Tasted in Givry with (middle) André & Jean-Baptiste Bordeaux Montrieux, with more team members, 08 October 2020.
Domaine Thénard
7 Rue de L’Hôtel de ville
71640 Givry
Tel: +33 3 85 44 31 36
More reports on Baron Thénard.
Fermentations are always late here as it’s a cold cellar – so as has been my recent habit, I continue to taste the vintage one year older. This year we made comparisons with some 2019s as André has managed to persuade his dad to reduce the time of elevage – if only by a couple of months – so that’s still more than 20 months!
André the 2020 vintage:
“We finished harvesting the 20s in August – the first time ever, having started 18 August. Unfortunately, only 18-22 hl/ha in the Givry and that’s practically all down to the dryness and a little ‘grilled’ grapes. The hillsides were worst affected, they are all old vines…”
The wines…
2018 and 2019 have been very kind to the domaine’s Givrys – they are excellent and definitely worth buying if you’re looking in this price category. Importantly, none of their 2018s suffer the worst excesses of the vintage – there are very good wines here. And at the other end of the scale, look out for that 2019 Montrachet – there’s greatness here – which I also noted at another domaine that sources from here!
2019 Givry Les Bois Cheveaux
from foudre – Better yield than in 2020 but still not so high.
Nice colour. That’s a nicely vibrant nose too. Wide, slight grain, layers, long. This already showing well.
2018 Givry Les Bois Cheveaux
Aromatically, thats amazingly similar to the 19, a little more pinched above, wider below but the same fruit. The grain is showing just a little more, but this is finishing much more attractively today – probably the extra elevage.
2018 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’
A little tighter nose but good with of attractive fruit. A touch more structure here, the grain is less and there’s practically no astringence. Now that’s tasty!
Bottled just before the harvest.
Ooh, the fruit’s lovely but here there’s a more overt floral note here too. Bigger, more structural again, this is the wine to keep in the cellar 2-3 years. Super finishing flavour, really an intensity, but wait for these!
2018 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Ile des Vergelesses
Lovely fruit here – wide, ripe but berries and nothing volatile – that’s a lively invitation. Volume in the mouth a fine grain of tannin at the base, the flavour grows and widens and there’s power but super balance. The last drops showing flowers in the mix – it’s super, but it also shows how good the Givrys are this year!
2018 Corton Clos du Roi
Ooh, thats a beautiful nose – wide, floral, complex fine fruit. A little extra freshness, plenty of tannin but practically no grain. This has a fine finish that slowly leaches over the palate through the structure. That’s delicious and relatively easy to drink already!
2018 Grands-Echézeaux
‘We have a plant that doesn’t have a big acidity’
There’s certainly extra colour here. A wider nose, dark and faintly spiced – almost a grain of extra complexity – slowly becoming floral too. Mouth-filling – what a baby! Depth of flavour, dimensions of flavour too. That’s a powerful wine, rich, slightly warm but nothing volatile here. Super long – a wine as it should be…
Les blancs:
2018 Givry Blanc
All tank elevage. Not yet bottled.
That’s a mineral but also steely reductive nose. This plays well over the palate – stony, metallic. Not my favourite flavour here but the elevage is not done. The finish is rather good – I like – and faintly tannic too.
2018 Givry 1er Cellier aux Moines
Also not bottled.
Thats more open, more interesting – this is really an invitation. Open, fresh, transparent – thats tasty. Yum! Much more ready.
2018 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos St.Jean
Barrel elevage thats finished in tank. Not yet bottled.
Ooh, thats super – complex, energetic, slightly mineral – a great invitation. Mouth-filling, energetic, a little warm? But absolutely delicious!
2018 Montrachet
This year a simple mix of an older and a newer barrel from Rousseau.
A faint touch of oak, but this still has a lovely clarity of aroma. Wide, mouth-filling – concentration but beautifully balanced, hyper-complex, super wide. Warm finishing like the Chassagne but the finish is great and faintly tannic as the others.
The same cocktail but this time the new barrel is from Cadus
There’s super energy here, faintly reductive. Wide, energetic again, seemingly a little sweeter, a little more driving edge to the flavour in the middle. The oak is showing more but great length again – properly great.
