Tasted in Fixin with Amélie Berthaut, 21 March 2019.
Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet
9 Rue Noisot
21220 Fixin
Tel: +33 3 80 52 45 48
www.domaine-berthaut.com
Amélie on 2018:
“In 2018 everyone is happy – but in 2017 too! 2018 has lovely quality and really needed no triage table. Magnificent grapes but a hot vintage so it was hard work. So we always brought in the best grapes in the morning 😊 those that came back were then cooled too. The degrees of ripeness were higher than in 2017, it was just a question of how long some of the tanks would take to finish fermenting!”
Amélie on 2017:
“2017 was really good – it was the first vintage for ages with both quality and the quantity. Having started in 2013 I’ve never seen such a volume – we had an average of 40 hl/ha – helped (downwards) by our old vines. The vinifications went well – and there were various bottlings between early August until February – just one remains, and that’s the Clos de Vougeot. It’s a very pinot vintage and was very easy to drink very soon! Compared to my last vintages, it’s not bad (smile)! No, I’m joking! I think it’s a lovely vintage – but I’m the type, an oenologue – so I’m looking for the faults rather than the good points like a sommelier would – so I can never be satisfied! I will always think that I’ve still a lot to do…”
The wines…
Amélie continues to cement this as a first class destination for great red burgundy. I loved the relative elegance (for Fixin) of her father, Denis’s, wines, but Amélie has certainly found another level.
From mother’s side, vines above Vosne. This bottled end of August and with no new oak – it’s an early bottling for us as we needed the place!
Ooh – that’s a beautiful and vibrant nose of perfume Supple, silky, depth and length – really a core of intensity here. A young wine but a great Bourgogne – bravo!.
2017 Fixin
4 different parcels for this, always the same, vinified in cement and no new oak for the elevage, bottled in November.
Hmm – that’s a lovely nose – less weight but more width and complexity – a beauty. Supple, more concentrated, depth of flavour a little rasp of tannin, needs a little time like the BHCDN but delicious and long – excellent.
Deeper soil in the village with a lot of alluvial soil and small stones. In bottle about 6 weeks. Some wc here – about 20% – the same amount of new oak.
Just another beautiful fruit-floral nose. Supple, deep fruit, concentrated but still fresh – a weight of flavour (probably) cushioning and enveloping the structure – this is the easiest to drink today despite the extra structure. Bravo
2 parcels from Réas and Rivière which touches Réas. Also bottled about 6 weeks
Ooh again such a lovely fruit – more forward. Wide – a more vibrant flavour – ooh this is good! A grain of ripe tannin at the base – I hesitate to say excellent because this is so good. Such a fine width of mainly floral finishing flavour. Bravo!
This is another beautifully wide and floral nose . Much finer structure and texture. Depth of gorgeous flavour. Beautiful, even a touch of salinity that the others didn’t show. Wide and satisfying – more mineral. Top
2017 Vosne-Romanée Les Petits Monts
5 different blocks – ‘most planted before my grandfather so we don’t know how old’ – just one small part is 10 yo. The vines were initially divided between the Gerbets and Sirugue-Gerbets, now divided in three with Amélie and two others, but Amélie is renting one of those portions back. ‘It’s very special for us, not just because it’s so well placed, but some of the parcels pre-date my grand-father – and of-course all is done by hand as we can’t get a tractor in there. For two years some work with a horse, have the ‘troye’ from Switzerland – and it’s a bit too physical for half a hectare. I still use it for ‘amusement’ but in a small parcel. About 20% wc – there wasn’t place for more – roughly 40% new oak – it’s a bit less each year – I started with 100% and it was a bit too much.
What a fine nose, wide, complex a touch of menthol. Depth, concentration – in a word, class. Fine tannin at the base. Small waves of finishing flavour. Modest width but far from modest length – delicious and excellent!
2017 Clos de Vougeot
Now in tank (2 weeks) not yet sure when I’ll bottle, but hopefully before the season starts in earnest in the vines! Have this cuvée since 2015 – same as the Suchots. From the bottom of the Clos, I extract this much less than the others – I think the structure would be too much, otherwise.
Deeper, more muscular, perhaps a whiff of coffee – no I haven’t drunk one! Volume, depth of comforting texture, supple, everything is coated in this easy puppy-fat texture and sweetness. There is certainly plenty of structure but here’s a Clos that I probably wouldn’t pick blind today. CdN for sure, beyond that…
2017 Fixin Blanc
Made since 2014, young vines, now 10 years-old.
Here with a reductive nose – but good fresh shape – swirling removes most of the reduction quite quickly. Ooh, round, beautifully silky, rich textured , but layered and with a nice freshness. Super!