Tasted in Morey St.Denis with Nicolas Groffier, 19 May 2023.
Domaine Robert Groffier Père & Fils
3 Route des Grands Crus
21220 Morey-Saint-Denis
Tel: +33 3 80 34 31 53
A domaine, since the 19th century in Morey Saint Denis, and whose vines – like the positioning of the domaine – straddle the land between Gevrey-Chambertin and Chambolle-Musigny – but what vines!
It’s a domaine whose 1990s, and early 2000s, wines I found too marked by their elevage for my own personal taste and, hence, I never visited the domaine. In 2005, the next generation of the family, Nicolas Groffier took on the reigns – today, also with his sister, Julie. I’ve tasted enough wines in the last 5-6 years to make me think that there would be much more interest in the wines for me today – and these are far from cheap wines! So here we are – my first visit after all these years!
Nicolas on 2021:
“All the wines have been bottled since mid-December. They were all produced using whole-cluster. It was not so sunny in 2021 – just two hot weeks at the end of July into the start of August – but I wanted the perfume of the whole clusters even if it wasn’t a vintage of density. The wines had elevage all with new oak but from Tronçais to give a little roundness – the elevage was incredibly important in 2021 – unlike in 2020 where, practically, the wines made themselves in the first 3 days of elevage. I didn’t have full trust in the skins in this vintage so I chose not to do too much extraction. It’s a vintage of water – filtered by the soil…”
The wines…
I’m so pleased to have tasted here. The wines are excellent – except when they are great – in 2021. Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to follow some more vintages!
2021 Bourgogne Rouge
Vines in front of the Clos de Vougeot – ‘of course with a very low yield.’ No new oak here.
A subtle reduction but with good clean depth to this aroma too – also with flashes of interesting higher tones. Hmm – that’s very lovely in the mouth – a melting breadth of flavour – slowly almost juicy. Very perfumed finishing fruit – faintly framed with a tiny grain of tannin. That’s a beautiful Bourgogne…
2021 Gevrey-Chambertrin Seuvrées
Just under Charmes. Again with no new oak…
Extra aromatic depth – you sense the smell of cherry-stones here. More direct, cool and incisive. A little structure here – but nothing hard – rather it’s directing. Juicy, almost citrus style – though the pH is quite high (3.7). A pretty bitterness in this finish. Excellent villages…
2021 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Hautes Doix
‘A luminous but not warm place – making a serious wine but one without visible tannins. We are up to 40% new oak here – Tronçais wood again.’
The previous had aromatic depth – this has extra width – almost a chalky aspect to this red fruit. Hmm – very perfumed flavour from the stems – very fine tannin framing the flavour but nothing dry. Nicolas is very happy with the ‘help’ from the oak here but you won’t note any oak characteristics. Excellent wine again!
2021 Morey St.Denis 1er Les Sentiers
Just 200m from the domaine – a lot of iron and clay in the soil – but not deep soil, the limestone. ‘It’s the wine that you can keep for many years – I don’t think it’s great at 10 years – you have to wait longer – the 2006 is just opening.’
A wine of power – of darker fruit and darker aromas of the roses from the whole clusters. Hmm – silky but with a more muscular style – not overtly structural but a wine with lots of lithe muscle – energy too. I like this a lot and could enjoy it already today – there’s density but nothing hard which might bar the way to enjoyment. The last impression (after plenty of time!) is a faint chalky tannin and faint, attractive bitters… Another super wine.
2021 Bonnes-Mares
‘A mix of clay and sand but not really either – it’s marne.’ 25% terres blanches (on the top) that brings some citrus and minerality – ‘it could be great one day for Riesling! It’s a lazy wine, one that you can always understand – but not a ‘happy’ wine or a wine of competition like the last – you should take your time.’ There’s 50% new oak used here.
A forward perfume from the clusters and lots of depth. Ooh – that’s got great shape in the mouth. Juicy energy to counterbalance the concentration – fading and vibrating into the finish… A beauty!
Lots of different parcels – from 8 to 100 years old. 40% of new oak again. “The best wine is made in the flowering – the best grape clusters are those with a mix of larger and smaller grapes in the cluster – if they are all like that it will be great – consistency in the inconsistency! Bonnes Mares is a wine where the vinification is important but Amoureuses makes itself – it’s a hard wine to correct.”
Width of high-toned aroma – perfume – a hint more herbed greenery in this complexity. Wow texture and flavour mobility – that’s a great wine in the mouth. Sinuous, almost sensual, fading in a fine and quite mineral width. It’s a nose short of being a great wine yet this is still clearly a great one!
“Another wine where patience is required in elevage – each day you get a little more but then you know when the moment is right – ‘this is the wine that I want to show’ – and then I rack.” 100-year-old vines for this. “I feel that we can almost make the same wine every year here – maybe there’s only 10% the effect of the vintage – you get more Bèze than the vintage – Amoureuses and Bonnes-Mares are similar in this respect.”
An airy but broad complexity of aroma – very, very inviting. Hmm – I love the scale of this wine – framed with an extra chalkiness from this tannin but über-fine-grained. Like a sine-wave of finishing flavour – moving up and down and sustaining itself. Bravo! The wc perfume is clear but delivered with such fine clarity…
And for the road:
1995 Chambolle 1er Hautes Doix
Replanted after the frost of 85 so about 9-year-old vines… Served blind:
A very silky width, wc perfume with a very age-related development. Tannic – ripe tannin – generous, plenty of concentration. Plenty of width with still some mouth-watering quality. My first guess was 2003 but it was my second guess – 95 – that was better!
1983 Bonnes-Mares
Blind again with the following clue: ‘Young vines from a great terroir – a year of hail’
Paler colour seemingly of more age. Hmm – that’s got plenty of sous bois, growing rounder and sweeter – a stable nose of fine intensity. Round, super clarity, a grain of tannin too – a delicious rusticity to this mineral wine. A lovely energy and a more than interesting length. Someone guessed before me and they hit the nail – 1983…