Tasted in Gevrey-Chambertin with Benigne & Louis de Surrel, 31 May 2022.
Domaine Henri Rebourseau
10 Place du Monument
21220 Gevrey-Chambertin
Tel: +33 3 80 51 88 94
www.domaine-rebourseau.fr
Other reports on Domaine Henri Rebourseau
The building of their new cuverie continues – slowly but surely – but there is a feeling of a building that will soon be ready to accept the delivery of grapes – luckily so – they will not have very long to wait for them in 2022.
Benigne on the last vintages:
“2021 really wasn’t bad in terms of yields for us but 2020? They were lowest yields for 25 years – half a harvest – fortunately I’m very happy with the wines. The last bottlings were in April for the grand crus, the first in December. In this vintage we started harvesting the grand crus and finished with the villages – starting 25 August it’s certainly the earliest vintage here in the last 25 too…”
The wines
There are two or three wines which hinted at over-mature aromatics but the ensemble is more than competent, there are wines at all levels that are worth a special search – bravo!
All the wines were bottled:
2020 Gevrey-Chambertin
Pressoniers & Champs Chenys, bottled December.
Very broad and aromatic – an almost textural nose – lots of attractive herb complexity. Supple, a flavour with modest cushioning and a great, growing, width of flavour. Lovely depth to this flavour with a very modest bitter accent in the finish – so good! Simply excellent villages…
More direct aromas – extra florals here – this is really perfumed wine. More fluid, even finer silk for this texture, and so juicily finishing. That’s a great villages wine!
2020 Gevrey-Chambertin La Brunelle
A deeper register of aroma, more mineral, earthy and direct too. Equally silky, also beautifully fluid in style. There’s extra width in this flavour and a subtle depth to this dark fruit that comes close to over-mature – yet the shape and sophistication of this wine aren’t to be underestimated – finishing with a modest tannic dryness but no grain – it’s simply an excellent wine.
The first sniff brings depth, the second brings the best blend of floral and berry perfume so far – this is so good! The most direct and juicy of all these wines, so far. The juiciness delivers florals and a super-fine acid-led flavour. Bravo!
2020 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Perrières
The deepest colour – and they are all deep. Narrower high notes and such width in the bass-line – the aroma of this reminds me of the slightly over-mature notes of the Brunelle but again it’s a compelling nose. Hmm, this is like a coulis of fruit with a faint creamy extra – as much of a dessert as wine – sweet, absolutely delicious flavour – and very fluid in the middle flavours.
2020 Charmes-Chambertin
There’s a relative elegance to this nose mixing some floral and mineral width. Surprisingly mineral, a suggestion of florals and elegant width – here is a very impressive precision – no anonymous Charmes here, this is not more concentrated than the previous wines but has a little extra sophistication.
More width and depth of aroma, very faintly smoky, then a fresh raspberry lift – lovely. Clearly the brother wine of the last with an airy, fluid, style and lots of precision. A wine of pure pleasure today – bravo!
2020 Chambertin
Just under half a hectare of vines – 0.46 ha.
The third wine with a hint of over-mature notes – but it is fuller and broader in shape. Extra mouth-filling, extra vibrant, more obviously mineral. More complex finishing energy too – the middle to the finish of this wine is simply that of great wine and like the 2019 last year at the same stage, potentially it’s a great one with time.
0.33 hectares, separated from the Chambertin for the first time at the domaine. ‘Young’ 35-year-old vines.
A more top to bottom, vertical, nose – the fruit more perfumed yet not showing all the complexity that I think is in waiting. Ooh – wow – what a great width of fluid, silky, flavour then a broad, long-lasting, wave as the finish. Great wine – just like the 2019!
Opinion (the same as last year!):
I said it (with more words) last year: Great as both cuvées are, Clos de Vougeot is a grand cru – I don’t expect younger and older brother cuvées. Better to blend the two or to declassify the younger vines:
The whole plot covers 2.2 hectares of mainly 1927 vines – but of course, there has been plenty of replanting – this, then, the cuvée with the 10-year-old vines.
Darker-red berry fruits and a little graphite style minerality – slowly some added freshness. Vibrant, structural, juicily energetic wine. Bursting with finishing flavour too – young vines but bravo!
The produce of the vines from 1927
Less scale but more inner depth to this nose – the previous wine will bring you more interest today. There is certainly more concentration here, more depth of flavour too – the wine for keeping, showing more structure, more tannin but without any grain. This finish is less refreshing but broader and longer. Everything is more here apart from the drinkability today – great wine in 15+ years