Tasted with Guillaume Tardy in Vosne-Romanée, 29 August 2016.
Domaine Jean Tardy et Fils
46 Départementale 974,
21700 Vosne-Romanée
Tel: +33 3 80 61 11 86
Guillaume Tardy, first joined his father’s domaine in 1997 before working in Australia – he returned in 2000 and took over responsibility in 2003. He has completely ‘reconstructed’ the domaine – a necessity, as the domaine’s vines were mainly rented from Méo-Camuzet and were due to return to Jean-Nicolas Méo. Today the domaine covers 4.5 hectares and Guillaume makes less than 25,000 bottles per year. He produces 8 wines from parcels that range between 0.3 and 0.5 hectares in size.
Guillaume prefers to 100% destem his grapes. The cuvaisons were about 20 days for the 2015s, and only 3 pigeages per cuvée were needed.
Guillaume on 2015:
“I started harvesting on the 5th of September, because I was scared of being over ripe. I want freshness in my wines so would rather be under than over ripe. I produced 25-30% less than usual – though I thought it would be worse due to the lack of rain. It was the hillside vineyards that lost the most juice, fortunately for me my vines are mainly on the flat so I lost less – on the other hand, that unfortunately means that I lost more in 2016 because of the frost – up to 70% losses.”
The wines…
So far the domaine has only just started to bottle their Passetoutgrains. Most of the rest will follow from February 2017. I found this a great set of wines – as usual at this address – Guillaume adds a small note of caution though; “Will the fruit and alcohol dissociate with time – that’s possible” – well there’s certainly no sign of that today…
2015 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Cuvée Maelie
Named for Guillaume’s daughter. Vines from Conceour, just above Vosne-Romanée; 40 year-old vines, no new oak, rather with one and two-year old barrels.
Pretty, floral, transparent. Wide on the palate, good volume without fat. A nicely delivered flavour. Fine for a Bourgogne.
The lieu-dit, near Fissey. 40-45 year-old vines, near the route de grand cru. This will be tacked end of year for bottling in about February.
Deeper colour. Deep, ripe dark fruit – implying luxury. Seriously silky tannin for Fixin. A bright peak of fresh dark fruit, a little bitter-chocolate too. For villages Fixin – brilliant!
2015 Chambolle-Musigny Les Athets
50 year-old vines.
A lovely deep colour. The nose offers up a deep floral note. A gorgeous blend of floral/fruit flavour. Chewy finishing flavour with lovely length. A wine that rarely disappoints!
2015 Vosne-Romanée Vigneux
A nice depth of aroma, maybe narrower but more intense than the Chambolle. Really a different type of complexity. Very wide and interesting in the mid palate, a bitter chocolate finish that’s super. Quite a big wine – lots of volume.
80 year-old vines – the oldest of the domaine – on the border of Vosne and Nuits. Small grapes, low yields but naturally concentrated.
A more textured aroma, just a little tighter in volume versus the Vosne. Lithe, beautifully textured, gorgeous fruit. Easily 1er cru quality – I love this – and it’s 10x cheaper than Leroy’s version too!
60-year-old vines whose roots go directly into the base rock.’
A wide, almost flat nose – very little depth – quite tight. Beautiful texture, slowly growing velvet texture. Simply gorgeous dark fruit – simply gorgeous wine.
2015 Nuits S.Georges 1er Aux Argillas
‘From the north of Nuits, not the southern Argillières!’
Here is a freshness of aroma – not so wide – a little tight too. Here is a wine with muscle and intensity, a dark, faint tannin in the finish. Concentrated on the middle but long with a little elegance to finish.
2015 Echézeaux Les Treux
More than 80 years old vines, from les Treux. ‘I’ve really tried to make this wine a little more elegant in the last years – because here the tannins can be a little masculine.’
A beautiful delicacy of aroma if not power. Wide, wide, floral-inflected flavour. There is a little tannin but mineral to add to the flesh. Some faint salinity too – Excellent.
2014 Nuits St.Georges La Bas du Combe Vielles-Vignes
Wide, fine, complex top notes. Super volume in the mouth with a super texture to match – slowly becoming faintly velvet. Round and very easy to appreciate. Super-tasty wine.
‘In 2013 I started my harvest on the 5th October – it’s the latest I ever did!’
A fine depth, a fresher dark red fruit. Gorgeous texture again, with a slowly growing velvet tannin. I really love the complexity and energy. Just a pleasure…