Tasted in Bouzeron with Max Blondelle & Loïc Cornuau, 24 November 2021.
Domaine Chanzy
1 Rue de la Fontaine
71150 Bouzeron
Tel: +33 3 85 87 62 10
www.domaine-chanzy.com
More reports with Domaine Chanzy.
Max on 2021 & 2020:
“This year we only had an average of 17 hl/ha across the whole domaine so, for example, that’s much less than in the frosty vintage of 2016. 2020 is also quite a small vintage – even less than we managed to produce in 2019 – so all-in-all we’ve lost a whole vintage in terms of volume in the three vintages that span 2019 to 2021…”
The wines…
Really strong and forward reds here in 2020 – there are no shrinking violets – but there’s always freshness. One I could not taste and three were far from finished with malos still to complete but all-in-all very impressive. The whites were, likewise, strong and forward and all with a high level of quality.
All wines are sealed with ‘technical’ corks here; a mix of Trescasses, Lafitte and DIAM, though some natural cork is still used for the ‘grand reds!’ whatever that means! The first four of these reds are already bottled but the rest not yet:
2020 Côteaux Bourguignons
Vines Paris l’Hopital, all gamay, no destemming. 350-litre larger format barrels for the elevage, bottled in the first half of September.
Lots of colour. A textured depth of aroma – concentrated and cushioned. Mouth-filling with lots of energy and plenty of dark fruit. Slowly mouth-watering. A very tasty first wine – yum!
2020 Bourgogne Pinot Noir Les Fortunés
All domaine vines. Some grapes for this do come from their Clos de la Fortune in Bouzeron – a large part with their stems – the rest from the bottom of Mercurey and St.Martin l’Aigue
Plenty of colour. A deep nose, perhaps some of the extra depth from reduction but clearly offering more to see than the last wine, indeed there’s a fine clarity with aeration. Supple, round, a very modest grain of tannin. Mouth-filling and delicious finishing, this is excellent Bourgogne…
This with barrel elevage in 2020 and a little whole cluster too. The first vintage was 2018 here.
A deeper nose, again with a suggestion of reduction. Fuller again, certainly a little reduction in the flavours but there’s clearly a little extra richness and depth of fruit flavour in this wine. Fine-textured – if/when it loses the reduction that’s a really great wine for the label.
2020 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune
This parcel in Paris l’Hopital – nearly 2 ha worth… I thought the 2019 a great wine for the label – this was, for my palate, horrible:
Higher toned – some obvious pyrazine in the mix here. Also strongly in the flavours – not my style – I can’t taste anything but the pyrazine – for the next 30 minutes, even my crachoir (spit bucket) smelled of pyrazine from what I spit out!
2020 Rully En Rosey
Multiple types of elevage, normal barrels and mix of larger formats, foudres and even stainless steel to bring the various elements. 7.5 ha in the domaine, just over the border over the hill from Bouzeron.
That’s a lovely nose (phew!) – a width of perfumed aroma – simply lovely. The palate is full, a little structured but the tannin is ripe and virtually without grain – that’s a super wine with nicely fluid finishing flavour.
2020 Rully Clos de Bellecroix
Near Domaine/Mountain de la Folie. Some maps include this in the climat of Folie. 1 ha. The malo has only just started here – It’s not the only wine this year – they will let it do its own thing.
A higher toned but very attractive nose – though the fruit below is perhaps a little roast in style. Full, energetic, mouth-filling. Very concentrated. There’s a little furry tannin and a small prickle from the acidity – the latter probably due to the lack of finished malo. To see again but the finish is lovely…
2020 Mercurey Le Bois Cassien
Monopole in red and white – one of the highest vineyards in Mercurey. 12.5 ha – there are 80 hectares in the domaine, of which 66 are in production. Lots of iron and stones in this soil.
That’s another attractive nose – almost a little coffee in the complexity. Full and mouth-watering, again with plenty of structural tannin and, essentially, again with no grain. I like that finish – complex and wide!
2020 Mercurey En Carraby
Next to Clos du Roi with no obvious délimitation between the two but this noted as villages. Deeper soil here.
This hasn’t finished its malo either so I’ll discount the less attractive aspects of the nose. Supple, concentrated flavour. Finishing with impressive persistence. This should be very good – when finished!
2020 Mercurey Les Bussières
High on the hill above Framboisière – have also white here but that’s ‘Clos de Bussière’
Another without a finished malo – the third and last. Full, a bit more energy and the middle and finishing intensity has a lovely purity of dark fruit. That’s very fine finishing – let’s see when it’s done.
2020 Mercurey 1er Clos Voyens
Just above the cemetery and quite close to the forest above. Always a later harvested area.
This nose is quite complex – the first with a little (overt) whole-cluster complexity. Large-scaled – lots of width to this flavour which is framed by the finest of tannin – subtly dry but that won’t last. The finish is a little more on the graphite minerality style – and long. Finishing almost with just a little dry tannin – an impressive wine…
2020 Mercurey 1er Clos du Roy
0.85 ha – the first harvested parcel with a lot of roasted grapes to triage – so no whole clusters used for this wine.
That’s got a lovely nose – more subtle and with a silky width. Mouth-filling like the others, a little more visible than the last – less texturally sophisticated but also less drying. The finish open and attractive – Very good!
2020 Givry 1er Champ Lalot
Other side of the road from Clos Jus.
A nose of depth, perhaps a partly hidden reduction here. A lot of gas. Opens with melting with flavour – this seems really impressive with a fine and fluid delivery of flavour. I think this will be excellent…
4 small parcels all with different exposures – high & low.
The nose shows a little flighty wc aspect – there’s some decent depth here too. Mouth-filling – really impressive texture, very faintly grained but always mouth-watering. Finishing well – it needs more elevage to bring a bit more clarity to the flavour – with that it would be a great Maranges!
In Santenay le Haut, almost 50-year-old vines. Under Chateau le Crée
The most airy and attractive yet – a lovely width of aroma. Depth of flavour, finely textural too – it needs, like the Fussière, a little more elevage to bring clarity, and like that wine, if it gets it, then it will be a great villages…
2020 Santeany 1er Gravières
The only contract wine here. This still in barrel all the previous were assembled.
The only wine with a little less colour. A little spice to this nose, deeper, more hidden, fruit below. Mouth-filling, a little silk to this texture – lots of concentration. A little more contemplative in the finish – but very good wine all the same.
2020 Santeany 1er Beaurepaire
55-year-old vines in the heart of the hillside – have white here too, this is terraced. This back to domaine vines. The smallest volume vinified by the domaine in this vintage – just one barrel of 300-litres – where it remains for now.
Extra freshness – some creamy oak included – the first. Lovely shape, round, a flavour that floods the palate finishing complex – with plenty of barrel references – wait 2-3 years because of that but here is a potentially excellent wine.
‘Our ‘confidential’ domaine wine’ – 0.24 ha. Not quite 3 barrels, one was a new one.
Directly, that’s a great nose, complex, spiced, of clarity, even a flash of menthol. Wide, layered, mobile flavour. The finest grain of tannin here – this wine is so harmonious – I sense occasionally the oak but hardly at all the 100% whole cluster. That’s a great villages – bravo!
Les Blancs
It’s about equal volume for reds and whites here, but the number of white cuvées is fewer than in red. About half of these have been bottled:
2020 Bouzeron Les Trois
Les Clous, la Tournelle and Les Cordères. This bottled. A blend of elevage types – tank, foudre and barrel.
Open and fresh – quite an easy but attractive nose. A hint of reduction but mouth-filling and tasty. An easy but clean and tasty Bouzeron.
2020 Bouzeron Clos de la Fortune
Not yet bottled. A mix of elevage again but here with a bit of new oak.
More depth and width to this. Fuller, a suggestion of reduction in the flavours but here is more depth and complexity to the flavour. I find this an excellent prospect. It’s extra-long too.
2020 Bouzeron Clos de la Fortune Vieilles-Vignes
Just three barrels, one new. Tasted blind.
A fuller, more oaked nose, some depth of aroma too. Fuller in the mouth too – but really open and impressive – this has the shape and fluidity of a great wine. I only see the oak a little in the finish – but hardly – just a long and attractive wine – the most impressive part is the first wave of flavour – that’s top.
2020 Bourgogne Chardonnay Les Fortunés
Part of this from the bottom of the Clos de Fortune. This bottled. The other part of this in the commune of Nantoux, just the other side of the hill from here.
A deeper nose, almost a suggestion of lime-skin. Mouth-filling, energetic, with some mouth-watering sucrosity. What’s not to like. Very good!
2020 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune Blanc
Again in the area of Paris l’Hopital – a mix of older and younger vines from the top of the hill – the older vines machine harvested, the younger by hand.
Higher toned, an airy quality. This has a bit of mineral rigour but lots of energy and flavour. I would wait a year or two before attacking – if that eases I think this will be good, the finish is already quite good.
2020 Rully En Rosey Blanc
4.5 ha. Mainly foudre elevage and finished in tank.
Plenty of aromatic freshness. This is wider and much more energetic – almost dynamic wine. Very impressive. There’s a fine grain of complexity too. The finish is a little stricter and citrussy – this is clearly excellent wine!
This not bottled – lots of stones in this vineyard, as the name would suggest.
Another step in width and with fine, riper, citrus complexity – super. More composed but no less fresh – fine, mineral, great villages – Bravo!
This bottled, sold in bulk in 2019…
A nose like the last but with a little extra, and attractive, flesh – a super nose. A little fuller than the last, still direct and mineral but a bit more citrus mouth-watering. The texture a little less fine with some tannin – but I’m splitting hairs that’s another great villages.
2020 Rully 1er Rabourcé
First purchase in must – ‘I was missing a 1er cru for the range and we found this’ – the vinification exactly like the other wines of the domaine. This just on fining for a December bottling.
Hmm – a bit more composure but there’s plenty of aromatic width and clarity here – a little floral too – this is nice. Hmm – that’s structurally very nice too – properly structured but not hard. More citrus bitters than the others – quite zesty. That’s excellent.
2020 Mercurey Le Bois Cassien
Top of the hill, about 1.5 ha of the domaine’s surface here is white – this and all the rest not bottled. Half the elevage in large format 350 barrels the rest in tank.
Less open nose but with a nice depth. Vibrant in the mouth – lots of agrume – quite a grapefruit style to this. That’s a very delicious wine that still needs a bit more elevage but I think it will be, at least, excellent…
2020 Mercurey Le Clos de Bussières
In white a monopole of the domaine, the red that they have doesn’t have the necessary 3 walls for ‘Clos’. This, has three walls – the 4th is the forest.
This has a lovely and more complex citrus style – very attractive. Very wide and very mineral – a suggestion of barrel in the super citrussy, mouth-watering flavours. Fine intensity here. This will be at least excellent – there’s a super and open shape this
2020 Mercurey Clos Caraby
Not yet bottled – from the bottom of the Clos where the soil is a little richer in clay.
A width of aroma – almost fizzing with a little sherbet – reminds a little of a Montagny, a nice floral style too. Full, mineral, a little strict/rigour but not too much – in this case just wait a little while before opening – 2 years. Really a super wine.
2020 Mercurey 1er Clos du Roy Blanc
The same soil as the reds from here
Far from clear at this stage of elevage but a fine and deep nose with a finely divided complexity of citrus. A little extra acid attack here – super intensity. Fading in a subtle but long way – actually quite an elegant and fine finish – and not lacking in persistence. Really very good…
2020 Puligny-Montrachet Les Reuchaux
A rich soil, vines practically behind the cuverie of Carillon.
That’s a more powerful and open nose – more green-skinned citrus and flowers. There’s an extra depth to this flavour – growing in volume in the mouth. Certainly quite some strong citrus in the middle and finishing flavour. This needs more elevage but the finish is strong and impressive.
2020 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Garenne
This and the following bought in must and vinified here. Only one barrel of each.
A more reticent but finer nose – very attractive. Great shape and energy in the mouth – structural, mineral, almost juicy, small citrus bitters and a clean and long finish. That is simply excellent wine!
2020 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Champsgain
A little more open and floral perfumed. More mouth-filling and energetic, a hint less definition – yet this is the wine with more tension and more ‘deliciousness’ today – tres Puligny and excellent!
The vines here are terraced.
That’s a very different nose, deeper but also impressively floral – very different flowers compared to the Pulignys. Mouth-filling, structural and growing, growing in the mouth. Really mineral too – a hint of rigour here but not too much. A Santenay tour de force. Brave placement in the tasting but it is bigger and more intense and it is great Santenay!