Tasted in Savigny-lès-Beaune 03 April 2019 with Vincent Nicot and Dominique Guyon.
Domaine Antonin Guyon
2 Rue de Chorey
21420 Savigny-lès-Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 67 13 24
www.guyon-bourgogne.com
Dominique on 2018:
“2018 it depends where! We had half a harvest in Gevrey as our vines there have a stony base – so dried too much in the heat – not a lot of juice – also Chambolle was relatively low for us. But the Côte de Beaune was the more important for volume – but not much more than 35 hl/ha in the Côte de Nuits.”
Dominique on 2017:
“2017 I like – freshness and purity with good fruit – the climats are marked, or respected if you like – and for both colours. There’s a good attack and acidity in the 2017s in both colours – this is what we hope to achieve – I’ve changed my tastes a little – 20+ years ago I liked my Charlemagne a little honied, but I prefer the freshness now.
“It’s DIAMs for for the two bourgognes and there are ongoing tests for some of the ‘higher’ wines. We have lots of interest for the combination of DIAM with these wines – in both colours – as we do just delestage as we want to show the purity of the fruit – DIAM can help that. There are 20 hectares of the red so it’s important – 70,000 bottles – we started slowly but now do the whole cuvée and are happy with that.”
The domaine produces 90% red wine – 75% is exported to more than 50 countries “But direct, without agents” emphasises Dominique – “In France we were always more aligned to the restaurant trade.”
The wines…
Plenty of patience should be rewarded with many of the reds – but there are some super wines. This domaine produces many fewer whites – but their Meursault-Charmes and Corton-Charlemagne are not to be missed!
Bottling started with the Bourgognes, just before the harvest, then came a long campaign that finished only 2 weeks ago with the grand crus.
2017 Domaine Guyon, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Les Dames de Vergy
From near Nuits St.Georges. The only wine not named Antonin today – Says Dominique – but later there’s another! 20 hectares of high trained vines here – they had the highest degrees in 2018 – not seen that before! Not needed to chaptalize for a number of years and have higher degrees than in Chambolle. Half of this sees tank elevage.
Plenty of colour. A silky width of dark red fruit for the nose. A base of tannin, mouth-filling wine – actually wine that would benefit from 12 more months of patience. Tasty fruit.
2017 Chorey-lès-Beaune, Les Champs Longs
Lighter colour. A wilder raspberry fruit and of ample width too. Modestly fresh, lighter, open and with nice depth to the texture. This holds a strong note – also a wine to wait 6-12 months for but the overall texture is more elegant. Plenty of flavour and quite tastily persistent…
2017 Savigny lès Beaune Goudelettes
A little shade darker again. A much deeper nose – dark, still a very berry style of fruit. Hmm – I like the shape of this much more than the last two – a little more direct, wiry, fine textured – the flavour is concentrated but always with a fine energy. The tannin is modest but the wine has fine structure – Excellent.
2017 Beaune Clos de la Champs Gaufriot (Monopole)
1.9 hectares next to Montée Rouge
A fine width of forward fruit, darker, the first that’s veering more to cherry-style. Again fresh – more volume and more energy here – quite a lot more even after the Savigny – the overall impression is very positive but here is a wine, like the first two that you should wait a little time for to assuage the modest astringence. Super, and impressively long too!
2017 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Les Vergelesses
Only bottled 3-4 weeks.
Lots of colour here. The finest nose from the perspective of purity – so far – darker red fruit of freshness – lovely! Vibrant, a touch of tannin, open – I just love this energy and slightly mineral structure. Delicious, excellent wine – a touch of patience will, once more, be rewarded.
2017 Chambolle-Musigny Clos du Village (monopole)
An open, inviting nose – easy, faintly floral – not better than the last – just quite different to start but then there’s more and more to find – this keeps getting better and better in the glass. Lots of mouth-filling volume. Here is a wine with energy and volume – very tasty – it has the cushion to the structure and texture that the Pernand lacks today – you could drink this with pleasure today whilst you should wait for the Pernand. Beautiful, excellent wine!
2017 Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras
The domaine owns nearly 3.5 ha in Chambolle – producing 18-20k bottles potentially – ‘But there haven’t been many years like that recently!’
More airy, complex, open and inviting – a beauty! Silkier than the Clos du Village, a little more weight too – the more sophisticated brother this vintage. Ooh this is super – less patience required – excellent wine again!
More depth of colour. A pretty nose of fine fresh complexity. More volume – more dimension and freshness of attack – the flavour ingraining the palate. Layered, mouth-watering. For a villages – bravo!
2017 Gevrey-Chambertin Carougeot
Next to Jousie, below Corbeaux
Plenty of colour again. A nose with a fine freshness but more discretion than most before – a faint and attractive perfume. A wine of more compact dimensions, yet of freshness and really a core of fruit that is not ready to open – fine texture, fine depth, perhaps a little more mineral – everything is in place but not everything is on display – La Justice the more flamboyant today – but there’s everything to wait for here – excellent villages…
Plenty of colour though less deep than many. The nose is compact but retains a certain freshness and purity of aroma. Hmm – there’s lots of drive and energy here – depth of flavour with fine energy and equally fine texture. The tiniest grain of ripe tannin. Just a beautiful, textural wine. Not fully open but excellent, potentially a bravo wine!
2017 Aloxe-Corton 1er Les Fournières
Plenty of colour again. A more open and certainly wider panorama from this nose – faintly floral too. More direct, there’s drive here, energy, places to be… Layers of fine flavour – a baby Corton without the weight of structure. Fine flavour, layered and delicious – such a weight of finishing flavour too. Ooh that’s so good!
A little less aromatic volume – but still wide, floral and inviting. More precise – this is more Corton in style – intense, concentrated, muscled – ooh there’s so much wine here – you should have patience, not for any structural reasons but simply because there so much that should be allowed to unfurl. Great Aloxe in preparation – bravo!
2017 Corton-Bressandes
Wide, complex, a suggestion of spice, almost coffee. Not more volume than the last but a certain extra clarity – clearly there’s some barrel influence in the flavour though. Muscled but nothing aggressive with the texture. Opening out with a fine finishing panorama of flavour – ooh that’s good – indeed excellent Corton. The finish is a long diminuendo!
2017 Corton Clos du Roy
Horse-powered ploughing here, in the 60 year-old vines.
Directly a more open, more floral nose – such purity of aroma. Less overt volume but a little more drive, more salinity, a fresh and pure flavour that’s melting over the palate. More finishing weight to the flavour – a beautiful wine that will reward your patience. Simply excellent!
Les blancs:
2017 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Also Domaine Dominique Guyon as actually from Hautes Côtes vines
That’s a very appealing and fresh invitation from the aroma. Drive and freshness, slightly mineral, slightly saline I’d still wait almost a year for the minerality to become less forward but the freshness and texture are already first-class for the label. Open, lip-smacking flavour to finish. Yum!
2017 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Sous Fretille
Also DIAM this year but 30 – is that too much?
A deep nose, some vibration of energy – I would carafe – a slight cornflake DIAM note today, but that will be gone in 6 months. Ooh – now that’s lovely – a wine of freshness, of drive, of energy. Layers of flavour, slightly reductive minerality that’s characteristic of Pernand. Wide, open, such a mouthful of finishing, slightly peppery flavour. Once more excellent but needs some 1-2 years of patience…
Cork.
Open, spiced, ginger complexity – a lovely width of aroma. Much more mneral than the nose suggest – a wine of drive, of energy, of lots of minerality but no harshness. Layered, beautiful flavour. This is really a great wine – bravo – so long too!
All in Aloxe, a large part next to BdM in en and la Charlemagne. About 40% new oak these days – was once 50%.
Hmm – not bigger but more overtly complex, more mineral, even a semblance of acacia. Drive, intensity, complexity, wide on the palate. A supple wine but always a concentrated yet balanced wine. Wide, mineral, impressively mouth-watering. Usually one of the forgotten greats of this appellation – and it’s exactly that in 2017 – bravo!
