Tasted in Gevrey-Chambertin with Louis de Surrel & Bastien Giraud, 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 was continuing chez Rebourseau but it was very nearly finished when I visited. And what an investment this has been – the domaine is comfortably ‘set up’ for the next 50 years! A small surprise was that Louis told me about the imminent departure from the domaine of his winemaking brother, Benigne, who was leaving the domaine in April, having chosen to do something else. In this instance, I was also introduced to the domaine’s new winemaker – Bastien Giraud. Later news – just before publishing this, was that Louis would also leave the domaine – ‘But we remain shareholders‘ he told me. Louis officially left the organisation at the beginning of November – there are no longer any family members working here.
Louis on the last vintages:
“We started our harvest on the 1st of September so it’s an early vintage but we are so happy with 2022, the only real question that we have is ‘when will we bottle them?’ We still haven’t decided on that one yet! 2021 really wasn’t bad in terms of yields for us, despite the volume of triage that was required. The bottling of the 2021s was done at the end of December for the villages and it was April for the grand crus… We lost about 35% of our volume – we were lucky with the frost but the weather that followed meant that we had a lot of triage to do – normally it’s 1 case in a 100 that we reject, in this vintage it was one in ten!”
The wines
At this early stage there’s a lot of bravado in their 2022s – they are most definitely worth following. As for their 2021s, post-bottling, I find the wines at this stage to be much less flamboyant than a year ago – but the old vine Clos de Vougot is to die for – worth a special search on your part!
All the 21 wines were bottled but we started with the young 2022s:
60% new oak but that’s still a reduction versus previous years.
Plenty of colour. The aromas start a little powdery – but fill the glass and start to become more floral with exposure to air. Mouthfiliing, slightly velvet in texture but an airy almost fluid style to this – supple wine that’s great finishing – certainly excellent, potentially a great villages.
2022 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Fontenys
More direct aromas with more floral emphasis. The intensity is higher too – almost blue fruit in this complex mix. Faintly grained with tannin – a wine of super energy – broad finishing. Excellent!
Ooh, wow, that’s a wonderful perfume – floral, faintly wrapped with some cooking herb – almost rosemary. Supple, complex, floral – the best texture so far – that’s a calmer wine than the Fontenys – but a great wine!
2022 Charmes-Chambertin
This the first harvested on the 1st of September.
Depth of aroma, slightly powdery red fruit of concentration. An intensity that recalls the Fontenys but with just a little more balancing cushion to the texture. An assured depth of concentrated finishing flavour. Lovely…
2022 Mazis-Chambertin
Fresher width – a certain vibrancy and impression of minerality too. Hmm – a more structural style of wine – one with an architecture – mouth-watering – complex and energetic. Juicy finishing and real finesse to this structure. More my style of wine versus the Charmes…
2022 Chambertin
Less aromatic width today but there’s an extra depth to this nose, a suggestion of reductive minerals but only a suggestion. Yes, a faint reduction in the flavours but a wine of great shape an of lithe, powerful muscle. A finish that is modest in volume but with haunting length. Super.
2022 Clos de Bèze
The parcels for this and the Chambertin are only 60m apart – one of the most northerly Chambertin and the most southerly Bèze
More delicate and very attractive top notes. The structure is slightly more apparent, broadening over the palate, mouthwatering, intense, brooding – yes, this would be my favourite today! But really impressive finishing with an explosion of flavour, faintly grained with tannin…
2022 Clos de Vougeot
This the young vines from 2011…
Ooh – very attractive, forward aromatics – of red fruit and the perfume of flowers. Intense starting – incisive for sure. But such energy and juiciness. A finish that quickly narrws but then holds quite well… Quite extravagant and delicious!
2022 Clos de Vougeot Vieilles-Vignes
The 1927 plantation
A much deeper nose – broad in the depth too – slowly releasing more floral-inflected, darker red fruit. Incisive like the young vines but with a little more cushion to the acidity. Vibrant and broad in this finish – that’s a super finish!
The following samples arrive – out of sync – it was a different cellar:
2022 Gevrey-Chambertin
From 4 parcels: Sylvie, Pressoniers, Champs Chenys and Les Vergers
Lots of colour. Good width and a little oak spice here. A hint of gas – but really great energy – direct, simpler in the middle but with intensity and delicious flavours.
2022 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Corvées
Some oak-spice and some higher-toned fruit too. Extra width, more structural wine – mouth-watering over the palate with higher-toned flavours than the first villages.
The 2021s
2021 Gevrey-Chambertin
Pressoniers & Champs Chenys, bottled December.
A different colour but lots of colour. Airy but with a concentration in the depth – this is lovely – almost a hint of gooseberry fruit. I like the shape of this – delicious flavour with just enough structure. Fine and intense in the finish, a very lovely villages.
2021 Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Corvées
Darker, deeper, also slightly with a gooseberry note. Rounder, fuller, less overt structure than in the 2022 – only in the finish. An excellent, deliciously juicy finishing wine.
2021 Gevrey-Chambertin La Brunelle
There’s width and concentration for this nose but I still have the impression of darker and more compact fruit. More scale – more open, a little structure and modest velvet from the tannin. The finish is a very impressive one – super wine.
2021 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Perrières
A subtle accent of barrel but I think reduction too – complex and deep. Vibrant, faintly, nobly reductive, with fine waves of flavour lapping over the palate from the middle to the end of this wine.
2021 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Fontenys
Also a very modest reduction here – but less. Large-scale aromas though. A fizz on the tongue and the return of a little gooseberry-fruit complexity. Extra juicy in this case. A beautiful finish…
2021 Charmes-Chambertin
There is oak here but there’s also depth and beguiling aromatic complexity. Mouth-filling but with a very attractive airy style and complexity – that’s absolutely lovely – simply excellent Charmes-Chambertin!
A broader, calmer aromatic – the dark fruit needing to open a little more. Fuller, great texture, almost a hint of salinity in this leading-edge of incisive flavour. The finish has concentration and density – like the nose waiting to open more – but the material is here. Very good today but certainly excellent or better as it opens…
2021 Chambertin
Just under half a hectare of vines – 0.46 ha.
This is more open – certainly much more expressive in the top notes – violets and maybe even a suggestion of mint-leaf complexity. Hmm – concentrated yet still fresh and mouth-watering – flavours that melt expressively over the palate – very executive texture. The finish open and mouth-watering – not powerful but sustaining – just like the 2022…
2021 Chambertin Clos de Bèze
0.33 hectares, separated from the Chambertin for the first time at the domaine. ‘Young’ 35-year-old vines.
Hmm – a more vertical nose – very attractive high tones here – lovely. Vibrant, open – but also mouth-filling. Some cherry-stone fruit in here – the depth of flavour as you approach the finish seems to be growing – again a hint of gooseberry. Then broad, intense, quite mineral finish – there is power here. A super Bèze!
2021 Clos de Vougeot
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 11-year-old vines.
A slightly more toasty nose but with good open clarity. A proper structure here – proper CV! Intense starting wave of flavour that runs through the wine – that’s a super wine.
The produce of the vines from 1927
A fuller, nose – more volume and with really fine complexity. Ooh – structure but volume – absolutely super architecture – a baby but a really great one – so complex, with fine energy and length! Great wine!