Tasted in Saint-Bris-le-Vineux with Guilhem Goisot, 09 January, 2020.
Domaine Jean-Hughes et Guilhem Goisot
30 rue Bienvenu-Martin
89530 Saint-Bris-le-Vineux
Tel. +33 3 86 53 35 15
www.goisot.com
More reports for Domaine Jean-Hughes & Guilhem Goisot
I always add an extra 30 minutes to the schedule to accommodate my chats with Guilhem, but it’s rarely enough!
Guilhem on 2019:
In 2019, even with the extra rain at the end of the year, it was still about 25% less than a normal year. It’s a year where we had some worries from the start after finishing quite a hot 2018 and such a warmth in the first part of the season. Then came a little frost – some of the very yearly buds were affected – we lit candles on a couple of nights and we were really on the border of very big losses; we were still ‘touched’ about 30% – some ‘filet’ which we only saw for the first time in the flowering – but we had better flowering conditions here than in Chablis. I’ve seen almost a week and a half between the flowering here and the Chablis in the last couple of years – before that, they were much closer – perhaps that’s the dryness of the last couple of vintages speaking. Here is a more ‘continental’ climate than Beaune but we still saw over 40° more than once and for a period the temperature never went below 35°C. The first real rain and lowering of temperature was in the early phase of October. So a harvest with some blockage and there was no rain to wait for. We harvested the pinot first, then the chardonnay – and some time later the aligoté and the sauvignon – we needed 3 weeks of harvesting, compared to 4 in 2018 – but there was also more volume in 2018. For the domaine, we were minus 35% volume – versus our average, not compared to 2018!”
Guilhem on 2018:
“It was a good start in spring but wet – storms like we rarely see, even a touch of hail in the village. But then the best flowering since 1992 though but then more stress in the summer because there was no rain – 3 weeks before harvest we didn’t think we had much, but then we started to have cooler nights the vegetation looked to perk up a little and the grapes started to fill – but we didn’t have any rain! A full harvest, ripe and 100% clean – not a single grape with mildew – I thought I was in Africa given the dryness – there was rain in the region but very localized so none here. My father has made 42-43 vintages and given the colours of the foliage and the state of the grapes, he thinks it was the cooler nights that made the difference. We could harvest without stress because not everything was ready at the same time – we had practically a month of harvesting, finishing 25 September but that’s because we followed well the maturities. Even in this vintage there was no question of VCI – all the vines of the domaine delivered below the rendement. The work in biodynamics brings a little more confidence in how the vines react to the lack of water. ”
The wines…
In a marginal ripeness year the reds here can have a more herbed character, but in 2018 the whole range is quite special. Fortunately for you and I, there is also some volume for the first time in a few years!
Reds, all samples taken from barrel, one Saint-Bris and one aligoté are bottled – the rest were in tank. Red samples were made-up from 2 different coopers and always from 1-year-old barrels – ‘there’s about 15-30% new oak depending on the cuvée:’
2018 Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Corps de Garde Rouge
A vibrant red fruit. Round, fresh, energetic. A depth of flavour here, framed with some acidity and modest tannin. Hmm – lovely drive – ooh that’s good – big wine but with fine direction and intense length.
2018 Irancy Les Mazelots
All pinot on Kimmerigian – not much clay – quite a white soil. We had some great vintages of césar, but the wine was exactly the same 10 years later – it doesn’t develop, it’s like a fossil, but I’ve kept 3 vines for the memory!
Deep, concentrated, a suggestion of barrel too. Bright, wide, fresh – intense again – really intense this time! Long and wide finishing – a deeply flavoured wine with a little finishing minerality. This is super.
2018 Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre La Court Vit
A fuller, fresher, more interesting nose – almost a little floral too. A touch more sweetness and width to the palette of flavours. Depth of flavour too – that’s a very tasty wine of complexity and high interest – excellent wine – lovely finishing too! Finesse versus the impact of the Mazelots
More gravel here, a little blue and very small shell-fish fossils. Practically only a vineyard road separates these two vines. Same vegetal material just a few years between the plantings.
Bright, wide, a nose that’s a blend of flowers and fruit. More direct, saline, growing in intensity. Gorgeous line of mouth-watering flavour. Great wine!
Les Blancs…
Bottled. Over 80-year-old vines – an old massale selection with small grapes like pinot noir – planted on a Kimmerigian hillside location mainly catching the setting sun. ‘The soil needs constant work, or it’s like concrete. There’s lots of red clay and blue fossils here.’ This wine is made in stainless-steel tanks. Bottled before the harvest.
A punch, a bright hyper-attractive nose of sweet, golden, fruit and freshness. Mouth-filling, mouth-watering, delicious wine that flows over the palate – great aligoté!
2018 Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Corps de Garde
Vibrant and mineral nose. Wide and energetic, some concentration and growing intensity. Wide, a touch of the saline – that’s a great glass of wine!
2018 Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Biaumont
Pronounced like Beaumonts, from a single parcel of vines, south-west facing on Kimmerigian ground – Sunny, top of the hill – one of the parcels with most clay.
A wider, more concentrated but still very attractive nose. A little richer, some vibrancy of flavour. Hmm – that’s very persistent and concentrated finishing. Delicious but I prefer the energy of the previous wine today – but this is like another level of appellation compared to the last.
Again a barrel sample. Similar altitude to the last but completely white soil.
Hmm – a more mineral, fresher width of aroma here – more attractive to me. Hmm, more open, layered and mobile. Complex, delicious flavours – ooh that’s a great wine – the elegance but balanced vivacity. Top!
2017 Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Le Court Vir
The same parcel as the red – on-third is planted to white. ’It was the esprit of my great-grandfather who always said this was a good parcel for both colours – so we continue to honour that.’
A deeper nose again, ripe fruit but a base of minerality too. Fine attack – there’s a richness and indeed a little fat but this wine is carried by lovely energy – there’s a fine mouth-watering style – practically sitting between that of the previous two wines. Excellent.
There’s concentration but it’s delivered in a width of mineral aroma of fine balance. Beautiful shape in the mouth – practically Meursault Perrières for the shape, density and clarity in the mouth. The finishing flavour is far from Meursault but delicious and long!
2018 Chablis Faucertaine
Planted in the mid-1960s, vines coming from Guilhem’s wife. That’s the name of the parcel, planted with an old masalle selection, south-facing. ‘Climate is warmer and drier in the Côtes d’Auxerre vs Chablis.’ It has the sun the whole day but the heat really only in the afternoon. 0.4 hectares. ‘I like to do the manual weeding here – I arrive at 04h00-04h30 – and my telephone has no reception – heaven! I don’t have this luxury in Saint-Bris! This with 500 litre barrel elevage.’
That’s a nice nose of freshness – subtle ripeness of fruit below but no hint of richness. Plenty of mouth-filling flavour, complex, a base that’s mineral and citrussy-mouth-watering. A cosy wine with just enough packaging that there are no hard edges. Delicious tasty wine. Only the finish, for the first time, do I think ‘Chablis!’ Give this time, I’m sure it will become more and more classic – it’s anyway completely delicious.
2018 Saint-Bris Moury
Moury is old French for Meurgers. From a north, north-west-facing parcel. This wine is produced in exactly the same way as the chardonnay – “we don’t make a vin de cepage, rather a vin de terroir. Our pinot is usually picked 2-3 days before our whites, but our sauvignon blanc can sometimes be ready before, sometimes the same as the rest of our whites – the timing is usually similar to our chardonnays – it’s very stony here – you can go in the vines in the rain – there’s nothing to stick to your boots!.” This and the next bottled, the last two not yet.
A deep nose, golden fruit that reminds a little of aligoté – but more concentrated at the core. Supple, easy, layered, tasty flavour. Not a wine with overt ‘sauvignon-ness’ rather a delicious, complex, and lasting flavour in the finish – indeed an extra ‘pop’ of flavour in this finish.
Of-course named after the fossilised shell-fish found in the rocks of the vineyard – also some Kimmerigian here.
A little more airy, floral style – nice. More volume in the mouth, more minerality – ooh this is so good! Long, almost tannic finishing, the flavour lasting, lasting – that’s such a great wine!
2018 Saint-Bris Corps de Garde
This sauvignon gris, the previous two blanc. Not bottled
Extra fresh nose. Ooh that’s nice in the mouth almost a suggestion of Loire mint, wide, mineral, lovely energy fruit a little more exotic than citrus – but hardly. That’s completely delicious!
The climate here is plain south near Saint-Bris – as you get nearer Auxerre the exposure changes.
Hmm, very mineral, faintly reductive – you would guess chardonnay – but it’s actually ‘La Ronce.’ Hmm, this has some impression of pinot in the mouth, wild strawberry, driving, clarity of flavour. Beautiful flavour, long. Bravo!