Tasted in Premeaux with François Ambroise, 14 December 2016.
Maison Ambroise
8, rue de l’Eglise
21700 Premeaux Prissey
Tel: +33 3 80 62 30 19
www.ambroise.com
François on 2016:
“2016? Nuits and Premeaux were catastrophic in terms of yields; 80% red lost, not much better in whites, 75% was lost. Started 29 sept. Fine yields in Vosne, 50% lost in the Clos de Vougeot, there’s virtually no Bourgogne and lots was also lots to frost in the Hautes Côtes _ the Vosne side of Nuits was fine. We needed about 30% extra time to make the pruning, hoping for a good result in 2017.
“But if 2015 is superb, 2016 is better – about 10 hl/ha brought really concentrated wines with lots of colour too – okay that’s before malo, but there’s not much malo!
François on 2015:
“15 we started relatively late; 10 September. I waited because the tannins weren’t quite ripe – particularly the pips – but they did improve very quickly. We have fine acidities and good balance. Finished 22nd September. It’s a really nice vintage.”
The wines…
All destemmed. Elevage is mainly a mix tank, foudres and 400 litre barrels. The domaine has been certified bio since 2013, but chose a 3 year holiday this year to fight the mildew a little more effectively!
Large volume style wines this year chez Ambroise, but they are wines of fresh dark fruit with depth and often a spicy but attractive oak character. Their regionals are simply brilliant in this vintage!
2015 Côteaux Bourguignone Lettres d’Elïose
50% tank elevage. All pinot.
A nice depth of fresh, dark red and ripe fruit – generous too. Silky, fine fruit, a growing mid-palate intensity, a hint of grain to the tannin but very fine fruit, and it’s long too – lovely, indeed delicious!
In bottle. They own almost 7 hectares of Bourgogne, all this from Premeaux, 20% new oak (400 litre barrels)
A deeper fruit, darker coloured – a fine freshness. Hmm, big in the mouth, concentrated, good texture – a fine mouthful of fruit. Long and lovely – another great bourgogne!
Bottled for half an hour! Just one parcel, average 75 year-old vines. 50% new barrels.
More dark-fruited depth, a faint spice too. More supple, more silken, a super line of flavour, melting fresh flavours. Even better than the last Bourgogne!
Mainly from the commune of Comblanchien and a little from Premeaux too. Lowest yields of 2015 due to millerandes, only 20 hl/ha. Bottled yesterday… 30% new oak plus foudres.
A little oak but also a fine and wide high-toned red fruit, darker below. Again very silky, before a little tannin makes it more of a velvet texture. Dark fruit, very faintly spiced, long and with fine energy. Great wine for the label – really great! Layered finish!
2015 Nuits St.Georges
From 4 parcels between Nuits and Premeaux. Will be bottled in january all barrel, 50% new.
A similar oak to the last, but fresh and pleasing, slowly adding some faint florality. A little tannin, but this is lithe, muscled wine with a wonderful fruit flavour. Fresh and involving fruit in the finish too, despite a twist of oak here, it’s once again delicious.
2015 Gevrey-Chambertin
Bought grapes from near Brochon.
Deep, floral, fresh, indeed bright, a core of ripe fruit, a little high-toned fruit. A fine structure in the mid-palate and a really good finishing line of intense fruit flavour – yum!
No hail this year! 50% new oak
A deep, dark and really vibrant nose – this is lovely. Round, but fabulously mouth-watering, this is just über tasty. Delicious wine of freshness and delicacy but no shortage of intensity either. My new favourite!
2015 Vosne-Romanée aux Damaudes
100% new oak, but 400 litre barrels still in barrel.
Spiced, but from the fruit, not the barrel – though that’s visible too. Wide, very nice, a little more tannin, like a Nuits, but really delicious flavour that’s wide and never still on the tongue. Very tasty wine indeed!
70% new oak.
Pretty, fresh, floral nose. Fine red-fruited depth here. Fresh, a little mineral, no fat but really tons of mouth-watering flavour, this chatters along in the mouth non-stop. Fine, tiny complexity…. just a gorgeous wine!
2015 Nuits St.Georges 1er Vaucrains
Next to the St.Georges of Thibaut Liger-Belair. 100% new oak.
A rose aromatic so I ask the question, but no, there are no whole clusters – it’s not Francois’ thing. Big, big wine, plenty of structure at the core, but the fruit is easily up to this challenge. Long, a hint spicy fruit – what a wine!
2015 Clos de Vougeot
From 0.17 hectares of rented vines towards the top-left of the Clos, next to the wall shared with Grands-Echézeaux – Grand Maupertuis, the vines roughly 60 years old. 100% new oak. Racked last week.
The nose is open fresh, perhaps a little menthol. A big wine with plenty of structure. Fresh in the mid-palate and the finish. A big wine. But a very tasty finishing wine. This will be worth some patience.
Domaine, a 0.66 hectare parcel. Also 100% new oak.
A deep nose, dark a little graphite at the base. Slowly adding fresher and pretty floral higher tones. Big, but with a depth of textured flavour. There are several dimensions to this wine, not least the brilliance of the finish – here it is simply gorgeous. Bravo.
Les blancs…
2015 Côteaux Bourguignone, Lettre d Eloïse
Named after Ludovine’s daughter. Also from Premeaux; chardonnay, all in tank, 10 months elevage.
A deep vibrant and attractive chardonnay nose. A little soft, but quite a good flavour here. Long too.
2015 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Vines in Premeaux, just 0.21 hectares of chardonnay near the Côteaux Bourguignone, elevage in foudre. On limit of BGO, 25-year-old vines.
A little saline minerality to the nose – attractive. A finer structure, fresh, a hint melon, but good clarity and a nice freshness. Good in the mid-palate and the finish is excellent.
2015 Hautes Côtes de Nuits
One part in foudres the rest in 400 l barrels. A little behind the Clos de Marechale – 10% pinot gris in the mix.
A nice weighty nose with some floral aspects. Weight, but lithe and with good energy. Super length as usual in this vintage. Good wine!
2014 Saint Romain
A single parcel. Foudre and 20% new big barrels. ‘It’s usually good if the wild boar don’t eat everything!’
Oof! Deep and fresh. A little fat here, great concentration, good layers, tasty wine. I’d like a hint more acidity, but this is very tasty all the same! A little tannin in the finish too.
2015 Ladoix 1er Les Grechons
Just under the quarry of magny les villars. Bought for many years from this grower.
The nose is a little opulent – ripe fruit with some oak. Big wine, really big, layered flavour, complex, energetic, maybe a little hot in the middle but in style it reminds of an old-style Charlemagne.! Really a great and very long finish…
2015 Nuits St.Georges 1er Terres Blanches
All chardonnay, next to Patrice Rion above Perdrix.
A deep, almost layered nose, really deep. Layered, tasty wine, lots of complexity, slowly moving across the palate. This is very tasty, even for white nuits 🙂 yum! Super length, it lasts and lasts and lasts….
There is one response to “Ambroise – 2015”
I just bought some red 2015 Côteaux Bourguignone Lettres d’Elïose here in NL. The importer stated that the wine was 30% gamay and 70% pinot noir from vines of some 60 years of age. Was your tasting note really ‘all pinot’?