Tasted in Fixin with Amélie Berthaut, 23 November 2023.
Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet
9 Rue Noisot
21220 Fixin
Tel: +33 3 80 52 45 48
www.domaine-berthaut.com
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More reports with Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet
Amélie on 2022:
“I’m really happy. We didn’t make our plan – I don’t think we ever will! – but I’m still happy, despite the heat and dryness and some hail too in Fixin-Gevrey – and there wasn’t a lot left after the triage for those parcels. There are just a few bottled wines but most of the rest will be racked in December with a plan to bottle everything by the end of February – because in March I’ll be in the vines !! Very dry and hot we thought we’d have something like 2020 as there was some blockages to the maturity but we got some well-timed rain that got things going again – all fine and ripe but not more than 13° natural…”
The wines…
There may be only a couple of ‘great’ wines today – but all the rest are still sensationally delicious, excellent wines – it’s a super vintage at this domaine!
From Amélie’s mother’s side, planted by her grandfather. Vines above Vosne on the plateau – there’s 10 ha in this plot and currently, 4 ha are here in this domaine. 60-year-old vines. No oak, all cement, fast elevage bottled before the harvest.
A little tobacco note. Broad in the mouth, lots of freshness – energy too – ooh such a lot of material and juicy energy in the middle and finishing flavours. I love this finish – it’s really a super wine, indeed great for a Bourgogne.
2022 Fixin Les Crais
Emblematic cuvée of the domaine separated for a long time by Denis – well-draining, alluvial soil with small stones – and almost 1 hectare of vines.
More perfumed and energetic aromas. More structure – architectural shape – but more clarity to this slightly cushioned flavour – creamy oak in the finishing flavours. Delicious wine and I’d be waiting 3+ years.
2022 Fixin En Combe Roy
Separated here since 2013, vines just under the 1ers – up from 30% for the last to 50% wc in this one.
Very light rose petals from this beautifully perfumed nose. Extra depth to this concentration, no grain to the tannin and a wonderfully intense almost juicy finishing flavour. That’s a beauty – the oak less evident here too.
The last of the bottled wines – all the wines of Gevrey are in metayage – 2022 the last for their Clos des Chézeaux. This wine is from the high part of Gevery and very old vines – just about 10% wc – didn’t have space in the tank for more!
Open, elegant, silky impression to this great perfume. Incisive but with a mm of cushion. Sleek and direct with a chewy depth of delicious finishing flavour. Bravo villages!
The following were all barrel samples:
2022 Vosne-Romanée
2 different parcels assembled, no wc.
The nose not quite ready but there’s good depth here. Ooh – that’s lovely in the mouth though – a small cushion of structure and fine and complex flavoured – beautifully finishing.
2022 Fixin 1er Les Arvelets
50% wc
A super wc perfume from this wine. Direct, clean, structural wine – the flavours suffused with floral perfume – almost more than fruit. A beauty but for keeping a few years first!
2022 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Lavaux St.Jacques
Just 0.13 ha – only 1.5 barrels in this vintage, none new.
A smaller, darker fruited nose – ultra silky and elegant. More mouth-filling – a hint of extra generosity. That’s delicious and has fine concentration.
2022 Vosne-Romanée Les Petits Monts
5 different blocks – ‘most planted before my grandfather so we don’t know how old’ – just one small part is aged 10. The vines were initially divided between the Gerbets and Sirugue-Gerbets, now divided in three with Amélie and two others, but Amélie is renting one of those portions back. ‘It’s very special for us, not just because it’s so well placed, but some of the parcels pre-date my grandfather – and of course, all is done by hand as we can’t get a tractor in there. For two years some work with a horse, have the ‘troye’ from Switzerland – and it’s a bit too physical for half a hectare. I still use it for ‘amusement’ but in a small parcel.’
Hmm that’s a wonderful nose of saline energy and depth of aroma too – really impressive. More airy in the mouth – but properly mouth-filling. Some structure but properly excellent Vosne 1er – super!
2022 Clos de Vougeot
‘From the bottom of the slope – and it’s good!’
Hmm – actually a wider nose with plenty of flowers in the complexity – it’s a fine invitation. Fuller and juicy flavoured 0- I do like the structure here and the wine is completely delicious – almost too easy for CV – yum!
2022 Echézeaux
3 small parcels; Treux and Quartiers de Nuits, plus some Champs Traversins higher near the wood. ‘This year’s the most we ever made – 4 barrels – none new – if we have less than 5 barrels there’s never any new oak.’
Hmm – that’s really elegant. A faint herbal note from the wc but that will get better and better. Fine shape in the mouth and real complexity, it’s deliciously flavoured – faintly grained but with a generosity to the flavour – as opposed to the texture. Just a very fine, delicious wine.
And a white to finish:
2022 Fixin Blanc
Only 2-3% of the Fixin appellation is white ‘but it’s growing!’ This planted in 2009 and 2015.
Quite a golden style to this fruit – bottled in July. Good mouth-filling volume, silky and quite linear, opening wider in the middle flavours, faintly grained with tannin – a honeyed, golden fruit style – like the nose. Very good.