Tasted in Beru, with Gaëlle Ribé, 09 January 2018.
Domaine Château de Béru
32 Grande Rue
89700 Beru
Tel: +33 3 86 75 94 95
www.chateaudeberu.com
Athénaïs de Beru was somewhere on the other side of the world, so it was Gaëlle Ribé who looked after me – though there wasn’t much for her to do as there is practically no wine in 2016! Despite her Breton name, Gaëlle comes from the Champagne region though has worked in Chablis for a number of years, and has been responsible for the vines and vinification from a technical perspective since 2014 at the château.
Gaëlle explained that whilst 2017 was a better volume vintage versus 2016, they still lost 70% versus a more normal yield “But the grapes were splendid, I think it will be a super vintage.”
Then domaine has 15 hectares including their Clos Beru which encircles the château – these are 13th century walls – there’s nothing else like this 4.5 hectare Clos in Chablis – that said, it produced only 1 barrel in 2016! Likewise their 2016 Chablis is more of a blend, as there is so little – usually it’s the separate climats that are bottled. Fortunately they still have most of the 2015s to help juggle their allocations – as it’s a long elevage here.
The wines…
None of these have been sulfured yet, and only the Bourgogne is in bottle.
Beautiful haute couture wines – there is so little. Hopefully there is a little more to discuss next year when they only lost 70%!
An assembly of parcels in 2016 – still, there are only a couple of barrels
Deep, oxidative style aromas whilst in barrel. Very fresh, a waterfall of mouth-watering flavour – ooh this is fabulous! Bubblingly complex delicious wine, the finish so silky too. Usually such an oxidative impression is not present in the bottled wine – that being the case, this will be brilliant!
2016 Chablis 1er Vaucopins
A very steep slope here. Again Kimmerigian but also with blue clay. Some Spring frost here but not the black frost of other areas – there was even a little snow in the night.
Hmm, almost a bouquet garni aroma – from the kitchen. Bigger, more energetic wine and more intense too. Layered in the finish… Super stuff…
2016 Chablis Clos Béru
2-2.5 years of elevage, the mother rock here is older than the Kimmerigian. There’s more clay. Just one barrel in 2016, and it’s not decided if it will be commercialised or not – probably only at the domaine’s vinotheque.
A little like the bouquet garni of the last wine. Mouth-filling, less direct, but like the villages Chablis such a beautifully mouth-watering wine – here with more oak, but that will fade, and a little more richness of texture. Fabulous stuff.
2016 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Bought grapes from friends, a lovely label with a bird’s wing and a yellow wax disc seal. Grapes mainly from the Mâconnais
Fresh, faintly reductive below – it smells like it’s from Chablis! Deep, wide, a concentration of flavour – it doesn’t taste like Chablis though; there’s a weight of concentration that needs to relax and open out – this needs a little patience, but I think it will be worth the wait – potentially excellent wine!