Bouzeron the smallest villages appellation of them all. These wines all tasted, June 10 2019 at the two domaines.
Domaine Chanzy
Xavier Badinand
6 rue de la Fontaine
71150 Bouzeron
Tel: +33 3 85 87 23 69
www.chanzy.com
Chanzy are one of the biggest producers in Bouzeron; the have 24 hectares of vines in the commune, of which 17 hectares can take the Bouzeron label. Some of their other plantations in the commune are chardonnay or pinot so take a Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise label. Their Bouzeron Clos Fortune covers 3.9 hectares, and is the only climat monopoly in the village. Their cuvée Les Trois accounts for about 10-12 hectares of vines, there are also some small sales in bulk.
Chanzy have bought another domaine in 2017, bringing more wine from the Côte Chalonnaise – so now have 72 hectares planted with potentially over 80 hectares – extra Bouzeron also came with that. France is still the main market for Chanzy, accounting for roughly 60% of their sales, but the proportion of exports is slowly growing.
Since 2016 all the wines are sealed with DIAM-style seals from Trescases) – except for their 1er crus. I asked Xavier about his start to the year in 2019, particularly the frost: “Yes, there was some frost but not like in the Côte de Beaune – it looks like we lost nearly 30%. That said, the flowering has not yet started here, so we can’t properly judge the losses yet.”
2015 Bouzeron Les Trois
Vines with a blend of exposures
Deep, round ripe – it’s hard to say directly that this is the aroma of aligoté. In the mouth this is round but also shows lovely energy – perhaps missing a bit of attack, but it plays beautifully over the palate and is seemingly open-ended in the finishing flavours – it’s really wide, and persistent, herby but very attractively so.
2016 Bouzeron Les Trois
A fresher nose, a little more saline. More drive and intensity – some aspects mirror the last but a wine, but here is a drink that’s much more alive and incisive. This is excellent and much more my style of wine.
2017 Bouzeron Les Trois
Hmm – this is like the 2016 but with some extra floral aromas. Ooh, crystalline, pure, gorgeous mouthfeel – great Bouzeron. This has drive – it hasn’t the width – or yet the complexity – of the 2015, but this is completely delicious super wine!
2016 Bouzeron Clos de la Fortune Monopole
Some vines, towards the top of the vineyard, approach 70-years-old, many are 50. Towards the bottom of the slope are some younger vines. There’s no new oak used for this wine, but plenty of larger formats plus some tank elevage – about 1/3rd tanks. Our sample of the 2015 was unfortunately corked.
Some herb but lots of florals too – the most so far. A little reduction, but the shape of this wine is nicely mouth-filling with both super intensity and depth of flavour – carafe but there’s lots of wine here – finishing with a fine purity.
A nice vibrant minerality here – but a nose that today is a little less open than the 2016. More vibrantly mineral in the mouth too – wide, very mineral but not with overt rigour – energy, minerality, faintly accented with sweeter notes – super-long. Top but really to wait for.
Just 600 bottles per year, the oldest vines with longer elevage; two barrels for 14-15 months – a Tarransaud and a Stockinger. Les 20 Ans – first made in 2016, this the 2017.
That’s an impressive nose – rounder, of-course the oak, but more floral and complex too. Hmm, open, muscular some oak flavour, really complex – super wine but to wait for because of the creamy oak that pervades most aspects. Really extra special in the finish – it vibrates, there’s some extra salinity too. Not a wine for now, but a great.
For the fun, in 2018 Chanzy tested a late harvest wine from grapes in the Clos de La Fortune – 7 days after the normal harvest, one thousand half-litre bottles. It was just bottled so not shown, but has to be labelled Vin de France (La Fortunée!)
Domaine Gouffier
Benoit Pagot
11 Grande Rue
71150 Fontaines
Tel: +33 3 85 91 49 66
Gouffier have two cuvées of Bouzeron from vines on opposite sides of the Bouzeron valley. All organic product. Old vines, low volumes, never more than 45 hl/ha. About half a hectare of vines is represented buy these purchased grapes:
2017 Bouzeron Les Corcelles
Silty, red soil, north-west facing, cooler but with the richer soil. Facing Le Clous which is on the other side of the village.
A nose that’s a little compact, with a faint suggestion of oak. A big rush of flavour intensity – energetic, good texturally, mouth-watering, juicy wine. Leave this for 18 months for the oak to fade, but that’s one big delicious mouthful of wine.
Close to the village. Much whiter soil, almost sandy towards the top. Les Clous is west-facing, with all Burgundian size barrels for elevage except one 400 litre barrel.
More yellow fruit, nicely round. Ooh – more clarity, more transparency – a fine phenolic grain, wide, playing beautifully over the palate. Gorgeously mineral finishing – a wave washing over the palate. This shows its oak much less, it’s there, but it’s delicious already though. The last drops in the glass are more floral.