Tasted in Saint-Bris-le-Vineux with Guilhem Goisot, 14 May 2024.
Domaine Jean-Hughes et Guilhem Goisot
30 rue Bienvenu-Martin
89530 Saint-Bris-le-Vineux
Tel. +33 3 86 53 35 15
www.goisot.com
Guilhem Goisot’s Instagram
More reports with Domaine Jean-Hughes & Guilhem Goisot
I missed last year as the domaine had such a tiny 2021 vintage – Guilhem first took the time to explain 2021 here:
“We made nearly 10% !! Fortunately, a large part of our 2019s were still in the domaine, waiting to ship. So we chose to only trickle them out into the market to help tide us over. Luckily, the two following years have helped bring us back to normal – more serene for the economics – and with nice quality too. This year (2024) we’ve seen almost no frost – only 1 ha of our 30 was potentially about 50% touched – so far we have largely avoided the hail too – by comparison Vosgros near Chichée has been hit 4 times already.”
Guilhem on 2022:
All is bottled – just !! The vines grew very quickly, so we had to keep up with the de-budding but not really any of the potential excesses of volume that we glimpsed in 2019 & 2020. We had 20-30 mm of rain during flowering which bought some serenity – we had plenty of storm alerts but, fortunately, no storms, just about 30 mm of rain in June. June has been a time we have seen changes in the vines and weather in the last years but it wasn’t too bad in 2022 which meant we had quite a clean harvest. It’s the first vintage that we’ve brought in the Chardonnay in August – clearly it’s an early, ‘summer’ vintage but it seems to have been positive for the finesse of this vintage. The 2022 frost did a natural de-budding otherwise we may have had to deal with a potentially very big harvest !!”
The wines…
Grand wines – so many where I’d be making a special search to find them !!
That’s got a very pretty perfume – red fruit, faintly dark – and with a fine accent of complexity. Incisive, silken – ooh what quality for a first wine. The middle and finish show a more velvet texture – a grain of tannin is present but not drying. Large and long finishing – simply a great first wine…
The sixth vintage here. More clay than the following and water is easier to access – ‘I think that’s why it is the more generous.’
Here the nose is a little more airy and transparent – it’s very attractive. A style that’s more drect and juicy – the finish vibrates and seems narrower but longer, one might say more mineral. I slightly prefer this direct style to the larger Corps de Garde – but this is super delicious and for my taste an even better wine.
Hmm – completely different again – also airy but much more perfumed. Wider but equally precise and juicy – the most fluid here – and clearly my new favourite. Faintly touched by a finishing tannin – wait 2 years to 22+ years…
2022 Irancy La Voie de Cravant
Half was lost to frost in these very young vines…
A much deeper register of darker red, more obviously cherry fruit. Volume in the mouth with a fresh energy too. Young vines or not, here is plenty of concentration – I love the sinuous finish which is a combination of texture and concentration – very prettily finishing with some perfumed fruit and plenty of width – that’s an excellent wine…
2022 Irancy Les Mazelots
All pinot on Kimmerigian – not much clay – quite a white soil. ‘We had some great vintages of césar, but the wine was exactly the same 10 years later – it doesn’t develop, it’s like a fossil, but I’ve kept 3 vines for the memory – so this is all pinot!
Deeper colour. More higher-toned aromas – also accented with a cherry-stone aromatic. More depth of cushioned, textural, flavour. Everything is on a higher level here except the perfume which is roughly similar in the finish. A lovely perfume and a beautiful wine…
Les Blancs…
2022 Bourgogne Aligoté
4.5 ha of aligoté averaging over 80-year-old vines – here it’s an old massale selection with small grapes like pinot noir – planted on a Kimmerigian hillside location mainly catching the setting sun. ‘The soil needs constant work, or it’s like concrete. There’s lots of red clay and blue fossils here.’ This wine is made in stainless-steel tanks.
Very aromatic, some nice width to these aromas too. Juicy, easy, open, faintly saline accents in this complexity – just a modest suggestion of reduction in these flavours but it’s a very drinkable, indeed delicious wine…
2022 Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Corps de Garde
Uniquely from Kimmerigian soils.
A deeper, riper nose than the aligoté. Here is a nice mouth-filling volume – concentrated, the generosity with a mm or two of cushion in the texture. A ripe and very tasty wine… The finish is broad and even a hint saline – certainly with extra perfume.
2022 Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Biaumont
Pronounced like Beaumonts, from a single parcel of vines, south-west facing on Kimmerigian ground – Sunny, top of the hill – one of the parcels with most clay.
A little extra airy breadth to these aromas. Cooler, more open, less generous, a faint accent of barrel in these flavours too – from the tactile side this is much more my style than the Corps de Garde today but I’d wait 2 years for the last of that (still modest despite 30% new!) barrel to fade.
2022 Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Gueules de Loup
Again a barrel sample. Similar altitude to the last but completely white soil.
Airy again, this time with a little floral character. Hmm – more obviously mineral in style – a very nice architecture here and a lovely, lovely finishing flavour – almost chalky. I don’t sense oak here, I sense youth so I’d be waiting a couple of years for this too.
The same parcel as the red – one-third is planted to white. ‘It was the esprit of my great-grandfather who always said this was a good parcel for both colours – so we continue to honour that.’
Hmm – the nicest blend of all these aromas – such a beautiful perfume. Mineral clarity, beautifully shaped – the most complete of these whites today – for now. That’s a great wine. I have a slight flavour preference for the previous today – but it’s not ready – this is already a very drinkable wine – bravo!
A more cushioned nose of ripe yellow citrus and florals. Concentrated, generous even but with cut and shape from its minerality – there are no negatives – really a wine that will repay your patience – as a minimum 5 years I think. That will be a great one…
Planted in the mid-1960s, vines coming from Guilhem’s wife. That’s the name of the parcel, planted with an old masalle selection, south-facing. ‘Climate is warmer and drier in the Côtes d’Auxerre vs Chablis.’ It has the sun the whole day but the heat really only in the afternoon. 0.4 hectares. ‘I like to do the manual weeding here – I arrive at 04h00-04h30 – and my telephone has no reception – heaven! I don’t have this luxury in Saint-Bris! Elevage in 500-litre barrels.
Identical work to the last but a different, more airy, even fluid, aromatic – floral perfumed and mineral – that’s great. Architectural – mouth-filling. A completely different – but great – profile to this wine. I love it and it explodes wider in this finish too!
2022 Saint-Bris Exogyra Virgula
Of-course, named after the fossilised shellfish found in the rocks of the vineyard – also some Kimmerigian here.
A calm, silky width of aroma the subtly mintly sauvignon fruit in support. Really perfumed fruit that moves you into the finish but lacks no width. Lovely energy in the finishing flavours too. I find this already delicious, Gulheim would wait 7-8 years on average – he’s particularly enjoying 2005 right now!
Broader, rather fresh and more saline nose – it’s a beauty. More fluid, still very perfumed, flavour and texture – gorgeous finishing with a little chalky texture to finish too. Bravo…
This sauvignon gris, the previous two blanc.
More profound depth though a little narrower – it’s a more vertical nose. Hmm – concentrated but not generous, ripe but not over-ripe – perfumed too – lots of florals here. A wine with more power and great texture and length – different in style but also great!
The climate here is plain south near Saint-Bris – as you get nearer Auxerre the exposure changes. Co-planted blanc and gris.
An airy transparency to these top notes. Cool, the most mineral and incisive of these wines. Slowly building a floral perfume in the flavour and holding that floral perfume the longest in the finish. Also chalky finishing but seemingly with even finer texture. Also a great wine and it’s between this and the Moury for my most favourite – bravo!