Champy – 2012s

12.3.2014billn

DSC02909Tasted with Dimitri Bazas in Beaune, 29 Jan, 2014. Right, Dimitri consults the latest Champy database…!

Of-course, back in January, Dimitri was announced as the new head of Champy. For the future, he says that Champy will become the label for their négoce wines – “after all, Champy have 300 years experience in that” – the Laleure-Piot label will become the focus for their domaine offerings.

Bazas on pricing: For some 2011s there was a ‘light’ increase of 5%. For 12s there will be another increase, but it won’t be brutal – probably 10%. plus… If 2013 had been bigger we would probably increase less. But you only have to look at Macon villages that went up 45% last year to see our problem; there’s a market price for such a wine and we can’t exceed it. So we have no choice but to accept lower margins, there’s nothing we can do.

2012 Bourgogne Pinot Noir, Signature
There’s also a non-signature cuvée which uses no oak, so, according to Dimitri, is fresher and more fruit-driven. Here is a small part of the domaine plus some Santenay. All elevage in barrel, 20% new. There was one racking into stainless and then this was bottled in November.
Medium, medium-plus colour. High-tones, though modest, rather shy fruit.Given the nose, the palate is much wider than you expect, with good fruit and acidity. There’s impressive mid-palate concentration for the label. A very fine start!

2012 Chorey-lès-Beaune
From three parcels that include domaine vines. “Deep soil here, so best not to push extraction” says Dimitri, “or it becomes rustic. In-fact, here we are missing nothing, except quantity.”
The nose is fuller and darker and shows a slightly cooked fruit. Wide on the palate, with plenty of interest – a bit less focused than the Bourgogne Signature but with a super, and quite long finishing flavour.

2012 Savigny-lès-Beaune Aux Fourches
The nose has good fruit and a little more earth. Perhaps a bit too much CO2 to start but the flavours are airy, fresh and more complex and elegant vs the Chorey.

2012 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Les Fichots
Medium-plus colour. Here is a lovely aroma of dark fruit – very comely. Not as beautifully focused fruit as the Savigny, but tons of flavour and quite some interest. Overall the palate is a hint soft – the nose is the best part.

2012 Beaune 1er Champimonts
The nose is high-toned, showing some nice floral notes. Plenty of velvet tannin and really good depth in the mid-palate. It’s a long line of flavour that runs right through the wine. Less soft than the Pernand, and just a hint of astringency. A more interesting wine, overall.

2012 Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes
Organic grapes from vines with an average age of 55 – only 4 barrels, one of which was new.
Medium-plus colour. Another high-toned nose over a whiff of oak. Lithe and showing a growing concentration, great definition here and a long line of fruit flavour. Very nice wine indeed – I like it very much.

2012 Vosne-Romanée
From Bas Maizières, facing the wall of the Clos de Vougeot. Also purchased grapes, but harvested by Champy’s team.
The nose shows some typical VR spice, high tones and a faint hint of musk – very nice! The palate is direct and long – if not so wide. Growing intensity here and a rather mineral expression. Chapeau!

2012 Volnay
The blend of a number of lieu-dits. Just 3 barrels, where normally there would be 15…
Brilliantly deep colour. First there’s some faint reduction, but behind is a gorgeous dark-fruited soul. A little CO2 but this is still obviously big, round, concentrated and shows tons of mouth-watering flavour. And length. Really super villages.

2012 Corton-Bressandes
Two barrels versus the usual four.
Deep, interesting, faintly oaky aroma. In the mouth this is full and round but with very well-covered tannin that slowly grows a fine grain. There’s a faint reductive flavour here, but it’s long, long, long.

2012 Mazy-Chambertin
Medium-plus colour. The nose is immediately mineral, high-toned and shows interesting depth. Full and round but with lots of detail and complexity. Super finish! A world of difference to the Côte de Beaunes which preceded it, but brilliant.

The whites:
Now using DIAM for ‘quick-turnaround’ wines.

2012 Bourgogne Chardonnay, Signature
Grapes from Rully and the plain of Puligny, plus some Hautes Côtes from near Pernand. Fermented in barrels with 1 week of batonnage, just 1 racking and then bottled at the end of 2013.
It’s a wide, round and quite interesting nose, augmented with a few barrel references. Full in the mouth but with okay balance – quite friendly. Lots of flavour here, really super in a fruit-driven rather than mineral style. Yum!

2012 Pernand-Vergelesses
Very faint SO2, otherwise a modest but nicely fresh nose. Very nice, smooth, slightly mineral, insinuating wine. I find this understated, but very lovely.

2012 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er En Caradeaux
The aromas are more intense with citrus and mineral aspects. A little CO2 spritz distracts, so most of the interest comes after swallowing. Lovely length of mouth-watering flavour. Yum. This will be excellent.

2012 Meursault
Must purchased from two vineyards. Bottled September 2013.
A rather classic Meursault nose with just a little richness. Also a little too much CO2 here. A very fine flavour that grows and follows into the finish – and its a lovely finish.

2012 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Chenevottes
A fresh and mineral nose, not one that I’d guess to be from Chassagne. Very mineral impression – more like a Caillerets. Fine growth of flavour and finish. Super wine.

2012 Corton-Charlemagne
Very faint reductio brings a little gunflint and minerality. Full of brio; beautiful acidity and concentration – and eventually intensity too. Bravo! Lovely mineral flavour in the finish. This is excellent.

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