Tasted in Beaune with Thibaut Marion, 15 November 2022.
Maison Seguin Manuel
2 Rue Arquebuse
21200 Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 21 50 42
www.seguin-manuel.com
More reports for Maison Seguin-Manuel
Thibaut on 2022:
“Very happy with that – I would say less volume than 2018 for the whites but a little more in red – but we can actually compare them – and I think the quality will be very good too.”
Thibaut on 2021:
“Not that tiny a vintage for our own vineyards – compared to 2016 where we lost 80-90% in Savigny and so afterwards we changed our way of pruning – we do it much later these days. 21 was still half a crop for whites but maybe only about 30% down for the reds – of course, we lost lots of contracts because our partners had problems too – so we have fewer cuvées – particularly the whites. I’m happy with the style of the vintage though – less structured than the sun-driven vintages but very approachable – I like the type of aromas and the freshness – I suppose this is more of mid-term vintage in terms of drinking. I don’t expect 2021 to be a marketing problem, even for people who only know the wines of Burgundy since 2015 – a) because the wines are quite exciting and b) because there will be so little on the market! Sales are still on a good level, if not the ‘crazy level’ of 12 months ago…”
The wines…
A producer whose wines habitually show very good to excellent cuvées with a small smattering of great ones. No change in 2021 – wines that perfectly reflect this vintage.
They were just starting to bottle here. All the domaine wines are certified organic – ‘AB‘ – and all the whites are sealed with cork:
2021 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Bottled, mainly from Chalonnaise this vintage
A compact nose to start but with the characteristic red fruit of the vintage. In the mouth, this is altogether more open with mouth-watering freshness and good purity – framed with a tiny grain of tannin but no dryness. Finishing with a lick of salinity too – carafe today or start to drink in 6-12 months…
Like the last, bottled in September
Here the nose is also slightly compact but versus the previous a little more vertical and interesting. Extra clarity – extra definition – the frame of tannin just a little more obvious – but there’s more of everything here – if the nose starts to come out of its shell this will be an excellent, potentially great regional wine!
2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Godeaux Classic
This the final cuvée, ready to be bottled – maybe 1-2 weeks more… The family Seguin – the grandchildren – are now working the vines so this label is no longer domaine but the crop is purchased and all is still organic.
Aromatically more open and accessible vs the previous two bottled wines, there’s plenty of fresh but ripe-fruit depth here too. A little extra sweetness and a modestly reductive accent. Rounder, fuller than the Hautes Côtes but with no less clarity – the reduction excepted – plus a bit more floral perfumed. Simply an excellent Villages.
Extra width of aroma, still with a faint cushion. Structurally more overt but not hard – this is a beauty! Beautifully balanced wine – in fact, juicy wine – this I love – the best yet!
2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Lavières
This bottled last week. Now with an added second plot closer to Pernand
Less impacted aromas from the bottling – not a forceful aroma but still one of perfumed clarity. Almost the structure of the last wine but here there’s a much more overt width of flavour with a little extra depth to these fruit flavours. Finishing pure and pretty – that’s a very lovely wine.
2021 Beaune 1er Cent Vignes
In the foothills of the slope, lots of complex sediments here – ‘wines that age well but are delicious in their youth’
A little wc perfume – roses. In the mouth too – a wine that is delicious but also properly structured too – you could drink this now or wait 15 years – no problem. In this case I would drink it today – it’s so approachable – it’s not yet bottled.
2021 Beaune 1er Champimonts
Also waiting to be bottled.
A more complete nose here – less overtly about any single component. Lush, supple wine, a little frame of tannin again, this time with a hint of dryness but no grain. Very perfumed again. Properly mouth-watering – again wait for a year or two but another beautifully proportioned and very aromatic wine.
2021 Pommard Petit Epenots
From the villages part. Not bottled
Perfumed, more freshness. Broad flavours grow in freshly mouth-watering volume. Another wine with a little structure and in this case a bit more finishing intensity. Long finishing – that will be super but wait to attack until it’s at least 5 years old.
2021 Pommard Petits Noizons
Recently bottled
A calmer, less effusive nose – it’s still an inviting, very perfumed, nose. Mouth-filling, lovely energy here too – growing impressively intense – yet a width of intensity rather than direct. Beautiful finishing – extra perfumed here. That’s a simply an excellent villages.
2021 Pommard 1er Pezerolles
Bottled today. All whole cluster – only 4th vintage for these young vines – but the wc was done for practical reasons as the cuvée was so small. The first vines harvested in 2021, ‘I really think that in 10 years, this could be our best vineyard’
A hint diffuse but plenty of aromatic volume and wc smoky roses. Clean, incisive, growing in intensity – a mouth-filler with fine purity. I really like this – super wine.
2021 Volnay Vieilles-Vignes
Not yet bottled
A narrower but quite deep nose – after the Pommards, a little shy. Yet in the mouth this has fine scale and clarity – this is very engaging and with super energy from its cool fruit. Supple finishing. That’s very good and still quite aromatic finishing…
2021 Nuits St.Georges Vieilles-Vignes
Also, not bottled yet
A little jamminess to this fruit – I’m thinking of jam tarts. Framed with the most tannin so far – modestly drying but with hardly any grain – the fruit flavour is plenty enough to balance and is very attractive – keep this for 2-3 years before moving forward but it’s a very good one.
2021 Vosne-Romanée Au Communes
A 1.8 hectare plot – since 2013. Also old vines here – ‘but the impact seems less than for the Gevrey and I see the development in bottle as always slower than the Gevreys too – by a couple of years’ The only wine still in barrel ‘I saw that that there would be some worth in waiting longer’
Yes – now that’s an invitation – open, smoky complexity. Gas still, direct but with very fine melting flavour – yes to wait for but the components are lovely!
2021 Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles-Vignes
Bottled last week
Now that’s a broad and forward nose – lots of very attractive complexity here. Broad, melting, accessible, delicious flavour – so ready, so appealing with a little fat to its texture – that’s an excellent villages with a nice old-vine creaminess.
All cask samples:
2021 Corton Rognet
There’s a little of the smoky barrel here but that’s any way an imposing, inviting aromatic volume. Some gas. But a wine that also has volume in the mouth and also a hint of finishing creaminess. That’s a beauty.
2021 Clos de Vougeot
More open and direct – finer, less smoky aromatics – it’s another beauty – just different. Really mouth-filling but more incisive and with more intensity than the Corton – which is not say that this is better, just that the personality in the glass is quite different. Plenty of structure but still not a particularly austere wine – you should wait, of course. Fine perfume in the finish – excellent wine.
2021 Charmes-Chambertin
Here a more sweeping width of aromatic – quite rose-perfumed and, again, completely different. Clean, direct, incisive wine – great texture before a little tannin makes it more velvety – lots of wc rose perfumed flavour – a Charmes that sits very well after a Corton and a CV – lovely wine.
Les Whites…
All bottled but there are not many this year. All cork sealed:
2021 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Lots of golden-fruit exoticness. Clean, good width, slightly exotic fruit again but with slowly-growing intensity. Easy flavours.
2021 Viré-Clessé
Cask elevage.
A slightly more structural aromatic. Easy over the palate again but less obviously exotic, so for me, more attractive. Finishing with a nice lick of phenolics too (tannin) also an easy wine but more delicious.
2021 Pouilly-Fuissé Vieilles-Vignes
From 2 parcels
A wine of aromatic depth, slightly savoury to start. More depth and concentration after the Viré – extra sweetness too. Slightly lush but with good mouth-watering style. The Viré is a smaller wine but one that I slightly prefer today…
2021 Montagny 1er Vigne du Soleil
The only Chalonnaise wine in 21 – ‘unfortunately’ – half the elevage in a concrete egg, the other half barrel elevage – ‘the two wines are completely different but the blend is very interesting’
That’s got a very attractive airy width of aroma – I like. Direct, slightly mineral, still some sweetness but I like its mobile, mouth-watering presentation. This is my new favourite!
From the top part
Good width but with extra depth – lovely – really inviting wine. Hmm – this sits so beautifully on the palate, open, slowly melting, even a small accent of tannin. Slightly cushioned beautiful wine, slightly saline finishing too. Beautiful.
2021 Beaune 1er Clos des Mouches Blanc
Towards the top and towards the middle – in this large vineyard.
Larger scale aromatics and what an aromatic – this is super. Really a super wine – more cushion but sinuous, silky wine of energy. If you want to be discrete drink the previous wine – if you want to sing, drink this wine – it has a super finish too. Lovely!