to appear on the labels, took over from his father Gaston in 1955 and handed the estate on to his son Étienne in the early 1980s. Étienne, married to Marielle Bize from Savigny, has been through a number of incarnations as winemaker here. When he took over, his father’s style was for gentle, graceful wines which perhaps were a little weak in the lesser vintages. Since then Étienne has found his own voice and made a range of increasingly fine wines. The drive to reduce yields and fine-tune his work in the vineyards and cellar since the mid-2000s continues to enhance quality. The succession to the next generation is now well underway, with Mathilde and Hubert increasingly influential, under their father’s experienced and wise guidance.

Here the decision was to wait for a bit of rain, to get the skins and berries fully ripe. The rain did the trick and the resulting wines are among the best of the Côte this year. Adjectives tumbled from Étienne during the tasting: seductive and precise, glamorous, graphite and saline, luminous and suave. We both agreed we rather liked “resonant”. Volumes are up 50 percent but Étienne warned us that the run of short vintages has depleted their reserves, and  as such allocations this year will not  move up in line.

Mossy nose with autumn leaves. Sweet start. Good freshness on the palate despite the compost elements on the nose. Firm tannins. Quite serious with a definite future. - Jancis Robinson