Tasted in Sologny with Julien Desplans, 04 November 2022.
Verget SAS
Le Bourg
71960 Sologny
Tel: +33 3 85 51 66 00
www.verget-sa.fr
More reports for Verget.
Julien on 2022:
“2022 for us left us very happy – some parcels suffered from the dryness but the later maturing places had good volumes with lots of concentration – like a mix of 2017 and 2019. Not a big volume vintage more a ‘correct’ vintage. I think it will be a very good vintage – it was certainly easier than 21 with fewer treatments required – and straight away we saw the type of wines that we expect…”
Julien on 2021:
“It’s good that the wines are refreshing and tasty but the price point brings expectations that are hard to meet. For us it’s 30% of a normal harvest volume – many of our normal contract purchases were not available so we did less but tried to buy the best. Instead of 30 wines, we have 14 – Saint Veran for instance brought just 8 hl/ha.
“The harvest wasn’t the easiest thing; we started about the 17th but every few days it rained so we harvested then had a couple of days off then harvested again then rested again – so we were only finished in October. At one point there was 100mm of rain so it was over, the porriture was installed – it was like in 2013, on the Monday the grapes weren’t ripe and on the Tuesday they had porriture. So it was a little like that, maturity was a very short window. We don’t like unripe here so chose to wait but that meant we had to do quite a lot of triage. Some parcels were perfect but for many, we were playing with balancing the attributes to try to make the best wine possible, and we tried to make the wines as coherently as possible – the balance between the buttery, lactic, accents from the malos and the forward acidity.”
The wines…
So classy and so consistent in this difficult vintage. Many of these wines are worth a special search.
We tasted all the Verget-labelled wines but those of Domaine Guffens Heynen were not yet ready to taste. All those wines tasted were already bottled – “In fact, we bottled everything in 15 days – from the end of June onwards – averaging about 9 months elevage.” Most of these tasted were in screw-cap but they actually use more DIAM – it’s market dependant – screwcap since 2004 – for more than half of the wines at that time – there’s the least sulfur of the bottlings in these wines, and Julien says that they are even selling screw-caps in France now – an advantage is that the wines are less ‘tired’ in the first few weeks following bottling.
There’s no Viré-Clessé this year – neither in 2022:
2021 Bourgogne Grande Elevage
This the only wine that was 2/3rds elevaged in tank.
Hmm – deep – with energy there’s an engaging off/full-ripeness to this aromatic. Supple, fine texture, there’s concentration here too. The mouth-watering finish is fine. A wine that could have more energy but is long and very good.
2021 Mâcon-Pierreclos
From 3 parcels, domaine parcels in this vintage – all barrel elevage but none new.
More airy and floral notes. Fuller but also with more acid energy. Supple, modestly oaked – broad and delicious – that’s a super wine – simply excellent. I’d wait two years for the oak to fade a little…
2021 Mâcon-Pierreclos
This the specific cuvée sold on the domaine’s website.
Deeper, more mature fruit. Some gas. But here the wine cuts a sauve yet energetic shape. More insistent finishing vs the width of the previous wine – a little floral here too. Nice!
2021 Mâcon-Pierreclos Tremblay
More older vines and more clay here – the young vines from here are in the previous wine. A little new oak in the elevage. The maturity here aided by some botrytis
A fine, partly floral width of aroma. Gas again – but still another level of energy vs the previous wines – mobile, fluid in style, melting over the palate, faintly tannic finishing. Simply excellent.
“It’s complicated – the low rendement doesn’t show the proper effect – you might expect concentration from such a low volume but in the end maybe you had 8 vines frosted and most of the grapes coming from two that were not frosted – it certainly wasn’t a low yield for those two vines!”
2019 Mâcon-Villages Terres de Pierres
The largest volume cuvée produced – 20-25k bottles depending on the vintage – only stainless-steel elevage.
Hmm – that’s a wide and bright nose – plenty of green citrus fruit here. Round, supple, layered – a wine with a hint of richness, almost a suggestion of the exotic, but always slowly melting with flavour around the edges. Holds well – tasty wine.
9 months in older barrels – much from Charnay, a little Pierreclos too.
Ooh – now that’s showing a little more freshness and zip – it’s really inviting. Extra zip in the mouth too – melting, energetic, cooler fruit, beautiful wine – that’s great!
2021 Mâcon-Peronne Les Légères
Broader, more yellow fruit and some creamy oak. More mouth-filling shape – the fluidity of the last, slowly mouth-watering – a super shape to this wine again. Perghaps a hint more clarity and cleanliness in the wide-finishing flavour.
This the most clay of these Mâcons, harvested before the first rain – all barrel with around 10% new. Strongly frosted here
A nose with a vibrantly attractive depth – so inviting. Supple, cool fruit, more inherently mineral and a finish of more intensity – that’s a great 2021…
Argillo-calcaire, 20 metres away from the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation.
Extra width of aroma – more airy and partly floral – that’s a lovely invitation – the best so far! Some gas again. Mouth-filling again with cool fruit style, mobile, energetic and with a cushioned minerality. Almost juicy finishing with a touch of salinity too. A wine that I may drink too quickly – bravo!
This wasn’t planted in the 1930s, perhaps because of that, it’s not in the Pouilly AOP – vines on limestone with some altitude. ‘A minuscule harvest here’
This nose is a combination of width plus vibrant, energetic depth – faintly smoky too – yes! Much more direct and cool then broad, mineral and shows flashes of intensity and complexity. A wine to wait for – nice citrus agrumes in the finish too. Not quite in the great place of the Bussières today but I expect it will come – certainly excellent possibly bravo!
Old vines with a small yield each year – Usually sold only to Farr Vintners in the UK but there is some for other markets this year.
Airy – a little floral – there’s more new oak here but aromatically it’s not visible. Like the last, cool, mineral – in fact, more mineral – growing in intensity. This has really eaten its oak the mineral flavours are clean and show some citrus intensity, again with fine citrus bitters in the finish – it finishes a little tannic. That’s a simply super wine, also possibly a great one. Classic and delicious.
2021 St.Véran ‘Lieu (Inter)dit‘
From Côte Rôti in Davayé – hence the name. ‘It’s the best one we made!’ Harvested the first day of the harvest – 13° natural – but a minuscule harvest.
Ripe and forward – still with freshness and energy – very different to the previous wines. Wide and mineral, fine energy, equally fine texture with a velvety grain of tannin. Fading but with an interesting intensity. This is a lovely fuller wine that holds its finish very well. Yum!
2021 Pouilly-Fuissé, Grand Élevage
2 parcels in Fuissé plus one in Vergisson – here the problem was more the hail than the frost – but some small parts saw neither.
Some aromatic similarities to the last but not in shape – here is a more direct impression. In the mouth too – round but cool, mineral but still round. I like the modest intensity but an almost haunting line of finishing flavour Super…
Vineyards that were not classed as 1er – actually one could be but the vigneron doesn’t record it as such – it’s not mandatory.
Broader, fine mineral energy and a fainter smoky character. Intense – extra cool and mineral – ooh this is easily the most intense with almost chewy middle flavours and finish – that’s great!
2021 Pouilly-Fuissé Les Combes Vieilles-Vignes
Really a Combe. A part of is almost 100 years old, the younger part 80! A little frosted but a lot more hail. Harvested in 3 passes – there are north and south-facing faces here.
Rounder, sweeter, less incisive aromatics – but still very inviting. A slightly reductive minerality brings interest to this generosity. Slowly-moving waves of flavour lap over the palate in this finish. A more contemplative wine but still with such an impressive length. Lovely again.
South-east facing vines, not much soil, lots of limestone.
Wider with lots of vibrancy to this aroma, faintly floral too. Extra. Incisive and direct, fine texture and energy in combination with a peak of intensity just as you swallow. This has a broad, long, today slightly less interesting finish than the last but with the expectation that this will be the greater wine for sure – I already prefer it. Keep this 1-3 years before taking a look – bravo wine!