WB Burgundy Appellation Series Week 3: Gevrey-Chambertin

Hello again, and welcome to the 3rd week of the Wine Berserkers Weekly Burgundy Appellation Tasting Series. This week we will focus on the wines of Gevrey-Chambertin, along with the Grands Crus associated with the commune.

It is worth noting that these 8 (9 if you count Mazoyères separately as the BIVB does) Grands Crus associated with Gevrey-Chambertin are the most of any commune in the Côte d’Or.

Grands Crus: Chambertin; Chambertin, Clos-de-Bèze; Chapelle-Chambertin; Charmes-Chambertin (including lieu dit Mazoyères); Mazis-Chambertin; Griotte-Chambertin; Latricières-Chambertin; Ruchottes-Chambertin.


26 1er Crus: La Bossière, La Romanée, Poissenot, Estournelles-Saint-Jacques, Clos des Varoilles, Lavaut Saint-Jacques, Les Cazetiers, Clos du Chapitre, Clos Saint-Jacques, Champeaux, Petits Cazetiers, Combe au Moine, Les Goulots, Aux Combottes, Bel Air, Cherbaudes, Petite Chapelle, En Ergot, Clos Prieur, La Perrière, Au Closeau, Issarts, Les Corbeaux, Craipillot, Fonteny, Champonnet.

Gevrey-Chambertin is the first commune we will visit in this series with Grands Crus associated with it. The history here goes back a long way. In fact, just a few years back, an ancient vineyard was discovered in the lower, flatlands of Gevrey-Chambertin dating back the first century AD. This backs up the writings of Pligny the Elder mentioning Gevrey as the first areas of plantation in the region. (Marsannay is thought to have followed suit shortly thereafter). CNRS - Archives des communiqués de presse

Gevrey (later Gevrey-Chambertin) was the first village granted permission my King Louis-Philippe to append the name of it’s village (1847) to the most renowned vineyard in its area. Other followed, producing names such as Chambolle-Musigny, Nuits-Saint-Georges and Morey Saint Denis.

Gevrey-Chambertin is the only village appellation which has vines on the East side of the Route Nationale 74 which produce grapes which are allowed to be classified under the same region as an appellation on the West side.

A portion of vines located in the commune of Brochon to the North produce grapes which are allowed to be included in the Gevrey-Chambertin Village AOC.

Wines from the Grand Cru lieu dit “Clos-de-Bèze” are allowed to be labelled as either “Chambertin” or “Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze”, though wines from the lieu dit “Chambertin” may not call itself “Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze”. With respect to Mazoyeres and Charmes-Chambertin, they are similar in the respect that in each, there are situations where one a label choice is unilateral. In the case of Charmes, as you mention, the lieux dits Aux Charmes, Aux Charmes ou Mazoyeres and Mazoyeres can all be labeled Charmes-Chambertin, whereas Mazoyeres is the only lieu dit with the ability to be labeled as Charmes-Chambertin or Mazoyeres-Chambertin.

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge

The hill of Le Chambertin Grand Cru

Top layer of soil of Charmes-Chambertin “Aux Charmes” Grand Cru

Looking North over the hump of Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru

Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru (left) with Les Corbeaux 1er Cru (to the right after space in rows)

Top layer of soil of Les Corbeaux 1er Cru


Disclosure: I produce wines from this village. The photos posted above are of vineyards I source from. If you have other photos of Gevrey-Chambertin, please pm me and I will include them.

Gevrey! Woo-Hoo!

Getting over a cold just in time. Looking forward to contributing to this thread.

Ray,
Great pics. Are these from the Chambertin and Charmes plots where you get your grapes?

Cheers,
Steve

What better way to kick this deal off than to post some grand cru TN’s from 2009 Maison Ilan, Burgundy’s newest micro-negociant. Sadly, I have not tasted the wines yet. But I am a buyer, and looking forward to trying them when they are released.

Considering Ray Walker’s active participation in the Wineberserker community, Burghound has granted special, one-time only, permission to post the following Producer Notes and Tasing Notes from Burghound.com, Issue #41…

Another American has succumbed to the siren call of Burgundy… [Ray] Walker’s philosophy is really very simple: pick ripe fruit, handle it respectfully and the less you handle it, the better. In other words, it’s a combination of let the wine make itself through a benign yet respectful “less is more” approach. To this end, there are no pumps and virtually no new wood and bottling will be done without fining or filtration… [A]fter having an in-depth philosophical discussion with this exceedingly polite, well-spoken and humble young man, it didn’t take me very long to understand that Walker “gets it”, which is to say he knows why he’s in Burgundy and what his role in the process of vineyard to wine to consumer is. And as such, I have a hunch that we’re going to see some exciting wines from Walker going forward.

Maison Ilan 2009 Charmes-Chambertin - A very expressive nose that is at once earthy and ripe speaks of both red and blue berry fruits laced with underbrush and a hint of the sauvage that continues onto the textured, dense and focused broad-shouldered flavors that possess excellent phenolic maturity and superb complexity and length. I like the sense of harmony and there is a generosity to the finish that is beguiling. Score 91-94. Drink 2017+.

Maison Ilan 2009 Chambertin - A notably cooler and more restrained nose offers up notes of ripe red currant, wet stone, warm earth and a game note that can also be found on the rich, full-bodied and tautly muscular flavors that possess outstanding detail and verve on the very firm and mildly austere finish that seems to go on and on. Despite the youthful austerity, the mouth feel is really quite silky and like the Charmes, there is a lovely sense of balance and proportion. Score 92-94. Drink 2019+.

(There will be one more TN next week, from Morey-Saint-Denis.

2008 Henri Jouan Gevrey-Chambertin “Aux Echezeaux”

Light and transparent, though darker than the higher appellation wines. Exceptional intensity on the nose. Deep, lush strawberries and black fruit are front and center. The purity of fruit carries over to the palate. Ample weight, though a little less structured than the Clos Sorbes and Clos Saint Denis. The acid here is slightly and thankfully just a bit elevated in comparison. That said, this shows more complexity than either of his two other village wines (neither offer a lieu dit). The impression of wood is low enough to not detract from the underlying material. Great length here. This wine is open and giving much more than expected.

Wines from the Grand Cru lieu dit “Clos-de-Bèze” are allowed to be labelled as either “Chambertin” or “Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze”, though wines from the lieu dit “Chambertin” may not call itself “Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze”. This is a similar arrangement with Charles-Chambertin, with the wines of Mazoyères having the ability to be labeled as either “Mazoyères” or “Charmes-Chambertin”.

Ray - I would like to add the following comments re above.

The situation regarding AOC Charmes-Chamebrtin and AOC Mazoyeres-Chambertin…is not ( repeat : NOT ) similar to the situation regaring AOC Chambertin and AOC Chambertin-CdBeze.

Siutation One :

(a) AOC Chambertin lists 2 lieux-dites : Chambertin and CdBeze.

(b) AOC Chambertin-CdBeze lists only 1 liex-dite : CdBezse.



Situation Two :

(c) AOC Charmes-Chambertin lists 2 lieux-dites : Charmes and Mazoyeres; and

(d) AOC Mazoryeres-Chambertin lists also 2 lieux-dites : Charmes and Mazoyeres.

What I mean is :

In situation One - the juice from liex-dite CdBeze is allowed - legal by laws - to be labelled under AOC (a ) - Appellation Chambertin Conttrolee ) and AOC (b )- Applletion Chambertin-CdBese Controlee .

Juice from liex-dite Chambertin is only allowed to be labelled as AOC (a) - Appleation Chambertin Controlee.

In siutation Two - juice from the lieu-dite Charmes is allowed - legal by laws - to be lablled under AOC (c) and AOC (d); and
juice from lieu-dite Mazoyeres…is allowed to do the same - as juiced from the liex-dite Charmes.

There is a very slightly difference there.

Hey Peter, great point.

They are similar in the respect that in each, there are situations where one has a label choice which is unilateral. In the case of Charmes, as you mention, the lieux dits “Aux Charmes” and “Mazoyères ou Charmes” can all be labeled Charmes-Chambertin, whereas Mazoyères is the only lieu dit with the ability to be labeled as Charmes-Chambertin or Mazoyères-Chambertin.

Thanks again for the clarification.

Hey Steven, all the shots are personal shots from the sections we source from. Glad you liked them. Would be great to get some more photos of different climats as well. Anyone?

Lew, thanks for posting the notes. Awfully kind of you and Allen.

For those who crave even more punishment, here is a link to the Gevrey-Chambertin thread from last years Burg Week series.

In the 2010 Burg Week series, I posted some personal thoughts on how the grand crus and premier crus relate to each other in terms of quality potential. And some good discussions and maybe a few arguments ensued. Ray asked me to repeat this year. Some of what follows is based on scant personal evidence, so your opinions are appreciated.

For the grand crus, the first division/other division is intended to be roughly 50/50 across all Cote d’Or red wine grand crus. The next category, called Quasi-Grand 1er Crus, comprises just six crus that fully deserve grand cru status IMO (plenty of room for disagreement here). Then comes the Elite 1er Crus, and this category is intended to be top 20% to 25% of the 1er crus.

So with some trepidation, here goes my Gevrey-Chambertin…

First division grand crus:
Chambertin
Clos de Beze
Griottes-Chambertin
Mazis-Chambertin

Second division grand crus:
Ruchottes-Chambertin
Latricieres-Chambertin
Charmes-Chambertin
Mazoyeres-Chambertin
Chapelle-Chambertin

Quasi-Grand 1er Crus:
Clos Saint-Jacques

Elite 1er Crus
Combottes
Cazetiers
Lavaux-Saint-Jacques
Estournelles-Saint-Jacques

Other 1er Crus = All the rest, 21 of them.

Just one final comment… In his new book “Grand Cru”, Remington Norman also choose six red wine 1er crus to single out for special honors, plus three for white wine. In Gevrey-Chambertin, he included both Clos Saint-Jacques and Combottes in this category.

Ray…thanks for the post - just would like to be clear to avoid any mis-understand ( or confusion ).

Lewis…very intresting.

Need to think it over before making any commnets.

2004 Sylvie Esmonin (Michel et Fille) Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru (2/21/2011)
Black fruits and earthy aroma. On the palate dry with impressive fruit, well integrated oak, good acidity, fine tannins, good complexity, and long lingering finish. Has this any overt “green” character, certainly not, it is an excellent 70% whole cluster wine. (91 pts.) Should add that it is what you would expect of Sylvie Esmonin CSJ’s and I certainly approve of the move to whole cluster fermentations. Cheers Mike

I understand everybody focuses on Grand Cru and also on premier crus, but, especially with today prices, it is also quite interesting to also look at village terroirs. Luckily for us, Gevrey has quite a lot of different lieux dits with their specificities (just like Premiers crus where you have cold climates near Clos St jacques and warmer ones near the Grand crus) worth mentioning (Fourrier bottles 2 villages a GC VV and a GC aux echezeaux with different characteristics). Also one is close to my heart because it is called “au Songe”, but I failed to find a good producer for this climate (please, advise). We would greatly benefit from some experts inputs on this subject.

I’m always surprised at how gradual the slope is in great Burgundy vineyards. I wonder if the effect of the slope is more to drain cool air out of the vineyard in the morning, rather than to enhance exposure, as Kermit explained it in Adventures. Air drainage rate, I’ve read, is sensitive to even low-grade slopes in terrain, whereas the degree of additional exposure to sunlight afforded by the slope in the pictures above looks very small.

Thanks Ray, Lew, et al.

Last night’s wine was a 1985 Phillipe Rossignol Village Gevrey-Chambertin - nice secondary dark fruits in nose and flavors, adequate acidity, no discernable tannins, with a long fruity finish. It was very good with King Salmon filets.

Fourrier '05 G-C VV.

A.

The first ‘event’ at La Paulee was the Collector’s lunch featuring wines of Fourrier and Jobard. The venue was Daniel, with a very impressive menu. The foie gras stuffed quail with black truffle was to die for! I was able to have a nice chat with Jean-Marie and look forward to a visit next Fall. All in all, the wines were beautiful, as one might expect. Below is a pic of Jean-Marie( and the 99 CSJ) and fellow Tucson WB Jon Favre.

WInes with brief comments as follows:
06 GC Goulots - Lots of minerality on the nose. Big fruit laden palate with some spice notes. Fine tannins.

04 GC Combe aux Moines - Lighter color. No green! Earthy expressive nose. Lacked a bit in the middle to me, but great finish.

03 Griotte-Chambertin - Dark. Earthy, mineral complex aromas. Big mid-palate. More ripe, characteristic of the vintage. Sappy, somewhat sweet finish. Fine.

05 GC Clos St Jacques - Again lots of minerality and earth notes. Bigger wine. Somewhat closed at first, but was able to coax some great things out of it with air. Nice balance.

99 GC Clos St Jacques en jeroboam - Big dark fruit and mineral nose. Great depth and length. Exceptional flavors. Moderate tannins yet to be resolved, but this should be a great wine in 10 years.

83 GC Clos St Jacques en magnum - Loved the secondary and tertiary aromas with spice notes in the nose. Perhaps a smidge of VA, but not objectionable. Very complex. Somewhat soft. Very elegant. This wine continued to improve with 1-2 hours in the glass!

Great wines and a great start to the best wine event I have attended.

Gervrey Chambertin Questionnaire:

• What do you think are the essential characteristics of Gevrey Chambertin Wine?
• What do you think are some misconceptions regarding the essential characteristics of Gevrey Chambertin Wine?
• Who do you think are the top producers of Gevery Chambertin wines? (they dont have to live there)
• Who do you think are some under-the-radar producers that make Gevery Chambertin wine? (they dont have to live there)
• What vineyards do you think are overrated?
• What vineyards do you think are underrated?
• What is your most memorable Gevrey Chambertin wine experience?
• What other village do you think is most similar in style to the wines of Gevrey Chambertin
• Any other thoughts or insights about this village you would want to share?

Fun, I’ll answer some:

Great questions, Berry. I’m certainly no expert, so personally I’m looking forward to the responses of other folks. But in my book, I often seem to find animal, earth and a more masculine style than, say, Chambolle – though not without its own sense of elegance. As far as a village which is similar in style, I don’t think anything compares. I find Morey to be more similar to Chambolle than to Gevrey, though I suppose many would say Morey more or less splits the difference. As for Gevrey producers, Fourrier!

Lew asked me to chime in, so here is what I wrote about Ray based on my visit at the beginning of November last year. I’m leaving out the Morey-Chaffots, which I’ll post in the Morey section.


MAISON ILAN/RAY WALKER
2009 CHARMES-CHAMBERTIN AUX CHARMES (88-92)
2009 LE CHAMBERTIN (91-95)
Ray Walker, still in his twenties, a few years ago to give up his job as a financial consultant in California and follow his passion for wine. He worked briefly with a Sonoma County producer to learn the basic fundamentals, and then set about finding some grapes in Burgundy he could vinify (even though he spoke no French at the time). He expected to land nothing more than Bourgogne, but in an amazing stroke of luck wound up with two grands crus and a top premier cru. In 2010, he will have two more top premiers crus, and he may have still more in 2011 – even though for the record, demand is so high for Burgundy wine that no one has any grapes to sell. Obviously, off the record is a different story, and in the words of Laurent Ponsot, who has expanded his own negociant operation, La Crise has hit Burgundy. Ray has made excellent wines in 2009, and based on a tasting of the recently pressed 2010s, they confirm that 2009 was not a mistake. Amazingly, he is making the wine by the book – old 19th century texts that he has consulted, and has decided that the way to make his wines is as simply as possible, avoiding what he describes as many special gadgets used by many of the Burgundy producers he has met. His dedication goes so far that in order not to mix his wine with another wine used for topping up and thereby dilute purity of expression of the wine, he does not top up. Instead, he reduces the volume in the barrels by dropping marbles into them. Similarly, he chose his barrels for 2009 for qualities that gave the least impression of oak, and in 2010 will have no new oak. Ray buys grapes that he can harvest when he sees fit to harvest. He describes the vineyard management as lutte raisonnée (i.e., abandoning organic principles only if other solutions do not work). No stems were used in 2009. The Charmes-Chambertin is smooth, long, silky and delicate with cherry fruit. The Chambertin showed excellent ripe dark fruit and is silky and elegant. This wine saw no sulfur until the malolactic fermentation had finished. Was this a one-off vintage for him? I think not based on my tasting the 2010s in barrel, too.


BTW, Ray at one time here wrote that he had never tasted a Chambertin from bottle. We broke that streak with a quite amazing bottle of 2008 Trapet Chambertin shared in his cold cellar with lots of great discussion.