Tasted in Cheilly-lès-Maranges with Pablo Chevrot, 21 November, 2023.
Domaine Chevrot et Fils
19 Route de Couches
71150 Cheilly-lès-Maranges
Tel: +33 3 85 91 10 55
www.chevrot.fr
More reports with Domaine Chevrot.
Pablo on 2023:
“For the second year in a row we are very happy – it doesn’t happen that often in a career! We had lots of luck – no frost, no hail – lots of water early in the year but perfect weather for the flowering. Some heatwaves but we are more and more used to it but we are still learning every year. Right now it seems either dry or wet – extremes always. We had some millerandage in chardonnay. But we had to remove grapes in aligoté and pinot and still had our biggest production ever – two years after our lowest – I said extremes! We need to be much more reactive today also at harvesting time – we harvested a week earlier than expected before our holidays as the soil was still wet when the 15 day heatwave started so the ripeness came really, really fast. The alcohols are gentle in 2023 for the whites – which we harvested first. In fact, we had blockage in some places but not the coolest so we actually started with vines we usually finish with! The alcohols are a little higher with the reds 13-14° but seemingly with plenty of freshness at this stage – the quality of the tannins is better too so you don’t currently feel the heat – it looks fine.”
Pablo on 2022:
“Very few are bottled at this stage but some were bottled a little early as we had nothing to sell after the very low volumes of 2021. Also a hot season – it seems 8 from 10 vintages right now are hot ones. We made balanced wine in 22 thanks to some August rain.”
The wines…
A super result chez Chevrot in 202 – well done !!
The only wine that’s not from their own vines – ‘but we like gamay!’ – it’s an exchange with a friend from Mâcon-Bray – a domaine I visit here in Burgundy Report too. ‘I have some land waiting to be planted (more than 3 hectares to be planted in 2025) but after 15 years of rest and I’ll put gamay here to make a PTG. We have across the domaine at least 1 tree every 30 metres for the bats for instance.’ 100% gamay with 11 month of older barrel aging.
Plenty of colour. Some silkiness of darker berries – nice delineation of aromas here. Fine, beautiful shape – clean, maybe a tiny reduction in the middle of the flavours but this is beautifully shaped and delicious wine. A great Côteaux Bourguignone.
2022 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
This is actually declassified villages, ‘really old vines, good vines but these are the rows near the river-bed so the vines are ‘too healthy’ so the abundant water breaks the skins at lower production volumes so I have to push the yields up to 50-60 to avoid the skin splitting – so the style of the wine is different with the yields of a Bourgogne – hence…’ All destemmed in this case, 5-8 year-old barrels for the elevage – we can keep them up to 10 years, 8-10 is often used for sparkling wines.
The first sniff has a small DIAM reduction but air quickly fills the glass with a replacement perfume, quite floral, forward and very attractive. Hmm – that’s so broad and juicy with a lovely intensity. ‘Simple and efficient,’ says Pablo – I’d add delicious too!
The two 2 were bottled, the following not:
Gravel soils all around the domaine. From Triassic soils on the nearby hillside.
Hmm – very attractive energy and beautifully pretty aromas. A super start, direct, more concentrated than the previous for sure – suffused with some florals and framed with nice tannin. This is a top Bourgogne – indeed a great Bourgogne.
2022 Maranges Sur le Chêne
Previous 20% stems, here 30% stems – ‘not a lot as we had some sunburn on the grapes when one of the heatwaves went too high and we had to work hard to remove the dry berries to avoid dry tannins in the wines.’
Some obvious reduction on this nose – but it dissipates quickly. More open and fluid – classy style here – That’s really very super – not obviously mineral but there is delicious energy here – simply excellent wine.
2022 Santenay
50-60% wc from 50+ year-old vines, all (domaine) horse ploughed. Two parcels Poirons and Charmes but 3 different styles of soils – these are long rows that have very different soils at the top vs the bottom.
Plenty of colour. Full, round, an almost generous nose with a hint of implied texture. Faintly reductive but clearly with more depth of flavour – beautifully mobile over the palate despite some extra tannin – much more breadth and complexity in this finish. I love it – keep it 2-3 years.
Rocky, not much clay. Grand and Petit Clos Rousseau, ‘we’re replanting some of the petit clos to white and it’s good, the red was always behind that of the grand clos… This a blend of the two. There are many geological faults in this vineyard and it’s a big vineyard – you can find everything.’
Really deep, darker fruit nose but framed with appealing freshness. Yes – mouth-filling with an extra floral dimension to this flavour – glossy tannin so without any grain. That’s really top Santenay.
2022 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Hautes Jarrons
‘Our second vintage in 2022 from this plot. The vines were in terrible condition when we got them in 21 – but the vine selection and soil are both really good. 50% wc this year – I’m still learning and the grapes were really beautiful. The vines are not yet organic but we are in conversion. The soil deep and poor but well-draining. Only 25 hl/ha -‘crazy low yields’ – due to the poor state of the vines.’
Lots of colour again. Really perfumed, together with the ripe fruit that makes for more peony than rose perfume. Mouth-filling and really juicy – again very fluid – potentially an excellent wine – or more but keep this for 5 years …
2022 Maranges 1er Le Fussière
Always destem here – ‘all my trials with wc were uninteresting, even with only a small amount.’ Flint and silex soils.
Lots of colour again. A nose of depth and power – slowly adding width too. More velour texture and really concentrated – a leading edge of freshness too. This has a panoramically wide wave of finishing flavour – it’s completely delicious wine – concentrated so keep it for at least 3 years before drinking.
2022 Maranges 1er Clos Roussots
It takes a week longer to ripen vs the previous wine due to the cooler water in the soil.
A smaller but more focused nose – very inviting. Mouth-filling, a hint of salinity, just a hint more dryness to the grainless tannin and some barrel cream right at the end today. I’d also wait about 3-5 years for this – clean and delicious finishing flavours here.
2022 Maranges 1er Croix aux Moines
More aromatic breadth, even a faint cushion – super appealing. More weight but still weightless (?) it’s the fluidity that brings this balance. That will be excellent wine and I’d probably wait 5 years again for this.
Les whites:
2022 Bourgogne Aligoté Cuvée des Quatre Terroirs
‘We’ve 1.75 hectares of aligoté in the domaine – we kept our trust in this variety’
Some subtle width of aroma with a faint rigour. Hmm, just a small depth of softness to these flavours – pretty minerality. Wide finishing. Lovely.
Horse-ploughed for almost 20 years – higher canopy and lower yield – large-format barrels for a year then 6 months in tank. ‘With the exception of 2013 which had too much botrytis all my wines from here, from 2006 onwards are alive and energetic still.’
Broader, fuller more clarity id slightly riper fruit and a little white flower complexity. Beautiful in the mouth – so open and saline but driving with freshness – love this acidity. That will be a great one – I love it!!
2022 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune Blanc
The Hautes Côtes here are not really so ‘Haut’ as they are the same altitude as many villages appellations. Always with elevage in barrel – usually! – but now about 1/3rd foudre elevage. Bottled
Broad, and deep – a faint reduction and a small cushion to the aromas. More muscular but still very fresh. Lightly smoked and saline – the finish is very elegant and finely lasting.
2022 Maranges Blanc
1.6 ha but a blend of parcels ranging in vine age from 2017 to 1950 in this vintage. ‘Hotter and sunnier than the regionals before.’ Only gravel soils here.
More breadth of aroma as there’s no reduction – more citrus style. In the mouth, this is mobile, open, a little fluid and modestly juicy in the finish. Another delicious wine.
Here with high limestone content. Under the Windmill direction Chassagne.
Full and broad with lots of citrus freshness – almost chalky. Lovely open style in the mouth, a tiny oak cushion softens the wine but here is a great structure – this will be wonderful in a couple of years – quite saline too – bravo!
5th vintage since planting in 2013 – early vintages sold to négoce. ‘It’s principally a terroir for reds here but we had a parcel that never made decent red wine so we eventually replanted with white – and we’re happy that we did!’
Larger and even more zesty citrus aromatics. More mineral and wildly love zesty flavour too – I love the architecture of this the persistence too – another great wine – bravo!
2022 Maranges 1er Le Fussière Blanc
This part of the vineyard is ploughed using a cable-pulley as it’s so steep. “Very young vines here, just 12 years old. Planted at the top of the slope where there’s lots of limestone. High altitude, slow maceration for this.
A deeper more mineral nose – perhaps faintly reductive. Great shape and energy – more depth to this concentration but still delivered in a balanced citrus style. That’s a wonderful wine – I’d be tempted to wait 2-3 years for this but it’s already just so delicious.