Tasted in Gevrey-Chambertin, 12 November, 2015.
This was the fifth presentation by the Syndicat of Gevrey-Chambertin for new vintage – you will find notes from all of those tastings in the various pages of Burgundy-Report. The format was the same as each year, with a long line of wines disappearing off into the horizon. This year I have 100 notes for you.
This year I had to depart the tasting after the villages wines to pick-up my better half from Gevrey’s train station – actually I had an extra 15-20 minutes, so worked my way through the Bèze and Chambertin bottles before departing – before somebody drank them all 😉 So despite those notes sitting at the end of this long list of tasting-notes, they were actually tasted before the 1er crus. All the rest of the grand crus were tasted after the 1ers. Note, by mistake I assumed the first grand cru was the Griotte, but I had missed the Charmes and Mazoyères, so I returned to the Mazoyères but was out of time to taste the Charmes – probably a shame given how great and consistently the Mazoyères performed…
What of the wines?
From recent vintages, I found the 2012s the most delicious but the samples were inconsistent. The 2013s were not far behind the 12s and certainly much more consistent. And the 14s? These were beautifully balanced wines, often with layers of flavour and fine texture – poor samples were rare – the vintage has fine consistency. There is a good terroir difference between the vineyards, it is less finely defined as in either 12 or 13, but clearly better than 2011. Judging by the colour of my tongue and teeth afterwards, there is no lack of structural tannin in these wines – it is simply very well wrapped in the becoming fruit of the vintage. The 2014s are delicious wines, currently for sybaritic wallowing, but rarely with the same frisson of excitement that the best 12s and 13s delivered at this stage.
Part 1 – 40 Gevrey-Chambertin villages wines…
I should note that here is another important tasting with rather dumb, small tasting glasses reminiscent of ISO glasses. Really, glasses such as these do no favours for the wines – at all!
2014 Denis Berthaut Clos des Chézeaux
Deep colour. Fresh, almost carbonic bright. Also bright depth. Tasty wine.
2014 Bouchard Père et Fils
More severe, a hint bitter from oak but very good finishing
Bright, a little sweet nose. Round, large scaled, fresh and intense – supe.
2014 Alain Burguet Mes Favourites
Bright, fresh, sweetly fruited. Fresh in the mouth, a little oak and herb but very good dimension of flavour. More oak in the finish. Long. Very, very good.
2014 Alain Burguet Symphonie
Oak packed but it’s still a very pretty nose. More intense, a little herby, but very good depth of flavour.
2014 Philippe Charlopin Vieilles Vignes
Fresh, less oak than usual, bright, rather intense fruit with a gooseberry impression. Maybe the first Charlopin I quite like at these tastings!
2014 Drouhin-Laroze
Fresh, nicely floral too. Faintly pepper. A bit gassy, but direct and a little saline. Good intensity. Probably very good.
2014 Eugène Elia Les Murots
Some depth on this rather modest nose. Bright fruit, direct on the palate, good intensity, very good!
Really deep colour. Faint reduction, an impression of CO2 and some flowers. Wide, a little mineral and saline. Lots of weight, power and complexity – bravo, on form, a really great finish.
High toned fruit over a tighter depth. Round, plenty of tannin but very nicely textured. All the complexity and mouth-watering flavour comes after you swallow. This is lovely…
2014 Geantet-Pansiot Vieilles Vignes
Deeply coloured. Fresh over dark, stewing, but apparently still fresh fruit. Easy structure, falling over the tongue. Concentrated off-sweet. Quite okay…
2014 Jerôme Galeyrand En Blllard
Pretty and floral. Wide good texture, very perfumed fruit. This is lovely…
2014 Jerôme Galeyrand La Justice
Even prettier with a more intense red fruit to add to the flowers. Lithe, ever-moving, faintly mineral, beautiful sucrosity. Excellent!
Here there’s a bit of reduction. Lovely texture, super in the mouth with energy and complexity. Really excellent – serious stuff!
2014 Pierre Gelin Clos de Meivelle
Very fruity and floral mix. Round, cushioned, fruit from a different register. But very tasty wine with a lot of complexity.
2014 JM Guillon Vieilles-Vignes
Very bright, overt flowers here. Wide, muscled, nicely textured. Maybe I’d like a bit more freshness, but there’s a lot of wine here – very good!
2014 Harmond-Geoffroy Vieilles-Vignes
A little reduced. Wide and rather saline, there’s oak here too. A wine still deep in elevage. – I think with a lot going for it…
2014 Heresztyn-Mazzini Vieilles Vignes Les Songes
Pretty if discrete nose, precise red fruits. Round, fine texture, seems a little whole cluster – a style change here? Very nice wine…
High-toned, fresh, floral and very pretty. In the mouth too here is a wine of freshness and complexity – super!
2014 Philippe Livera En Champs
Saturated colour. Depth and high tones but not at all overdone. Big, big concentrated and not a bit overblown – saline and long, excellent. You couldn’t get two more contrasting styles!
2014 Philippe Livera Clos Village
Deep and a little tight nose. Bigger again, but nothing overblown again as this is lithe and communicative. Very good.
2014 Jean Philippe Marchand Vieilles Vignes
Bright and open with a little over-emphasis of the top notes perhaps. Cool fruit and good complexity – certainly fresh and interesting, very concentrated, perhaps just a little too much but still very good.
2014 René Leclerc Clos Prieur
High toned, not yet properly formed. In the mouth there’s width and some complexity, but it’s not really showing so well – despite a very good finish.
2014 Henri Magnien Vieilles Vignes
Bright rather forward top notes. Rather good width and dimension of flavour, sweetly mouth-watering fruit – only missing a better nose for recommending today…
Quite modestly coloured after many here. Pretty florals, an impression of whole cluster and a suggestion of reduction too. Cool fruit, nice in the mouth, understated but complex and rewarding. Too understated to recommend? Surely not!
2014 Thierry Mortet Vigne Belle
Good nose with nice depth. Rather nice in the mouth, rounded a hint saline, best TM sample I ever tasted here!
2014 Thierry Mortet
Composed, nicely aromatic. Like the majority here, good width, a cool, less obviously ripe fruit, but nice wine – really! Really great reprise of finishing flavour…
2014 Denis Mortet mes Cinq Terroirs
Here’s a little reduction. It’s like the Thierry Mortet but with a little more depth, yet still a sense of grace. Deep flavours probably influenced by the discreet reduction. But really excellent – a super finish of fine texture…
2014 Philippe Naddef Vieilles Vignes
Depth with a top layer pf faint oak spice. Good energy, lots of flavour tasty wine.
Deep, red fruited and inviting – implied whole-cluster too. Big in the mouth but with energy and complexity. The tannin needs to settle, but here’s a super glass of wine!
Fresh yet stewing red fruit – nicer than it sounds! Fresh, lovely width, supple texture and delivers fine flavour – excellent!
2014 Pierre Naigeon En Sylvie
A fresher , if darker fruit here, maybe influenced by a slight reduction. In the mouth there’s more structure, but the fruit is complex and battles gamely. This should be very good. Like its brother but wait at least 2 years…
Gorgeous if bright, direct fruit on the nose – super. Large-scaled, lots of floral elements to the flavour. The tannin has to fade, but this is excellent!
2014 Marc Roy Vieilles Vignes
A hint reduced with some bready notes too. Lovely width and texture here – executive packaging. There’s a bit of reduction in the flavour so not showing its best but clearly very classy wine…
Deep and complex, a hint mineral and maybe some reduction too. Lovely width again, lots of finely textured and hardly astringent tannin, super dimension of mid-palate flavour – surely will be better than some 1ers here today!
Some freshness, depth to, if modest. Round but wide, mouth-filling, discreetly complex it rolls wonderfully over and around the palate. Super wine, very distinguished finishing too.
2014 Taupenot Merme
A lovely deep red fruit in ascendant here. Off-dry, a hint of bitterness to the tannin, but concentrated and with a growing complexity – particularly in the finish. Yum! Actually a great finish as it reprises!
2014 Tortochot les Corvées
Wide a little diffuse, also a little reduced. A good sweetness and texture but rather reduced flavours…
2014 Jerôme Galeyrand les Carougeots
Tight but with occasional flashes if spiced fruit. Totally mouth-filling, growing intensity and concentration, bright fruit finishing. Lots of structure today. But lots of love too.
2014 Jerôme Galeyrand Champs Chenys
A hint spicy, otherwise tight. Round sweetly and finely textured with a just a hint of cushioning. Faint reduction towards the finish. A lot of class here, just waiting to be set free…
Dark coloured, a hint of oak spice too – fresh. Big in the mouth, plenty of oak at the base, but more textural than flavour. Big, lots of flavour complexity. This is lovely.
The 35 1er Crus…
Extraction is a common impression today…
2014 Des Beaumonts Les Cherbaudes
Extracted, faintly oaky, dark fruit flavour, again lots of oak here. Fresh and intense but you’ll need to wait for it to soften.
2014 Denis Berthaut Lavaux St.Jacques
Pretty, bright, dark fruits. Lots of flavour complexity, bright and energetic. Some gas I think is perturbing the presentation. But very good.
Fresh dark inviting fruit. Lots of energy again, fresh flavour really lots of action – yum!
2014 Bernard Bouvier Fonteys
Bright, concentrated dark fruit – inviting! Lots of width, good energy a faint bitter tannin finish, but it will be gone in a few months, lovely wine. Fine finishing too.
2014 Jean-Luc et Eric Burguet Champeaux
High tones, quite herby nose. With a pretty floral note behind. Also herby, almost corky(?) But the finish seems very good and the texture is excellent.
2014 Bruno Clair Cazetiers
Bright and floral, very pretty. In the mouth there’s not the impact of some but that’s not needed as the complexity is super. Lovely finishing complexity too – yum!
2014 Bruno Clair Clos St.Jacques
Deeper and higher toned but less width – a growing freshness of flowers too. Plenty of structure here, bit this is open and precise, lots of complexity too – excellent.
2014 Sylvie Esmonin Clos St.Jacques
Big, and quite whole-cluster but with tons of complexity. Big, sweet, padded, very different to the Clair, but with really brilliant complexity in the finish.
2014 Drouhin-Laroze Au Closeau
Fresh and pretty – pure wine. Wide and fresh, less padded, less complex, less sweet but tasty wine none the less.
2014 Pierre Gelin Clos Prieur
Deep, dark a hint mineral, plenty of energy and freshness, a growing intensity too. Very good, indeed better than very good as the texture is also super.
2014 Harmand-Geoffroy Champeaux
Dark and complex, faintly herbed, wide, saline, plenty of oak flavour, but always with these wines, and they come around – certainly by 10 years old…
2014 Geantet-Pansiot Poissenot
High toned a little floral over dark fruit. Fresh, concentrated, extracted certainly, lots of tannin, but there is fruit too. Just needs time.
2014 Dominique Gallois Combe aux Moines
Deep and a little strident dark fruit aroma. In the mouth this is intense yet very primary. Still, the finish is super linear and also primary – quite impressive.
Ooh. A that’s nice. Concentrated dark, fresh fruit of very fine focus. Wide and really complex with a lovely mid-palate differentiation of flavour. Excellent if extracted in style.
2014 Heresztyn-Mazzini Goulots
Dark, slightly roast fruit. Soft, a little padded, lots of good flavour here and no lack of freshness or precision. Very good!
A faint whole-cluster note(?) wide, a little saline too. Hmm, this is showing very impressively, and much more open than the Goulots today. Bravo. Tons of intensity here without too obvious extraction…
2014 Humbert Frères Poissenot
Deep and too reduced.
This one smells okay, extracted and fresh dark fruit, only a suggestion of reduction. Big, wide, concentrated, lots of intensity. – if this settles down, it will be downright great!
Bright with lots of unfinished top notes and a good bass. Wide and fresh and with beautiful dimensions of fruit. Give this a few months and I think it will be excellent!
2014 René Leclerc Lavaux St.Jacques
A little sulfitic. But big and bright in the mouth – good complexity and freshness. Tasty wine…
Pretty and quite floral too, lovely aromatic complexity. Bright, intense, lovely flavour – I’m liking most Cazetiers this year – a lot – super finishing. Excellent. Seriously great finish!
2014 Jean-Philippe Marchand Cazetiers
Also a nice tope note that is to the floral side of fruity. Big in the mouth, a little cushioning to the texture, lots of flavour complexity. Very good wine.
2014 Marchand-Tawse Champeaux
Just a little reduction spoils the nose, big, round, some sweetness, but reductive flavours too. Great texture and persistence though – should be good after eventual rackings et-cetera.
2014 Thierry Mortet Clos Prieur
Deep and wide, not fully formed. Rather wide and impressive flavour – it tastes very good. Thierry’s on form this year!
2014 Denis Mortet Champeaux
Modestly reduced. Nicely fresh, wide and concentrated over the tongue. The last flavour has a little reduction too. Shame. But the texture and finish are very promising…
Fresh, pretty but just maybe a hint reduced again. Big, round, but not fat, here is lithe muscle and a lovely complexity. Particularly in the finish – bravo!
2014 Philippe Naddef Champeaux
Nice depth with pretty top notes. Not the sweetest, but a fine complexity here, lovely flavour pouring over the tongue as you hit the finish. Super.
Floral with obvious whole-cluster perfume. Wide and rather complex. There’s lots of extraction but it’s balanced and there’s really lots of complexity plus real interest too. Excellent.
2014 Philippe Rossignol Les Corbeaux
A little high-toned herb but a very nice complexity of fruit too. Very large in the mouth, lots of complexity. Im loving this. – there’s lots of structure, but the flavour works its way through with ease. Lovely!
2014 Philippe Rossignol Estournelles St.Jacques
Freshness and a narrow width but a deep impression of fruit. Lots of width, lots of tannin, and like the last wine the flavour works its way through without a problem. Of-course to wait for but this is very, very good.
2014 Trapet-Rochelandet Petite Chapelle
A vibrant and pretty florally-inflected top note – lovely. Also perfumed in the mouth, lots of tannin here though. This will need some time, but the flavours are super.
Very nice, forward, darker red fruit, a little conserve, none of the obvious extraction and oak notes of many. Lovely in the mouth, fresh but round and ripe pretty fruit. Quite different to the majority here, so bravo for that!
2014 Tortochot Champeaux
Really too reduced on the nose. Similar in the mouth – though it seems to have fine freshness and finishing complexity.
Deep, cushioned and inviting. Big, round, supple, complex, a little extracted and oaky in the mid-palate, but potentially really super wine here. Massive without obvious distortion. Bravo!
Darkly coloured. A little oak spice. Lots of fresh flavour and extraction here – when did Varoilles go down the extraction route? Yet, there is excellent mid-palate complexity. Really super flavour here. Yum!
Les 25 grands crus…
2014 René Leclerc Griotte-Chambertin
High toned, potentially pretty fruit, but also a bit sulfitic. Big, complex and interesting, but ultimately today, not really better than any number of 1ers, mainly because the finish is also muddled with sulfites…
2014 Remy Latricières-Chambertin
Wide, a subtly modest but very pretty nose. Beautiful sweetness of fruit, lots of width and well-covered tannin. This is very good despite a little errant reductive note…
2014 Rossignol-Trapet Latricières-Chambertin
Pretty, floral, perfumed wine. Fresh, slightly cushioned palate, wide and complex. The finish is actually more mineral the fruit – pretty much the first like this…
High toned, pretty surely some whole-clusters used here. Lots of nicely textured tannin, ample fruit flavour – this is lovely – I like this a lot.
2014 Henri Magnien Ruchottes-Chambertin
High-toned, potentially pretty fruit here, but a little perturbed today. Lovely sweetness, width and intensity. Good wine here, wait for it to come together…
2014 Pierre Damoy Chapelle-Chambertin
Pretty but actually rather tight. Quite big, certainly impressively fruited and even more impressively intense. Very yum indeed!
2014 Drouhin-Laroze Chapelle-Chambertin
Pretty high-toned red fruit but also just a little tightness. Bright fruit, right through the core, lots of intensity and quite good complexity. A baby, but I like the potential here…
2014 Rossignol-Trapet Chapelle-Chambertin
Dark, tight fruit. Big in the mouth, intense too, there’s some good cushioned texture but plenty of tannin and some oak I think too. Really massive. Just wait…
2014 Philippe Livera Chapelle-Chambertin
Rather pinched and unformed nose. Lots of oak impression, sparkly flavour flashes and then dies. Lots of impressive data points here but really rather too young.
Fresh and pretty, forward with nice floral fruit. Big, wide and complex. – great set of wines from JMG today. Super finishing complexity. Excellent!
2014 Philippe Charlopin Mazis-Chambertin
Way too reduced…
Depth and complexity, a very modest floral note escaping the glass. Large-scaled, a more structural than flavour-based Mazy today. Really lots of fine-grained hardly dry tannin, a super finish, although maybe a hint of toffee – I can forgive that the toffee doesn’t happen every time 😉
2014 Philippe Naddef Mazis-Chambertin
Deep, fresh but lots of oak spice. Some gas too, lots of flavour dimension, and clearly a big wine, but really too early to describe – no problems here though…
Like the other TM wines, there’s really a roast red fruit impression – it’s unlike any others here. Big, intense, seemingly ready to bottle. Lots of intensity, lots of great, luxurious fruit – excellent!
A little tight but prettily high-toned. Wide, intense, indeed very intense, not obviously extracted but certainly concentrated – but also with fine freshness. Excellent.
Very concentrated pure red, maybe part cooked fruit – very pretty, almost in the direction of Taupenot-Merme. Round, a hint cushioned, very, very tasty wine. Yum! Excellent intensity of finish!
Fresh, faintly oaky top notes, sweet, impressive density, plenty of oak of course, but in the context of many here it’s not especially over the top. Bright finishing with a boat-load of complexity and just a small coating of dryness on the teeth. Excellent wine.
2014 Bouchard Père Clos de Bèze
Lots of floral fruit, not quite ready this nose. Good texture, good complexity, not the greatest jump in intensity, but lovely, lovely complexity.
2014 Bruno Clair Clos de Bèze
Modest, indeed tight. More width and certainly dimension today. Certainly plenty of slightly grained tannin, but the finish is a beauty.
2014 Pierre Damoy Clos de Bèze
Plenty of oak. Lots of energy, concentrated and complex, but really more about dark oak today…
More floral with white pepper. Lovely melting texture, complexity of fruit, pretty much everything – surprised that this is the pick of these – today at least! Gorgeous floral fruit in the finish.
2014 Philippe Charloppin Chambertin
Lots of oak and some flowers. Rather reductive flavours but impressive texture and shape.
2014 Launay-Horiot Chambertin
Tight with a few flashes of bright fruit. Big in the mouth, lots of tannin but really the flavour, as it melts across the palate, is up to the challenge. Long primary finish. very good!
2014 Remy Chambertin
More floral inflected fruit. Large in the mouth, really finely textured, elegant but packed. Discreetly very long. Excellent wine.
2014 Rossignol-Trapet Chambertin
Maybe corked? Deep fruit, grows beautifully. Big with fine intensity, but? I disappear for 30 minutes and then recheck – nope – either I was wrong or it’s another bottle – clean, complex, beautiful aromas…