Tasted in Savigny-lès-Beaune with Chisa Bize, 19th November, 2014.

Domaine Simon Bize et Fils
12 Rue Chanoine Donin
21420 Savigny-lès-Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 21 50 57
www.domainebize.fr

It was my first visit chez Bize since we lost Patrick, I have to say that tasting with his widow Chisa was a very sombre affair – though one or two of the wines did brighten proceedings. Chisa explaines “All the team at the domaine who worked with Patrick, plus my sister inlaw, Marielle Grivot Bize, are my help. Guillaume in charge of the whites and Nicolas the reds. Actually Nicolas is one of the veterans – but still young at around 40!”

Maybe the only bright spot of our conversation was her view on the 2014: “Our harvest volumes were back to normal in 2014 – about the same volume as 2014. Nice grapes without rot…”

The wines…

All these wines were tasted from tank. Overall those destemmed wines seemed in great shape, the others a little more variable. As Chisa put it “There’s not much to taste as we lost 50%.”. These would all be bottled the week after my visit.

2013 Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Bourgeots
High-toned and quite floral fruit. Lots of density and width. Very good quality here for a villages – a supple and concentrated wine.

2013 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Aux Fournaux
Here is redder fruit and more aromatic intensity. Quite a lot of mid-palate flavour and super finishing intensity too – maybe even a little licorice in there. Very good!

2013 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Vergelesses
Here is a fresher and wider but less obviously fruity nose. Lovely energy here with fine intensity of flavour and no padding – tons of flavour. Yum!

The previous 3 wines had all been destemmed, the following not:

2013 Savigny-Lès-Beaune 1er Les Guettes
Here the nose shows a lot of volatility today though the fruit is silkily dark. More grain and more obvious structure here.

2013 Latricières-Chambertin
A deeper and darker aromatic – again silky and this time slightly cushioned. A lithe and mineral palate that has a little textural cushioning. A little whole cluster flavour and tannin too. Very obvious power that melts into a beautiful finish that today has only modest complexity. This is very super!

2013 Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc
A blend of 3 parcels.
The nose is deep and fresh with nicely punchy aroma. Plenty of energy here, despite ripe flavours. Lots of mid-palate flavour to chew on here. Quite good!