Tasted with Franck and (only very shortly) Fred Buisson in Saint Romain, 10 May 2022.
Domaine Henri et Gilles Buisson
21190 Saint Romain
Tel : +33 3 80 21 27 91
www.domaine-buisson.com
More reports with Domaine Henri et Gilles Buisson
On 2022, so far:
“We just needed some candles in Meursault. We hadn’t finished the pruning when the frost came and the growth is later here in St.Romain so it wasn’t really problematic – at least compared to 2021 which was extra complicated because we couldn’t buy non-organic grapes in 21 based on our Biodivin certification – unless we had a separate cuvérie!”
On 2020:
“All the bottlings are done – we did it early to keep the freshness that we saw. The reds were all done by December and the whites were done in the first quarter of this year. We had a better volume than in 2019 and more than double what we had in 2021 – we can say good but it was still only 25-30 hl/ha…”
The wines…
I have always admired the wines from here but, this is, hands down, the greatest range I ever tasted from them – bravo – so much to love! Particularly impressive are the maison wines – they are definitely not the poor brothers and sisters – all the grapes coming from biodynamic or organic partners.
Half bottles and generics are sealed with DIAM here, the rest are all natural cork – Ndtech for most of their production. With the new label also comes a small wax seal on top but no capsule. “We have always tried the screw-cap, the DIAM and Guala. For the Absolut looking for something ‘more serious’ but fully biodynamic, for that reason we can’t leave cork behind – DIAM is used for the 2 bourgognes only – but we keep asking each other the questions. Plastic and screw-caps work very well but are not accepted by some of their customers.” All the reds have elevage without sulfur – unlike the whites, all 228-litre:
2020 Bourgogne Rouge
This aroma is very fine and with a pure fruit core. Supple but still fresh – a subtle tannin with practically no grain. Wide waves of finishing flavour. That’s a wine with a little structure but these are waves of fine flavour – keep a little patience with it but it’s really a super thing – really excellent.
2020 Beaune
A mix of high and low slopes – ¾ the high slopes.
Extra breadth of aroma – I have the impression of some minerality in this width. Yes, mineral, fresh, energetic – a velour of tannin but I love the structure of this wine – the rigour of this wine. Holding strong in the finish. Lovely.
2020 St.Romain (Rouge) Combe Bazin
South-facing at nearly 400m altitude.
A nose infused with minerals – like the last – higher-toned perfume here. Hmm – the most energetic and juicy wine so far – properly structured again – waves of finishing flavour again. Delicious fun.
3 hectares, a lot of massale selection and over 60-year-old vines – these older vines in the heart of the valley a mix of south and more west-facing vines.
A nose that implies a more silky texture – mineral/floral perfumed again. Here is extra depth and fluidity to start that’s a little overtaken by the structure as you head towards the finish. Great finishing! Bravo – but keep some patience!
This is the sole wine that doesn’t get sulfured before bottling.
The largest scale nose of all these – no trait that suggests no or low sulfur – a beautiful and pure nose with darker fruit. Silky, mobile, fluidity of flavour. A flavour that fades quickly but never quite disappears. That’s another great wine – a little larger in most directions versus the wine that has been sulfured…
Maison wine – but grapes that were Biodynamic
A nose of deeper, slightly spiced-fruit register. A beautiful, seamless wine that spreads its flavour wide over the palate. A little fat, and a subtle tannin but super depth of flavour. Really long too – this is a wine with a different, less high-toned style but what a wine – bravo!
Maison again, just above Tavannes
Deeper, more complex higher notes – a little fine herb in here. Extra width and extra energetic attack. Hmm – fluid wine once more – so mouth-watering and melting with flavour. Direct and perfumed finishing, very long – bravo again – top Santenay!
2020 Auxey-Duresses 1er Les Ecusseaux
An airy width of aroma – showing a character more of freshness than of fruit. Beautiful over the palate – again juicy, energetic but not too energetic. Mouth-watering with fine style. A little extra finishing structure but also holding the finishing flavours tenaciously. Keep this for a little while but here we have another excellent wine.
2020 Pommard Les Petits Noizons
A depth of mineral-infused earth, airy and with a little pepper in the higher tones. Mouth-filling, a well-covered structure but no grain from this tannin. A tiny impression of coffee in this complexity. Large-scaled finishing. Excellent villages…
2020 Volnay 1er Les Chanlins
A narrow but deep nose – high-toned too – vertical! Cool fruit, concentrated, depth of flavour, direct, long – not so wide finishing but so direct. What an impressive wine – so subtly but hauntingly long…
‘A fresher area here, always a tannin of finesse’
A deeper nose – but a chalky impression to this fruit. Large-scaled wine in the mouth – framed with modest tannin, very fine and quite elegant fruit, indeed vibrantly fruited and long, long… Top Corton.
2020 Corton Renardes
Deeper but tighter – the first wine with a nose like this – but air does bring some focus. Wide, supple, really an intensity to this flavour with some modest finishing bitters. This needs more time and, for now, a carafe. I’ve no reason to think it won’t be excellent…
The whites:
Don’t really have any Bourgogne vines but here is a place for the young vine production of the domaine plus a little bought Mâcon to ‘add some roundness.’
A subtle toast with a suggestion of noble reduction – growing fresher with air. Supple, direct, sinew and minerality. Direct, intense – great entry wine – but decant for now!
2020 St.Romain Le Jarron
This was classified as Bourgogne until the late 2000’s. The only white of the domaine on this side of the valley, all their other chardonnay is on the opposite side. Relatively young vines – and a place that easily frosts…
Again a faint toast. The nose opening and showing some nice bitters. Fuller, a little saline, juicy, delicious again with bitters. Excellent wine!
2020 Saint Romain La Perrière
80 metres between the bottom and top of the vines, sometimes 5 days between harvesting everything. A cooler, more stony area. This and the last has about 10% new wood but with 300 and 500-litre barrels…
Here is extra roundness – a little oak contributing to that. Beautiful on the palate, intense, citric acidity – extra mineral. Keep this a little while to let the oak fade but it is obviously excellent wine.
2020 St.Romain Sous le Château
The oak is less visible here yet this nose is still a little tighter – if showing good width. Super attack – this is mineral and juicily mouth-watering. Fine accents of citrus-bitters. Strong finishing – very impressive – just a nose short of bravo today!
The heart of the valley, more clay here, also the oldest vines of the domaine, almost 80 but other plantings too – more than 2 hectares in the middle of the slope
More yellow citrus is visible here if a little less incisive. Ooh – great in the mouth – so mineral – so broad – so beautifully textured. Fine citrus bitters again in the finishing flavours – a great wine…
2020 St.Romain Poillange
18 month elevage for this one – lots of millerandes in this parcel bringing extra concentration.
Like the previous here is a slightly riper yellow-citrus. Beautiful entry – mineral, concentrated wine of fine clarity. Broad and holding flavour in this finish. Super-impressive wine – I’m just looking for a bit of extra action in the middle flavours to match all the rest.
Named for their Grandmother, a mix of Luchets and Chevalier – 0.3 ha combined – just a small road separating the two parcels, very old vines, 80 years. only 228-litre barrels for the elevage here.
Hmm – that’s a lovely nose with some fine width of citrus fruit. Direct – then broadening with an extra dimension of mid-palate flavour – that was missing from the last. I think this potentially great wine.
2020 Puligny-Montrachet Les Reuchaux
Maison wine again
Extra – here is a different perfume – this could directly be from Puligny! A little extra fat but with balancing energy too – vibrant if not quite dynamic – that’s a very delicious wine of perfumed, ripe-fruited flavour.
Maison
A freshness and more white fruit impression. Wow – super in the mouth – energetic, mineral, everything that I could wish for – that’s a great wine.
18 months elevage, not long botted. From Aloxe, Le Charlemagne…
A narrower, deeper, more mineral style of aromatic – not exactly reduced but more in this direction. Riper width to this fruit flavour but with more obvious structural rigour. I taste the barrel here more than in the Remilly but here is a wine to wait for, it has everything – wait 3-5 years.