Tasted in Gevrey-Chambertin with Bernard Bouvier, 02 September 2021.
Domaine René Bouvier
Chemin de Saule Brochon
21220 Gevrey-Chambertin
Tel: +33 3 80 52 21 37
www.renebouvier.com
More reports with Domaine René Bouvier
Bernard on 2020:
“In 2020 the volume is ‘average’ but I’m very impressed by the quality – and that’s despite starting the harvest 22nd August – a new record. This time last year I’d already harvested half the domaine!”
The wines…
Always a strong and interesting range chez Bernard – with one or two gems in 2020 that are worth a special search too!
Lots of 600-litre barrels are used to elevage the whites here now. Bernard is testing DIAM for both colours – the whites tasted have had no sulfur and he will bottle some just like that. He previously did one cuvée in 2017 and then in 2018 two. There are three this year – they wear brightly coloured labels to differentiate them.
2020 Bourgogne Aligoté Vieilles-Vignes
Half Morey half Marsannay fruit
Forward, aromatic – some weight here. Hmm, mineral vibrant – I love this energy. Quite some mineral intensity too – not your grandmother’s aligote! – this is really excellent.
2020 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Vines in the commune of Marsannay
A deeper nose, a little reduction but also a little salt and pepper. Gassy, reductive but also a fine shape in the mouth. Like the aligote, this is a vibrant wine. Lovely texture too – the reduction‘s masking the flavour a little today, though.
On white marl – ‘a proper white terroir.’ Fermentation in barrels of 600l.
Another deep nose, here with reduction too, but fainter. Plenty of gas but beautifully mouth-filling, the flavour melting over the palate – bravo – I love this one.
2020 Marsannay Blanc Les Longeroies
Vines from Bernard’s father who is now retired. A bit more clay here vs the marne-blanche of the last
The colour here is a little green. A width of more mineral aroma. Hmm, fizzy but also impressively mouthwatering, a bit more salinity here. Another very fine Marsannay….
2020 Marsannay Blanc Clos du Roy
A less forward nose but with enough freshness behind. Extra gas again, here the acidity is showing through a bit more but in a positive, energetic sense. Three super cuvées to compare – this perhaps the longest of the three.
Les Rouges:
The reds had a minimum of 60% wc and just a little sulfur early on.
2020 Bourgogne Entre-Cul
From the Côte Dijonaise
Plenty of colour. Direct, fresh a little pyrazine complexity. I like the concentration and the feel of this wine over the palate – really flavourful with that pyrazine accompaniment. An aromatic and tasty wine.
2020 Marsannay Longeroies Vieilles-Vignes
About 70-year-old vines in the bottom of Longeroies with deeper soil and some clay.
More modest colour. Ooh, thats a beautifully aromatic, whole cluster, perfumed nose. Silky, mobile, complex – overtly wc in style but for my palate also overtly delicious. Simply excellent wine!
2020 Fixin Crais de Chaine
“Harvest ripe and don’t try to extract and you will be fine here – extract and it’s too much!”
Also this nose is forward and whole-cluster in style. Wide, more saline, earthy complexity, good texture and it’s more layered in the mid and finishing flavours. Some finishing bitters too. Faintly chalky in the finish. Very attractive.
2020 Marsannay Champs Salomon
The most complete nose yet – full of wc rose perfume but also extra weight and with a cushioned depth of aroma too. Slightly more structural but with the concentration to balance. That’s a super, nicely textural wine – mineral too. Excellent, perfumed finishing too. This is certainly the most complete yet.
Such a silky, perfumed nose – dark fruit and roses – yes! Structural shape but with a silky concentration – some faint dryness of tannin but no grain. More contemplative finishing than the last but bravo!
2020 Gevrey-Chambertin La Justice
Plenty of colour. Another step up in perfumed aromatic sophistication. More mineral and direct in style, dark-fruited, melting and very delicious but be more patient with this one. Persistent flavour here.
2020 Marsannay Longeroies Sans Souffre
Also 100% whole cluster
Deeper colour. A slightly different, still high-toned, perfume. Wide but cushioned with concentration too. Faintly grained complexity, then slow-moving waves of excellent finishing flavour.
Lovely depth of colour. A deeper finer nose – oh I love that! Mouth-filling, energetic, joyous wine, framed with a little grain of tannin. I almost said bravo – oh, go on then!
2020 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Jeunes Rois
Mid-slope with only 20cm of soil before the mother rock – the last vines of Gevrey to the north of the appellation near Brochon.
Yes – a redder width of very attractive aroma. Perfumed fruit flavour – always the variation on similar themes but just so good! Finer, narrower finishing – a beauty!
90-year-old vines. The largest part in Creots.
Also beautifully perfumed – an implied elegance here though not a bit light. Supple, concentrated and a little saline – micro-grained with tannin but no dryness. To keep a little longer but this is ultra-complex and piercingly long – potentially great villages.
2020 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Fuées
Some weight of rose-tinted perfume here. An extra direct style vs the last, shimmering with flavour intensity. Thats a gorgeous wine, simply excellent!
2020 Charmes-Chambertin
From above Mazoyères, over 60-year-old vines, organic for over 25 years.
Not the most forward but what great nose – an implied cushion but an implied silk too. Supple, elegant yet deep too. Holding its finish like the Racines du Temps
A few 2019s to finish:
2019 Marsannay Ouzeloy
Wow – you might already think a couple of years ageing here but all the same what a gorgeous nose! Supple, slightly mineral, perfumed fruit. Just a hint more structural than the 20s but no loss. Saline and wide and great finishing.
2019 Fixin Crais de Chaine
Less sous bois and more freshness of perfume – quite silken is the impression. Extra concentration and width but like the last vs the 20s more structural and a hint more mineral.
2019 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Sentiers
Very different, a little oak showing here – ‘yes it’s just for fun as there are only two barrels’ says Bernard. Lovely bubbling energy, silken concentration, framed by some of the sweet oak but attractively so. Mouthwateringly tasty in the finish.
2019 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Champeaux
Deeper wider, more serious, offering fewer higher tones. Direct, fresh, mineral, structural – but never hard. Here are sweeping flavours, mouthwatering and fresh – it’s a fast ride after the comfort of the last.
2019 Charmes-Chambertin
A vibrant nose of both high and low tones. Extra freshness, extra structure very, very different vs the 20. The finish here is more subtle, more haunting – thats a beautiful finish!
2019 Marsannay Blanc Le Clos
A forward, mineral nose, some rigour here. Also a little in the flavour but here’s a wine that slowly melts in mouth-watering style over the palate – the finish is saline inflected and lovely – very good wine.
2018 Marsannay Blanc Le Clos
A wide nose that’s more attractive, cushioned and silky than the 2019. Structural but mobile, complex, really interesting – reminds me of Chassagne in some ways. Really excellent white here
2017 Marsannay Blanc Le Clos
A little of the strictness – the rigour of the 19. Fresher, mineral, wide, modestly tannic too. I love this finish. More rigour in style like the 19 with a bit of extra freshness, very good.