Tasted in Gevrey with Jean-Louis Trapet, 12 November, 2014.
Domaine Trapet
53 Route de Beaune
21220 Gevrey-Chambertin
Tel: +33 3 80 34 30 40
www.domaine-trapet.fr
I knew that I would be tasting some of Jean-Louis’ wines at the Syndicat de Gevrey-Chambertin, ‘Roi Chambertin’ tasting, just two days later, but I knew I wouldn’t have a chance for a good chat with him at that tasting, hence, this visit. I’m happy that I did so, as I really didn’t think that his samples at the syndicat tasting showed as well as direct from barrel. There is only one issue when tasting with the hyper-enthusiastic Mr Trapet, and that is that you taste many samples that don’t get commercialised as they are presented, so lots of triage is required in the notes to bring you something approaching a real view of the commercial range. But so much to learn… 😉
Jean-Louis on 2014:
“There will be no Bourgogne Rouge and no Marsannay blanc. I did anyway have low yields, but chose to send the grapes to a Biodynamic friend in Volnay who had almost no grapes. “
Jean-Louis on 2013:
“2013 needed lots of time for maturity, so we didn’t start until the 3rd of October. Compared to, say, 2009 we have only 50% yields, but 2014 is back to ‘normal’ i.e. 2009 minus about 10%! We did have some late malos, but most finished in May to June.”
The wines…
The first two wines here, were bottled before the harvest
2013 Bourgogne Blanc
Bourgogne plus Marsannay due to low yields.
Fresh nose with some roundness, actually a very pretty chardonnay (oops burgundy!) nose. Round, full and almost with an oily-smooth texture. A big peak of mid-palate concentration. Rather tasty, quite fresh enough and finishing well.
2013 A Minima
From old vines on the limit of the Gevrey appellation in Les Grands Champs – a mix of pinot and gamay, the gamay slowly being replanted with pinot. Minima refers to the lack of sulfur during the elevage process. I forgot to ask, but assume that some sulfur was added at bottling!
Beautiful aroma, mainly dark fruit with a little extra punch – maybe from the gamay. A beautiful, direct wine – narrow but silky and faintly saline. The flavour widens in the finish – really super!
Will be racked in January.
Depth and width, something of a ‘come-hither’ nose – lovely. Faint gas but it doesn’t obscure the depth of concentration and fresh, detailed fruit. Here is super length.
2013 Gevrey-Chambertin
Here were long malos – they are only at the end now.
Wider nose though less deep. Wide and with good energy and a growing depth of flavour – a lovely ‘ping’ of flavour in the mid-palate too followed by a bright and tasty finish – yum! And that’s not all – after you swallow, you’ll find a lovely, silky coating on your teeth!
2013 Gevrey-Chambertin Cuvée Ostrea
A similar nose to the ‘classic’ Gevrey, with a little added depth of aroma. Super minerality here, mouth-watering flavour too, that’s edges with a little salinity. Very long and very fine though seemingly less ‘oomph’ versus the classic.
Here is an assemblage of five small 1er Cru parcels.
Deep aromas – but more due to reduction than fruit. Despite (also) a little gas, this is silky with a beautifully pure and frank expression of fruit – more layered, with a weight of finishing flavour. Lovely.
Hardly any reduction on this wide and textured nose. Also quite a direct style of flavour and delivered with super intensity too. A wine that keeps building and building flavour that slowly lingers through (relatively) modest tannin. A beauty!
A wider, more airy nose – perhaps less depth of aroma though. There is more width of flavour than the Chapelle, more detail and complexity too. There are waves of flavour here – simply wow! This is a wine that whispers in your ear, rather than giving it a clip!
2013 Chambertin
Shame – quite a lot of reduction. The palate has some gas, but also the same width as the Latricières – but in a different style – more complexity, less waves. There is more tannin here, but it is relatively light. Very, very long, in a style that’s much closer to Latricières than Chapelle today.