Tasted in Savigny-lès-Beaune with Claude Jousset, 03 November 2023.
Domaine Chandon de Briailles
1 Rue Soeur Goby
21420 Savigny-lès-Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 21 52 31
www.chandondebriailles.com
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Claude on the 2023 vintage:
“That was work! We had quite low yields so that meant that the last days of our harvest were a bit riper than we would have liked – let’s see how they develop – they are babies!”
Claude on the 2022 vintage:
“2019+2020 were both half a crop, 2021 was a quarter – it’s good to be back to a roughly normal ‘acceptable’ level of yield. We have a new winemaker here now for 2 years. We have been working biodynamically since 2005, certified since 2011 but we were organic for 15 years before that too – you could say that we were ahead of the curve. Only one wine has been bottled so far. The vintage is like a part of 2019 with some 2020 – 19 for the sugar 20 for the tension. We didn’t have big yields but we were happy – about 45k bottles vs our average of 55k. We had a little stress in June due to the strong showers of rain – and the oïdium that followed of course in the whites – which we treated with skimmed milk – no sulfur used here for 8 years – it’s preventative and curative and when that doesn’t work we use water with some salt which dries out the fungus. We also use almost no copper these days – mainly with infusions and some essential oil of orange. Picking end of August for whites and a few days later for the reds – quite classic. High canopies in this vintage – more leaves to protect the fruit – in this vintage 100% whole bunch too.”
The wines…
I’m sorry to have missed a couple of vintages here – and these wines just reinforce that – a great address!
The two Savigny Fourneaux of the domaine blended – a mix of villages and 1er – 2/3rds 1er cru – done for the 1st time in 2018 – so this wine a villages – 2.10 ha in total.
Vibrant, deeper but with glossy red fruit. Mouth-filling – plenty of energetic depth. Really a super finishing depth of flavour – a great ‘villages’ Savigny.
2018 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Lavières
More south-facing with layers of limestone very close to the surface.
A faintly smoky perfume of roses – properly perfumed. Hmm, depth, a hint of succulent fruit, very faintly of velour. Beautifully mineral finishing – faint but haunting. Simply delicious.
2022 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Les Vergelesses
Under Ile next to Fichots. Mainly deep red-clay soils but it’s a darker clay than in Fourneaux as there’s more iron.
More airy – beautifully perfumed again – but without the faint smoke this time. Ultra-silky, a little direct, wonderful texture. Almost no dryness to this tannin. Simply a beauty. This and the Fourneaux were the last picked and have 14-14.2° – you have no chance to see that given the precision of the aromatics.
Did you know that the name of Ile des Vergelesses is actually Ile des Haute Vergelesses – this has a real name of Les Basses Vergelesses – but they don’t like that name here! The remains of a Roman village can be found in the mid-section of this vineyard.
More vibrant width of red fruit. Cool, flavour that broadens out over the palate, with simply super depth of cream-accented fruit. Really complex – subtly austere in a great way with some citrus bitters. I love it!
2022 Aloxe-Corton 1er Valozières
A small cuvée from below Bressandes, next to Paulands. Very clay soil, sometimes impermeable, worked by horse. ‘In a good place as it’s surrounded by grand crus!’ It’s a hot spot here – so picked early – 2-3rd September.
A faint smoke – hmm – this has a fine freshness too – not a large nose but a very inviting one. Hmm – again a wonderful width of silky fruit edged by a suggestion of the tannin – cool fruited. What a wonderfully balanced wine.
2022 Corton les Bressandes
From 4 parcels, 2 in Aloxe and 2 in Ladoix – mid-hill, east-facing, ‘with a great blend of clay and limestone.’
Airy – very open beautiful if shy today. A little more structure – architecturally shaped in this case. This is beautiful and very complex – you could certainly drink this today – but if you have both the space and time it will be wonderful from 20 years onwards…
We have the highest parcel in Clos du Roi, next to the Hospices de Beaune – a little sand in the lighter, much poorer, soil here and lots of slope – 350m so later harvesting too.
The nose is almost silky – airy but showing more than Bressandes. Fuller, more steely but never hard – mouth-filling, more mineral – hmm – that’s so great – absolutely grand vin…
Les Whites
The whites were all still aging in steel – they took a year to finish their fermentation and the malos are not quite finished so not showing them today…