Tasted in Savigny-lès-Beaune with Vincent Guillemot, 10 May 2022
Domaine Pierre Guillemot
11 Place Fournier
21420 Savigny-lès-Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 21 50 40
More reports with Domaine Pierre Guillemot
Vincent explains right from the start that he has no wine – nothing – I’m too late to taste his 2020s – he hasn’t even any left for himself – but then he still found a few bottles! It’s already in my diary to come earlier to taste his 2021s!
“Of course, earlier won’t be a lot easier,” he laughs “As 2021 is such a small vintage too – I have a waiting list of 100 clients right now. The wine is good but it’s also hard to get hold of the dry goods – labels, packaging etcetera – the 2020s are actually all in the cellar waiting for the delivery of their labels!”
Vincent on 2022:
“Regarding this year’s frost, I hesitate to comment – I don’t see losses at this stage but there was also hail in Gevrey at the weekend!”
Vincent on 2021:
“We had 80% less volume in 2021 – just one parcel in Gravains gave a completely normal yield – I’ve no explanation… I still used plenty of whole-clusters but the less perfect clusters were all destemmed. Actually, we had everything in 2021 – we even had some roasted grapes like in 2018 and 2019…”
Vincent on 2020:
“2020 is a small vintage due to the dryness but it has plenty of freshness – lots of acidity. There was no chaptalization for the whites in 2020, or 21 come to think of it! 23 August was the starting point for our harvest. No pigeage in 2020 just 4 or 5 delestage and then arosage – no oxygen. 30 days total cuvaison.”
The wines…
Just a small window in Vincent’s 2020s – but of the 3 wines, the quality was excellent or grand!
All are bottled:
2020 Savigny-Lès-Beaune Dessus Les Gollardes Blanc
That’s got a lovely freshness, almost a little sherbert extra. Mouth-filling, a suggestion of softness and maybe caramel in the flavours – broad and impressively long. I’d like the start to be a bit more incisive but the middle and finishing flavours are really top-level for a villages. Vincent says he’s kept quite a lot of CO2 to help the freshness but I really don’t notice it today…
Les Reds:
2020 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Serpentières
Plenty of colour. Dark fruit aromas but with energy and super purity. Silky, slowly growing a little accent of the tannin but without grain. Deep and wide flavours of dark fruit. This has similarly impressive concentration as the white – but never fat – this has top balance – a simply excellent wine and subtly vibrant, almost a graphite minerality that holds long.
Bought from Chateau Bligny and shared the parcel with Bruno Clavelier at that time.
Again lots of colour. A less forward nose but what a nose – of elegance and fine clarity. More structural – as it should be – nice bitters and again fine texture without grain – just a faint drier accent. Again a little mineral and graphite in style but really extra long… Bravo Corton!
And for the road…
Less colour and certainly more development of colour compared to the 2020s. I almost have the impression of a little asparagus in the fresh nose but there’s leafy development too. Broad, still some tannin and lots of freshness – the bitters in the finish still visible. It smells like an 04 but the colour is quite robust – so I guess 2011. No, it’s a 2004 Bourgogne… A half bottle and very good for what it is…