Tasted in Savigny with Hugues Pavelot, 02 December, 2015.
Domaine Jean-Marc et Hugues Pavelot
1 chemin des Guettottes
21420 Savigny-lès-Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 21 55 21
www.domainepavelot.com
Hugues on 2015:
“Certainly an exceptional vintage when you look at the great quality of the raw materials – I never saw such great grapes I think. I wasn’t satisfied by the quantity – we were short of grapes – so not completely satisfied.”
Hugues on 2014:
“2014 is a good vintage with interesting wines. It’s a nice discovery with a large aromatic palette, a certain accessible quality and consistency – it’s certainly not a simple vintage despite the generosity and sweetness – I think it will be very interesting. Yields were only 30 hl/ha despite no hail. So I’ve had to move a little into négoce wines with grape purchases, working with my brother Pierre-Yves and also with my father, Jean-Marc – labelled Bourgogne Hugues Pavelot. It’s nice to get the hands on some other appellations – of course accessible appellations though, so Chorey and Pernand-Vergelesses, for instance.”
The wines…
2014 Chorey-lès-Beaune
Les Beaumonts in bottle since the summer. Harvested exactly like the domaine grapes.
Deep, round inviting, faintly spicy. A good core of intensity that slowly melts to give more mouth-watering and prettier flavours. Bright, pretty finishing flavours with modest structure and a little perfume – nice.
2014 Savigny-lès-Beaune
Ready to bottle
Wide, a hint herby and quite some complexity – slowly adding depth too. Fresher, wider, less deep but with plenty of intense flavour – a little more austere vs the Chorey, but lots of interest here, and it will,soften nicely… Again quite perfumed in the finish and it’s a long finish for the label…
2014 Aloxe-Corton
A pretty floral nose here going deeper below. Fresh but with good intensity of flavour, a little barrel and a direct line into the mid-palate and finish. Bright and quite concentrated finishing flavour. This will be super…
2014 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Peuillets
A much tighter nose, faintly floral high tones, with nothing showing below. This is bigger and more concentrated – just a little padding lots of material and a faintly bitter aspect, probably from the barriques, but otherwise no overt oak. This will need some time but there’s a lovely crescendo of perfumed flavour in the finish!
2014 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Serpentières
A good deep colour. Also quite tight, but with flashes of precise, dark fruit, and of clarity too. Wider, perhaps faintly less padded but with more implied concentration – slowly the padding of the texture increases as the tannin exerts itself more. Floral and pretty in the finish – easier but nicely complex wine.
2014 Beaune 1er Bressandes
Also a discreet nose, but the dark fruit top notes are very good. Fresh, bright but not piercing, fruit flavour. Structure and relatively bright acidity – more classic than many in 2014. Modestly intense but long finishing. Very good! “Direct rather than fully generous like many – I’m hoping that my 15s will be similar in shape”
Bought these vines in 2011 – then it hailed each year! A little whole-cluster was used here – 30%!
Deep, and if I might be so pseud, but it smells like a mineral Lavières. A sucrosity and succulence of dark fruit is the first impression, before a slowly growing tannin that encircles the flavour rather than offering itself as a base. Nice concentration and once more with lots of perfume in the finish. Excellent!
2014 Pernand-Vergelesses
Negoce. 2010 was last Pernand vintage here but those vines went to an aunt who exploits them from Volnay.
Good colour. Wide, a hint mineral, dark fruit again with freshness too. Like the Lavières this leads with a with a little sweetness and then the fruit pulls you into a tannin that’s a little more obvious and aslo faintly grained. Get past that and the finishing flavour is once again lovely and rather long too. Just needs a little time to soften this tannin. Super!
Fresher top notes, over a tighter core of fruit. This is lovely, lots of tiny fingers pointing at your toungne and saying look at me. Very fine, precise complexity. I like this very much. After you swallow the fruit melts into a fresh panorama and holds very long with just an accent of perfume. Excellent! “Always more Guettes than the vintage.”
2014 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Gravains
Wide dark fruit – more depth too. Teally very appealing and inviting. Larger, mouth-filling too, with freshness and flavour. Bright notes of clarity and complexity – this is also really excellent – nay better!
Wide and deep – not the most powerful but a certain subtle complexity. High notes, bass notes, complexity edged with salinity, and energy too. There’s a lot of wine here and it will need time to settle. But really super and complex – wait at least 5 years. Great finish too.
Les Blancs…
Négoce. Bottled in the summer.
Discreet but with some pretty citrus references. Lovely in the mouth – there’s vivacity and complexity and a lovely mouth-watering finish. Lovely! Like some of the reds with a little finishing perfume too.
2014 Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc
Sulfur? Or more likely a little phenolics. Bottled last week – slowly evolving very pretty high tones. Wide and sweet with some good depth – perfumed fruit again, ripe green fruit. The finish is really very tasty indeed – sweetened lime… Actually a super reprise of flavour too.
2014 Pernand-Vergelesses
Négoce
Here is a complex nose augmented with quite a lot of barrel too. A lovely blend of incisive almost bitter tannin flavour but blended with a sweet fruit aspect. This is intriguing and very tasty indeed. Finishes very well with sweet fruit and a good mouth-watering finish. Yum!
2014 Corton-Charlemagne
Négoce.
Broad, complex high tones – alluring. Really large scaled in the mouth, a core of ripe fruit too but this silky wine is surrounded by complexity indeed a little ginger spice and lovely mouth-watering acidity. Big flavoured in the finish and it lingers very slowly indeed. – lovely wine…