Tasted in Savigny-lès-Beaune with Vincent Guillemot, 08 November 2022
Domaine Pierre Guillemot
11 Place Fournier
21420 Savigny-lès-Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 21 50 40
More reports with Domaine Pierre Guillemot
Vincent on 2021:
“All the 2021s are in bottle – I wanted to be on the safe side with them. We’ve increased the quality of our corks – the wines are getting more expensive, so there’s no reason that we shouldn’t be spending at least €1.5 per cork, of course, tested for TCA. 2021 is minus 80% in volume – actually, we had everything in 2021, we even had some roasted grapes like in 2018 and 2019 – just one parcel in Gravains gave a completely normal yield – I’ve no explanation for that. 12.5° for the reds – I didn’t want to add sugar – only the Corton reached 13°. I still used plenty of whole-clusters but the less perfect clusters were all destemmed. I had a shorter elevage – the wines seem halfway between our Savignys of 2017 and 2018 – but we have to tlive with what we’ve got! (he winks!) In 2015 I started with organic viticulture but only started certification in 2022 – I wanted to have 10 years of organic before I was certified. In 2021 I used a lot of infusions and organic fertilisers.”
The wines…
Sleek race-horses these reds – so many excellent wines – it will be interesting to see if they add weight with time. In the short-term – 3-5 years – their acidity and freshness may become more visible but after that, the equilibrium will start to return – these will be a great range of wines from 10-15 years of age!
As noted, all are bottled:
2021 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune Blanc
3 barrels instead of his usual 20! Fined but not filtered.
A vertical nose with a nicely ripe citrus note. Broad and with plenty of minerality here. Long and interesting – that’s a very good Bourgogne and despite one of his three barrels being new – you won’t notice. Very nice – a blend of barrel sizes used.
2021 Savigny-Lès-Beaune Dessus Les Gollardes Blanc
60% pinot gouges and the rest from a fine selection of chardonnay from Montrachet – all planted in 1959.
A broader nose of fine quality – really a very good invitation. Hmm – another mineral wine but with a lot more citrus energy here. There’s some power in this finishing flavour – simply excellent Savigny Blanc – I’m a big fan of this!
Les Reds:
70% whole clusters for the whole range of reds:
2021 Bourgogne Côte d’Or (Rouge!)
Pure and fresh – beautiful red fruit. A great nose! Direct, mineral, fresh – this is certainly a structural wine and one that co do with a bit more padding – but it is a very impressive thing!
2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune Vieilles-Vignes
More depth and slightly more aromatic padding – the red fruit a little deeper and darker than the Bourgogne and still with a lovely perfume. Also direct, more structural padding to this wine – pure, delicious and still with sweeping fresh flavour. Simply excellent wine – with nice finishing bitters with practically no grain!
2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Grands Picotins
The characteristic red fruit of this domaine in this vintage but broader now and with a faint spice accompaniment. Direct, incisive – mineral, growing in intensity – a more important level of finishing tannin – slightly dry but again with practically no grain – wait 1-2 years for this one before retasting.
2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Narbantons
Fine red fruit width, this time with a small extra cushion. A tiny reduction – but broad, properly constructed wine of purity and growing mouth-filling shape. The tannin is present but more camouflaged in the wine vs the last. Top Savigny – simply excellent.
2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Jarrons
Here the nose is more open and shows extra flashes of complexity – it practically goes without saying with fine red fruit. Fuller and rounder vs the direction of the Narbantons but with similar freshness.
2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Gravains
Red fruit again but here there’s some extra salinity that’s showing. This is a wine of fresh, cool width. Cooly complex, almost a Vosne-style to this complexity. I love the different shapes of these wines.
2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Serpentières
Not the most forward of these noses but there’s a subtle extra creamy impression to the components, certainly more floral perfume. More about structure here but with fine mouth-watering, mineral, flavour. The tannin is present but hardly drying and has virtually no grain – it simply frames the flavours and sensations.
2021 Corton Le Rognet et Corton
Bought from Chateau Bligny and shared the parcel with Bruno Clavelier at that time.
Broad and complex, that’s a beauty – the fruit also has a hint of spiced tobacco. Broad, mouth-filling, there’s structure but it’s certainly far from dominating. Framed with a fine tannin but virtually no dryness. Complex delicious wine – properly shaped as any good Corton should be!
And for the road…
For the road – modest colour and quite some age to this colour too. So complex – absolutely ready and showing lots of aromatic spice and freshness – with the second sniff it’s now perfumed and very floral. Large scale – a round wine, tons of concentration here. Intense finishing too. Fabulous stuff. I guessed mid-80s but clearly not an 85 so plumped for 86. It’s Serpentières 1984. ‘Enormous triage – it was porriture that was the problem.‘ There was a lot of rot in 1986 too but I’ve almost no experience of 84 so it never came to mind…