Tasted in Beaune with Christophe Chauvel, 13 December 2022.
Albert Bichot
6 Boulevard Jacques Copeau
21200 Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 24 37 37
www.bourgogne-bichot.com
More reports with Maison Albert Bichot
Christophe on 2022:
“You can only be happy with 2022 after a vintage like 2021. We were a little below the allowed rendements but we don’t search for volume – of course, we have to produce, a second 2021 would have been problematic. We did some thinning of fruit in Malconsorts as I thought it looked to be pushing the limits. I felt a certain serenity in the harvest – there could be two reasons – it took a little longer – there was more to harvest and also the cleanliness meant that we also had the luxury of waiting for just the right moment. I was worried that I might have to come home early from the holidays – but the vines weren’t ready around the 18th of August – which we first thought could be the harvest timing.”
Christophe on 2021:
“21? – there is some! We weren’t looking for miracles the biggest deception was thinking that the lower volume could lead to density, to concentration. My first impression during elevage was of disappointment but with time we became agreeably surprised, the terroirs are very visible and the wines have persistence. They are frank and crystalline. We lost much more than in 2016 – though from our 0.75 ha of Clos des Mouches (blanc) we didn’t have enough for a barrel – so the grapes went into the Bourgogne. In Chablis, it’s the first time that we had to refill the candles halfway through a night – the frost starting so early and finishing so late.”
The wines…
This year the reds are good, often excellent. The whites expressed themselves better today – though there are not so many of them! The oaky make-up of some whites will require a little patience in the cellar – underneath, they are excellent.
The bottling is probably a little earlier in this vintage – some whites have already been done.
2021 Domaine de Rochegrès, Moulin-à-Vent Rochegrès
No frost! In this vintage, they blended with the grapes from the two lower parcels into this as they didn’t see enough distinction between the two.
Broad and perfumed nose – there’s impressive density here. Ooh that’s intense – a direction in these middle flavours. Then opening up over the palate after you swallow. Holding well. Intense, impressive wine!
2021 Bourgogne Côte d’Or Clos Frantin
Larger-scale nose of darker fruit. Once more, direct and intense. Broad finishing with some salinity and hints of perfume to the flavour – more structural finishing – but long!
2021 Domaine Adélie, Mercurey 1er Champs Martin
Certified AB. Not yet bottled – it will probably be March before all are done
Less colour but more structure to these aromas. Mouth-filling, easier over the palate, a little oak flavour. Some intensity later in the flavours as you head towards the finish. Very good but maybe a bit less character than in other vintages.
2021 Domaine du Pavillon, Pommard Clos des Ursulines
Also AB, 15 hl/ha in this case.
A forward freshness of clean red fruit with a small creamy extra. Supple, broad flavours, modestly framed with a tiny grain of tannin. A little creamy barrel again but here is more character and energy than the previous – it’s a lovely wine. Give it 2-3 years in the cellar before approaching.
2021 Domaine du Pavillon, Pommard 1er Les Rugiens
AB, much higher on the hill than the last, but still 14 hl/ha
Again some creamy accompaniment to the fruit – in this case darker in style. Mouth-filling, energetic and complex – that’s a really super thing, growing in energy all the time. Round, complex and indeed, impressively finishing. Simply excellent wine.
2021 Domaine du Pavillon, Corton Clos des Marechaudes
An exception – 37 hl/ha – ‘We didn’t have many like that!’
Larger scaled aromatics – a depth of reduction-inflected aromatics too. Intense, silky wine, slowly melting over the palate – structured but never hard. That’s going to be a beautiful wine – the reduction and smoky barrel of today combining to give an effect that’s almost of chocolate. This just needs some time.
A Côte de Nuits Selection:
2021 Nuits St.Georges 1er Château Gris
The three terraces… AB. 18 hl/ha, ‘some altitude but also some ventilation from the Combe – maybe one cancelled out the other!’
A more vertical nose – of height and depth – silkiness too! Wide and with intensity to this width. Dark fruit flavours and even a little graphite minerality here. Finishing with a subtle persistence. A wine of structure but a very good one.
2021 Chambolle-Musigny 1er les Chabiots
Continuity of Musigny above Amoureuses. 17 hl/ha
Narrower in the top notes but here’s an interesting width to the deeper aromas. Yes – fine density but also clarity to this flavour – modestly structured – a wine with crystalline fruit and a subtle tannic base – almost without grain. The barrels are speaking a little today but I love the clarity of flavour here – simply an excellent wine.
2021 Domaine du Clos Frantin, Vosne-Romanée
Different harvesting dates for the Damaudes and the Basses-Maizières. AB Maizières – but 38 hl/ha – ‘anything over 30 was a surprise in this vintage.’
Ooh – that’s perfumed – a beauty! Some smoky oak in the flavours – a little structure from the barrel too – slowly, with a pinch of salt into the finish – here the perfume of the nose is visible again – a shame I couldn’t see it in the middle flavours. If the oak fades sympathetically this has a chance to be a great villages – let’s see!
2021 Clos Frantin, Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Malconsorts
AB. 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. Our biggest problem with these vines is that the alcoholic potentials grow much faster than the actual phenolic maturity.’ 25 hl/ha
There’s some airy width to this aroma but generally, it’s a little tight. Ooh, beautiful on the palate – a little rounder and more generous but still with a certain clarity and intensity to its fruit. A little structure and stony (cherry-stone) finishing flavour that is very persistent – impressively so. A wine that has beautiful proportions but is showing in modest fashion today – I’m sure it will be excellent!
2021 Clos Frantin, Clos de Vougeot
A low and a high parcel. 20 hl/ha
Only a little more open than the Malconsorts but with more visible fruit – and fine crystallinity to that fruit – eventually a little floral perfume too. Open, generous, and beautifully accommodating in the mouth. Just a gorgeous thing that moves over the palate melting with additional interest. Nothing austere about this CV – it’s a beauty – simply excellent!
2021 Latricières-Chambertin
27 hl/ha
Another tight nose – such a shame for Latricières. A faint reduction but there is such impressive complexity here – traded against the generosity of the last – I think I like this flavour a little more – darker fruited (though reductive so hard to be definitive) and beautifully silky. The finish here is a persistent width with an echo of tannin only. Beautiful – just a nose short of excellent today.
Les Blancs
‘It was a vintage where we waited for maturity in the whites – they came towards the end of the harvest in this year.’ All is DIAM sealed here today:
2021 Domaine Adelie, Bourgogne Aligoté Champ Renard
Vines in Mercury ‘that don’t frost much’ – aligoté is normally later starting than the chardonnay. This bottled after part elevage in barrel.
Broad with a little cushion to these inviting aromas. Cool, clean, with decent intensity and concentration. The finish is both delicious and long. A super aligoté!
A nose that’s even fuller in the higher tones. Broad, cool, clean and energetic – that’s a beauty – these labels often lack interest for me but this one, in this vintage – you will just want to take another glass – bravo!
2021 Bourgogne Secret de Famille
Fuller top notes, again. Wide, more mineral and structural. Fine finishing intensity too – that’s a really lovely finish with a flourish of perfume included. Lovely Bourgogne…
The previous three were bottled, this and the following are ready for bottling:
2021 Domaine du Pavillon, Meursault
9-12 hl/ha depending on the parcel
A deeper nose of fine clarity. Round, mouth-filling, accented with plenty of barrel-cream. Impressively long – but I’d wait 2-3 years for the oak to fade, at which time it should be a very good one…
Again a creamy oak note dominates the aromas – it’s nice wood but I’d rather smell the wine. I love the shape and energy of this in the mouth – so silken and with some mineral vibrancy to the flavour. Let the aromatic oak fade and you will be left with a properly great example of Nuits Blanc – bravo!
2021 Domaine du Pavillon, Meursault 1er Charmes
17 hl/ha
The oak is more subtle here – leaving space for the wine to express its depth and clarity of fruit. Broad, silken, almost juicy – but with impressive depth to the flavour. Broad and impressive finishing too. That will be super – give it 2-3 years as a starting point and better still, give it 10 years!