Tasted in Givry with Jean-Baptiste and André Bordeaux Montrieux, 17 October 2019.
Domaine Thénard
7 Rue de L’Hôtel de ville
71640 Givry
Tel: +33 3 85 44 31 36
Fermentations are always late here as it’s a cold cellar – so as has been my recent habit, I taste the vintage one year older. Jean-Baptiste prefers to make a longer elevage – up to 24 months, though this year, he’s decided that the 2017s don’t need quite so long, so most are already racked into tank. “I will Probably bottle the 17s before the end of the year after some rackings.”
Jean-Baptiste on the 2018 vintage:
“2018 was very hard for reds, I tasted the grapes and we had high degrees, but often they were still not ripe tasting.
Jean-Baptiste on the 2017 vintage:
“2017 is the first vintage I’ve ever seen that needed not one gram of sugar. We lost about 50% in Givry in 2017 and it was also hard to extract the juice on the whole, so we had even less, but the Côte d’Or was excellent – it’s the Côte de Nuits that’s been the most regular in the last years.”
The wines…
The Givrys are as good I’ve tasted here – not the ‘lite’ style of many southern Côte de Beaune in 2017. The rest of the domaine’s range underlines what an overlooked domaine this is for quality/price.
2017 Givry Clos Cellier aux Moines
Starting the use of more 350-litre barrels – they are still easy to manoeuvre and ‘they work well with the wine’ Jean-Baptiste thinks that they will probably start to use them for some whites too.
M, m-plus colour. Hmm, that’s a nice fruit, a little foudre smell which will be gone by bottling. This is very attractive with a certain clarity, supple shape and concentration. Long, slightly mineral and practically no rigour. Very tasty wine.
2017 Givry Les Bois Cheveaux
A narrower but more floral and higher-toned nose. The same drive, a little less overt minerality, more complex and energetic finishing. Super.
2017 Givry Clos St.Pierre
This already bottled.
Red fruit, a little dried fruit here – cranberry-raisin. Wider, more supple, here a little tannic grain. Layered finishing. More mineral, quite mouth-watering in the finish – probably a little more serious following the bottling, but this is again very tasty wine.
2017 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Ile des Vergelesses
Ooh, that’s a lovely nose – wide, slightly vibrant. There is concentration here, some structure too. Almost a chocolate in the finish. Excellent wine – such an under the radar source and very well priced.
2017 Corton Clos du Roi
A finer nose, super. Silkier, but still with tannin, mouth-watering, long. Ooh, that’s really good! A dry coating to finish but super-fine texture. Excellent.
2017 Grands-Echézeaux
‘We have a plant that doesn’t have a big acidity’
That’s a lovely, classic, faintly almond aroma, growing with fine purity. Fuller, complex, almost chewy in the middle, long, long, long. Super!
Les blancs:
2017 Givry Blanc
Still in barrel.
Yellow fruit but not overtly citrus. Supple and concentrated. Nice layers of flavour and long – tannic even. This is very successful in 2017.
2017 Givry 1er Cellier aux Moines
Open and correct on the nose. Nice shape, texture and finishing flavour.
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos St.Jean
Hmm, a nice vibration of aroma. This is direct but padded, complex, growing, this is excellent.
2017 Montrachet
I can’t really give you one note, because they prefer to use a mix of coopers – ‘the best result is always the blend‘ – so I was lucky enough to taste from 5 different barrel types, but all were so different. If the blend is truly better than the parts, the usual buyers of this will be very happy!
