Tasted in Fixin with Michel Naddef, 29 November 2023
Domaine Philippe Naddef
30 Route des Grands Crus
21220 Fixin
Tel: +33 3 80 51 54 99
www.bourgogne-naddef.com/
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Michel on 2023:
“2023 – very happy – but we did three weeks of cutting fruit – green harvesting – in July and still had almost full tanks!”
Michel on 2022:
“For 2022, just some whites are bottled at this stage. I think it’s a superb vintage – easy, more tasty, also more delicate – 2021 was fresh and easy in youth though. I’m planning to start bottling, by the phase of the moon, from the start of March. There’s demand though, as the 2021s are pretty much gone already. Maybe it’s exaggerated but I compare 2022 and 2023 to 2017 & 2018. We had 100mm in June – in one day – but that was most of the rain for the year but it gave us the phenolic maturity that we needed without stressing the vines like in 2020.”
The wines…
The style is obvious – but what wines! You get a bit more barrel and sometimes wc spice – the fruit is darker but what delicious, silky, fluid wines we have here. The elevage is obvious but so is the quality of the wines. Bravo !!
2022 Bourgogne Côte d’Or
Vines in Couchey – 2 parcels. A small cuvée – we don’t have much, just 0.2 ha producing 4 barrels – they are old vines… ‘We keep this for the old clients!’
Dark, direct aromas, faintly of the barrel but clean pure fruit too. Super shape – quite direct, a texture of velour – and super finising too.
2022 Marsannay
In 22 there are 5 terroirs included – essentially in Couchey – a little new oak in this one.
More frank and precise dark berry notes. Larger scale with good fluidity and just a slightly increase in the amount of tannin but still only 2 from 10! Delicious finishing
Lighter soil with more limestone – only 15 year-old vines. 20% wc and some new oak here too.
Airy, complex and quite forward – the first wine with a little wc. More silky again – broad and fluid once more – tons of delicious finishing flavour – that’s a great villages – brav!
2022 Marsannay Genelières
2 parcels – one on the terrace and one at the bottom of the hill much older vines – this is a cooler place.
More spiced nose – there’s more new oak too. More structural wine – I like the shape and mouth-watering action of the fruit. Extra intensity and some finishing salinity too. Take your time with this one – 2-3 years would be a good starting point.
5 parcels again. ‘Brochon to Couchey we had hail so due to the small impacts I chose to destem all of these.’
A darker but invitingly silky width of aroma. Hmm, juicy some direction here, s lovely over the palate – fluid again – that’s a great villages Fixin. Keep 2 years
2022 Fixin Les Clos
Separated since 2008 – but not every year to start with.
A broader width of higher toned interest. Fluid again but a different style of wood – faintly tannic but hardly any grain and there are virtually no drying aspects. Creamy accented but still deliciously finishing – what a super set of wine here in 22 – but hold off on drnking for 2-3 years.
2022 Gevrey-Chambertin En Songe
Not quite 40 years-old – ‘so we don’t class as VV here.’
You sense the wc more in this seemingly darker fruited wine. Again a wine that washes over the palate with tons of mobile energy. Just another brilliant villages!
3 parcels all more than 50 years old – the oldest part all wc – so about one-third
A calmer yet more panoramic nose. Super silky again – more scale, slowly hinting at the extra structure behind. So broad finishing with a creamy support. That’s a great villages.
2022 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cazetiers
‘Quite young vines so more delicate than most’ From Petits-Cazetiers next to Combe aux Moines
Lots of colour. Not the largest nose but with lovely fine energy to the focused dark red fruit. Suave, mouth-filling – really a velour. A finishing calm but it moves and moves – Michel says ‘timid’ – no, but the energy is different here. Delicious wine.
2022 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Champeaux
This all destemmed – 70 year old vines, productive due to large grapes so prefer to destem.
A deeper style of aroma that has some spice over a base that’s slightly creamy. Mouth-filling – larger scale -still a hint of fluidity but today it battles the structure – it’s not yet an ensemble. Lots of finishing creaminess. This is an impressively big wine but keep it for 5 years before starting – the creamy flavour talks a lot of the elevage – but it’s damn delicious!
2022 Mazis-Chambertin
2 parcels – one is domaine, the other they rent – one in high and one in low. Bas is destemmed, much of the higher part keeps its stems.
A direct nose, imparting subtle, small complexities. Large scale, cool fruit – plenty of architecture to this wine. The frame of tannin has some tiny grain to it – and just a hint of dryness. Leaner and fast – more athletic than the Champeaux and you have much more modest impact from this 100% new oak versus what the Champeaux showed. Super but be patient – you probably shouldn’t be drinking this much before its 10th birthday – a very lovely wine!
There are two special cuvées too:
Juice from domaine vines – juice selected under the pressoir and elevage with a more delicate toasting for these 100% new Rousseau barrels – did the same in 23 but with 500-litre barrels:
2022 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Champeaux 2
A little smaller nose but the easy red fruit is pure red fruit! Direct, wide, framed with a modest tannin. You can still sense the barrel – without tasting it – but broad and deep too in this pretty finishing flavour – clearly the make-up is classier for this cuvée.
2022 Mazis-Chambertin 2
Just one barrel of this – Vosges from Remond – usually for the best whites – ‘I took a risk!’
A broad width of satisfying fruit with a peppery accent. Direct, fluid but still concentrated – more overtly juicy – but retaining that clean fluidity of the best wines here. I prefer both of these cuvées to the those ‘classic’ labels.
Les Whites:
2022 Bourgogne Chardonnay Côte d’Or
Only 2 barrels – from 2 parcels – one in Brochon, the other in Couchey – vines of 60 years old. ‘We harvest our chardonnay always at the end – and we have plenty of of clay in our white parcels.’
A little reduction – making this steely and showing some rigour. Really wide, quite intense, melting over the palate – that mineral rigour present in the middle flavours too – I hope it will improve over the short-term.
2022 Marsannay
Same elevage except 20% new oak. In 23 some 500-litre barrels
This nose doesn’t show the rigour – but it shows the oak – with some slightly firework reduction – it’s quite appealing. Direct, almost incisive – this is very much more interesting with juicy, tasty flavour. Lovely wine!
2022 Fixin Blanc Le Rozier
Near Clos in the centre of the village. A sur-greffage done in 2021 on 45 year-old pinots – this the second vintage – only 500 bottles. Lighter clays here for these 950 vines.
An inviting nose with some golden fruit and slowly a hint of florals too. Ooh – direct, a waterfall of juicy flavour, more direct than wide – faintly creamy accented. That’s a super-succesful white Fixin with none of the savoury character that you often find in wines from here – also with that hint of extra sucrosity that many white Fixin lack.