Tightrope walking; balance and poise across the piste
Day 1 of our Burgundy trip last November, and our second visit, having kicked off with the best tasting in a while at Barthod earlier. It was about halfway through, around 10:15 I guess, tasting the wines that Mathilde Grivot was pouring that I got the first clue as to the character of the reds. The poise, tension and balance displayed at Grivot continued as a theme through the week. In Chambolle we weren't able to visit Bertheau as he was away, but amazingly we have a tad more of his wine than usual and thus a little to offer. The Felettig stable goes from strength to strength and represent great value from this rising star estate. Their friends the Sigauts continue to make fuller-bodied and extremely satisfying Chambolles. Having tasted them recently they'll age beautifully in the mid-term.
In Vougeot, Hudelot-Noellat continues to be in great demand but the Bourgogne Rouge is a super introduction to the estate. Next door in Vosne-Romanée, Grivot's wines somehow pulled off the trick of tasting both perfectly, fully ripe and yet only just ripe at the same time - a feat of tightrope winegrowing that made for an extraordinary tasting. These wines of tension will be great assets in any Burgundy lover's cellar in the future. Michel Gros has finally been joined by his son and together they have produced a beautifully balanced range of classy and poised reds. Jean-Nicholas Méo at Méo-Camuzet is justly proud of his 2017s. They aren't as voluptuous as the 15s but have fantastic elegance and richness.
Down in Nuits-St-Georges the wines have so much perfume it's amazing you can't smell it while driving through the town. It seems to me that together with the quest for more elegance and balance at the domaines, 2017 has been an excellent year for the growers here. At every address we visited results were absolutely superb. Both at Gouges with Gregory and the even younger Etienne at Domaine Julien we found aromatic and finely structured wines. /CW
Offered subject to remaining unsold; for shipment 2019/20