Tasted in Beaune with Christophe Chauvel, pictured with Albéric Bichot, 08 December, 2020.
Albert Bichot
6 Boulevard Jacques Copeau
21200 Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 24 37 37
www.bourgogne-bichot.com
More reports for Maison Albert Bichot
Christophe on 2019:
“It’s 4 or 5 years that we are asking ourselves questions – the harvesting dates and tendence of taking many, many samples before eventually, jumping-in to harvest. But, today, it’s really more and more by particular climates – this seems to be accelerating too. 2019 is a vintage with strong heat in two mid-summer waves and a lack of rain across the vintage. Second tendance is lower volume too, in 2019 we were 20-30% down depending on the areas. In 2019 the grapes weren’t there following a poor flowering, the acidity wasn’t strong but classed as ‘correct.’ The harvesting date was a little more classic – the heart of the harvest 13-20 September versus 04-11 September in 2018 and 23-August to 01-September in 2020.
“We had to be careful with extraction as the liquid-solid balance was towards the solids. We used a bit more whole clusters in 19 than 20 – that’s because the stems looked in better maturity than was the case for the much earlier vintage in 2020.
“For the whites we also see modest pHs but the wines seem to have good freshness anyway – they are in no way comparable to a vintage like 2003. Overall, we have the impression that it’s a vintage that doesn’t require an extra length of elevage.”
The wines…
Very good reds and maybe just a little more interesting whites this year. The regional wines – Bourgognes – are exceptionally good in 2019.
Most of these wines wearing ‘AB’ badges on their labels.
2019 Domaine de Rochegrès, Moulin-à-Vent
Hmm – that’s a broad and cushioned invitation t0 drink – lovely! Large-scaled, mouth-filling wine. Plenty of tannin but all is ripe and the flavour arrives in wave after wave. That’s a lovely wine. Really excellent!
Côte de Nuits fruit here.
A more airy width of silky aroma. A fine punch of flavour – there’s structure, intensity and a base of very fine tannin indeed. Wide and of many dimensions in the finish – that’s the best of this cuvée I can remember – bravo Bourgogne.
This from domaine grapes rather than largely purchases – organic.
I think, my first tasting of this cuvée. More depth to this aroma but showing less openness and width. More driving and open in the mouth – the acidity more insistent. The mid-palate and finishing flavour more intense and showing great clarity. That’s a lovely finish – A wine in progress to start but finishing really great – let’s see but probably a great Bourgogne.
2019 Domaine du Pavillon, Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Grands Picotins
Fresh, open, depth too – a nice nose. Mouth-filling, good acidity, depth of flavour. Long finishing with some modest bitters. This a Savigny of concentration and energy too. Excellent wine…
2019 Domaine du Pavillon, Pommard Clos des Ursulines
Fresher, more floral – very attractive invitation. Whilst very wide this is also a wine that has a direct style, framed with ultra-fine tannin. Vibrant in the finish – this is long and wide too. That’s a simply excellent villages Pommard, and properly Pommard too!
2019 Domaine du Pavillon, Pommard 1er Les Rugiens
A more airy nose, extra freshness too – small precisions of berry fruit in support. Wide, velvet texture, incisive too. The tannin a very late texture in the finish. Clearly extra-long finishing too. Great wine, excellent Rugiens…
2019 Domaine du Pavillon, Aloxe 1er clos des Marechaudes
Hmm – that’s a wide and attractive nose – the first with an obvious floral component. Incisive, lots of freshness and energy. The tannin well-controlled and a structural but not hard style – not an over-large, over-powerful Aloxe – one with a little class! Love the finish here.
A more striking and direct nose – that’s a super invitation. Sweeping, direct wine with excellent acidity and a proper Corton feel without tipping the balance into austere. The oak is showing itself in the finish today but that won’t last too long. The finish is like another wine – suddenly expanding and taking on a second life. That’s a classic great Corton!
A Côte de Nuits Selection:
2019 Fixin 1er Clos de la Perrière
The domaine does the work, the team here keep watch but are very happy with the place and the work but still offer a little consulting. From multiple sectors, roughly the same each year to get the best feeling of the Clos
A more composed, redder-fruited nose. Wide, super impact in the mouth – fine intensity and waves of lovely flavour in the middle and finishing flavours. That’s a really delicious finish too. The nose needs to become more expressive for ‘great’ but the palate is already showing all it needs to!
2019 Nuits St.Georges 1er Château Gris
A super nose this time, open, deep, floral above – yes! Extra width and a little extra depth to this flavour. This sample showing a lot of the barrel today – but the shape, energy and constitution of this wine are really excellent. The finish likewise, only here the first impression of some tannin to remember the wine by…
2019 Chambolle-Musigny 1er les Chabiots
Continuity of Musigny above Amoureuses.
Freshness and width to this nose – a little cherry-stone impression too. Supple, very modestly cushioned but also a wine of overt complexity and interest. A certain seductive style to this wine, always mouth-watering with interesting extra anecdotes. A delicious finishing, slowly fading, diminuendo. That’s a beautiful wine.
A little more aromatic punch and width – slowly showing more of its deeper side with air. That’s very silky and with a fresh, ripe line of fruit at the core. This has an admirable purity and intensity, faintly saline in the middle and finish too. Long, long and satisfying in the finish. That’s another excellent wine indeed a great villages!
2019 Domaine du Clos Frantin, Vosne-Romanée
Different harvesting dates for the Damaudes and the Basses-Maizières.
Ooh – now that’s lovely – open, a nice purity of aroma here – very classic Vosne. Mouth-filling and with intensity too, but always with a fine cushion to the flavour. The finish also of clarity if not weight but still with a fine length – an elegantly finishing style – clearly a very lovely, very Vosne wine.
2019 Clos Frantin, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Malconsorts
1.75 ha from 6 sandier parts and lower down heavier soil – the bottom left which is more sandy and the rest which is more clay – there can be 3 days difference in maturity between these two sectors – ‘clearly different wines too, the lower part more massive less complex.’
A width of perfumed freshness – a deeper cherry-stone impression too. More width and intensity in tandem, layered but also energetic. There’s a lull before the finish which is finely complex and long. Very good wine – today not showing the extra ‘sparkle’ of last year though.
2019 Latricières-Chambertin
Hmm – that’s not just a width of aroma but a certain concentration of depth of aroma too. In the mouth too – there’s a concentration to this wine but perfectly balanced with its energy and acidity. This is an excellent Latricières – so wide and delicious finishing too.
2019 Clos Frantin, Clos de Vougeot
A low and a high parcel.
Airy top notes, almost a suggestion of florals too. A wine of shape and intensity, a little barrel showing in the middle flavours but still a finish that’s impressive and of grand cru intensity. The oak is detracting from the experience today but the rest of the wine is really super.
2019 Clos Frantin, Echézeaux
They have decided to replant their Grands Echézeaux after successive vintages of very low yields – so showing just this one. The soil here in Champs Traversins is very draining but there was no impression that the vines had suffered from the drought in either 2019 or 2020
Lots of open interest here – the aromas are pure airy and complex – they go deep too – lovely. Wide and intense on the palate. The energy is excellent as is the flavour complexity. Long, mouth-watering tasty wine. An excellent wine.
Les Blancs
All is DIAM sealed here today:
2019 Domaine Adelie, Bourgogne Aligoté Champ Renard
Vines in Mercurey
That’s quite a deep and open nose, a little cushioning too – very attractive. Supple, very modestly cushioned – like the nose. Layers of golden-fruited flavour coupled to the more steely aligoté character. A little finishing herb. Nice wine…
2019 Mâcon Milly-Lamartine
This bottled.
Attractive nose again and also with a faint cushioning again. Beautiful texture and a lovely, slightly mineral depth to the flavour too. The finish is very attractive and reasonably long. Simply delicious wine.
Also bottled, grapes from the communes of Puligny, St.Aubin and Meursault.
A wide nose, of reasonable depth and faintly saline accented. Extra freshness and flavour impact vs the Mâcon. Almost a little extra structural style here too. This is very accomplished wine. Bravo Bourgogne again.
‘There’s a lot of clay here, also lots of rock! Not yet bottled.
A little extra higher-toned intensity – more ripeness of yellow citrus. Extra intensity here too – a direct wine that slowly fills your mouth. Really mouth-watering, ripe citrus fruit – like the nose. Intense finishing too. Oof – I’d wait a while if only to see a more calming performance – but it’s a great Mercurey – bravo!
Close to the transition with Hautes Côtes here. The Lupé-Cholet label is gone, no-longer-used since 2010 so this is Albert Bichot. Young vines, not yet 1er cru.
A width of more composed aromatic freshness – some depth here too and quite mineral. Beautiful texture and width over the palate. I love the faintly cushioned intensity of this wine – super texture even with a little grain of tannin. This is a beauty and you will have people scratching their heads to locate when tasting blind. A great Nuits blanc!
2019 Domaine du Pavillon, Meursault
5 different parcels around Meursault
A very classic width of Meursault freshness – hyper-attractive. Fine energy, growing in depth of flavour and flavour intensity. A little cushioning, faintly from the oak too. Long and satisfying – very good villages Meursault!
2019 Domaine du Pavillon, Meursault 1er Charmes
A core of fruit and a little tightness surrounding it. More depth and minerality to this flavour. A wine with more evident structure but also much more evident finishing intensity – this is super and something of a keeper – I’d be patient with this one.
2019 Domaine du Pavillon, Beaune 1er Clos des Mouches
Planted same time as Château Gris with the same plant material – 1999 – so it’s the ‘place’ that makes the difference!
A nice roundness of aroma – a suggestion of white flowers above the fruit. A core of intensity that slowly grows in the mouth. Wide waves of finishing flavour too – that’s a super finish – overall an excellent wine.
In Languettes 1.20,ha.
There’s an extra something here – faintly floral with beautiful depth. Large-scaled but nothing that is overdone – in any direction. This has a beautiful and modestly intense series of finishing waves to the flavour. Another wine I’d have some patience with, but this is really a super wine – bravo!