Tasted in their new shop in Chablis with Céline & Frédéric Gueguen, 14 January 2022.
Domaine Céline et Frédéric Gueguen
31, Grande rue de Chablis
89800 Préhy
Tel: +33 3 86 41 45 06
www.chablis-gueguen.fr
More reports with Domaine Céline & Frédéric Gueguen
Fred on 2021:
“2016 wasn’t all that bad – at least when compared to 2021! Maybe we had one-third of a normal harvest in 2021 – we can, at least do a decent job of the pruning for 2022.”
Fred on 2020:
“Well, we didn’t fill our tanks but we made 50 hl/ha. There’s richness in the wines – and more volume in the mouth versus the 2019s I think… It’s the first time that we harvested in August – the 27th – but we had good maturity and have a style that resembles 2019 but with extra richness. We are now all-natural yeasts which take longer to ferment. We started to bottle the range in March, beginning with the aligoté”
The wines…
A few greener wines but also a few really great wines that are worth searching out – and at all levels!
From 2018 the wines are DIAM sealed, not just the entry ones – some screw-cap also remain. Vaucoupin, 1975 and GCs bottled in October:
Hmm – that’s a really a very fine nose – almost a blend of Chablis and St.Bris. Nice structure, lovely mouth-watering citrus flavour – but more than just citrus. Nicely zesty and finishing with a little perhaps reductive minerality. Great, delicious wine.
2020 Aligoté La Vigne de Marie Louise
Open but a bit more reductive. Mouth-filling, plenty of concentration, no fat – carafe – but this is lovely…
Vines south of Préhy, a little from around St.Bris too – but the latter is only about 20% of the mix
Narrower and more saline – check! Ooh – now that’s really really good – mobile, mineral, accented with both sweet and salt – completely delicious – a great apero Bourgogne!
From 1.3 hectares in Préhy.
Hmm – that’s really the seashore – a super nose! Hmm – energy, width, fine intensity for the label and moving into the finish with waves of fine flavour… That’s really a great PC
2020 Chablis
From Préhy and Chichée – 6.5 hectares worth. With the Bourgogne the largest cuvée of the domaine.
Fresher, more direct, yellow citrus freshness with a very small point of green. I taste it more in the flavour – but again on a low level – this is mainly about minerality and lemon-lime citrus flavours framed with a tiny grain of tannin.
2020 Chablis ‘1975‘
‘We wanted to do a different cuvée but everyone does ‘old vines’, they are not the oldest vines that we have, but they are the same vintage as me and Céline!’ Vines in Préhy. A little extra time in elevage but all in tank – to be bottled in November.
Fresher, more pure, more seashore again. Hmm, a little calmer but classier, super purity of flavour and a really good fluidity to this flavour. The finish a little contemplative but delicious.
2020 Chablis 1er Vosgros
Deep, wide, more mineral and shellfish style. Supple but still energetically mouth-filling. Long and direct finishing. Slowly fading. Very good!
2020 Chablis 1er Vaucoupin
Older vines in one single parcel, planted in 1975.
More open, still the attractive note of the seashore – this time with a little yellow-citrus skin to embellish. More structured, more complex perhaps a bit more tannin too. Really a wine of admirably strong character – it’s really an excellent wine…
2020 Chablis Bougros
A tiny DIAM-style reduction with this one – slowly opening and widening with a more golden ripeness of fruit. Supple, assured, concentrated – really super texture. A wine with a hint of reduction on the palate too – it won’t be a problem if you wait 2-3 years, otherwise carafe. Very good…
A contract wine. Probably to be bottled in November like the 1975. Also made with no oak.
Ooh – that’s a beauty – open, complex, perfumed – it’s a big hug! Hmm – that’s wide, cool-fruited, slowly melting falling deliciously over the palate – that’s an excellent Preuses and simply a great wine…
2020 Saint-Bris Curiosité de Bourgogne
From Céline’s family. Harvested quite late, normally with a little golden colour to the grapes.
Vibrant, an attractive mint-leaf complexity here. A faint tannin and a width of fresh, mouth-watering faintly minty flavour. It has no pretensions it’s just joyful and delicious. A fine finishing width of flavour too.
And a red or two to finish:
2020 Bourgogne Pinot Noir La Vigne d’Emile
Planted by the grandfather of Céline. 14.5° bottled in June – only tank elevage.
Deeply coloured. Broad, airy, plenty of greener, pyrazine, complexity. Fresh, mouth-filling – I don’t really see the herby green parts in the flavours. This is really a wine with a mix of intensity and concentration. A super finish.
2020 Irancy
15% barrel elevage. 2 months in bottle
Also deeply coloured – also spiced with plenty of pyrazine complexity. There’s plenty of tannin here – but there’s no grain. Really a big wine, a little drying but also with fresh energy. You could say that this is the more elegant of the two but they are both so big that it’s a minor detail. Large, wide finishing.