Tasted in Fixin with Amélie Berthaut, 28 April 2021.
Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet
9 Rue Noisot
21220 Fixin
Tel: +33 3 80 52 45 48
www.domaine-berthaut.com
More reports with Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet
Amélie on 2019:
“We had 18 hectares to harvest in 2019 – that’s been a big growth – but the space in the cuverie hasn’t grown in the last years. So in a way, I’m lucky not to have a full crop in 2019 as I would have had to sell some grapes! It’s a lovely vintage, still, except for the quantity of course! A small quantity like in 2020 and 2021 to follow. I like the vintage despite the heat of the summer – we’ve more acidity and less alcohol – I’m very happy with them as they are much more pinot in style when compared to 2018!”
The wines…
Delicious, concentrated, sometimes elegant, always beautifully differentiated from the other wines. A great selection…
2019 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits
From Amélie’s mother’s side, vines above Vosne on the plateau – 3 ha in this vintage – the double of 2018 – her grandfather had planted 10 hectares. And in 2019 it didn’t frost! All destemmed for now – it’s a big cuvée! Bottled August.
Hmm, that’s a round nose of smoky sweetness – almost a brown sugar note (possibly the barrels) but such an invitation too. Open, fresh, airy, a little ripple of tannin but almost with no grain. The palate with nicely direct and tasty flavour – less sweet than the nose suggested. Tasty wine – and quite minerally persistent – give it 2 years!
2019 Fixin
From 4 parcels, all destemmed, no new oak – bottled in November.
A nose that’s both deeper and higher-toned, almost a depth of texture. Supple, a structural shape but finer tannin than the BHCDN. This easier to approach today and with extra concentration – a very good step up in quality – that’s an excellent villages.
2019 Fixin Les Crais
Deeper soil in the village with a lot of alluvial soil and small stones.
Lots of colour here. The nose is finer and more compact though also less expressive. Hmm, that’s lovely in the mouth – a step up in clarity and structural shape – I like this a lot – completely excellent wine! Waves of finishing flavour – only here can you see some of the 30% whole cluster…
All the following were bottled in February:
2019 Fixin 1er Les Arvelets
Here’s a little reductive combination of wc and barrel – attractive though. Once more a little extra concentration, the texture is beautiful for here. Concentrated but never losing the mouth-watering side. That’s an excellent Fixin again – but decant!
A small parcel high in the vineyard near the wood, it’s a sandier soil up here. All whole cluster but a tiny production.
Some freshness and some floral, modestly wc-influenced notes. Extra energy – extra freshness too. Again a super texture. Just a bit more succulent than the Arvelets – bravo!
2019 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Lavaux St.Jacques
That’s got a really lovely floral perfume – it’s a beauty. I note some wc in the flavour – but this is still a very elegantly perfumed flavour – beautifully shaped and finely mouth-watering – not a wine of power but on of considerable finesse – a fine persistence.
That’s a nicely vibrant nose – cliché Chambolle flowers, not the roses of whole clusters, rather a violet style. Hmm – that’s another wine of beautiful shape – structural – chiselled mineral. Bravo!
2019 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 aged 10. 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 grandfather – 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. Amélie likes the wine sbut given the position and age of the vines can’t bring herself to say that she makes a great wine here – ‘you know it’s next to Richebourg, so…’
That’s a different nose – more width, more fine complexity – less forward. Beautiful shape in the mouth – reminiscent of the airy style of the Chambolle but with less direct clarity but more overt, faintly spiced, complexity. A warmer, more spiced style to the finishing flavour – the terroirs are strong in these three wines…
2019 Echézeaux
3 parcels; Treux and Quartiers de Nuits, plus some Champs Traversins higher near the wood. It may be 3 parcels but of old vines, so only 2.5 barrels.
Also, like the PM a little more compact nose but here’s something more floral and with a little whole cluster. More expansive on the palate, the clarity and shape a hybrid of the Chambolle and the Vosne – really complex – the tannin a little more to the fore but with no overt grain to be found. This is excellent Echézeaux and you can keep it as long as you like – it’s just so well balanced!