Berthaut-Gerbet, Dugat-Py, Henri Magnien
Just south of Dijon, Fixin is often overlooked. Yet at Berthaut-Gerbet, Amelie Berthaut has made a huge success out of her Fixin vineyards, proving that with proper attention the village can turn out wonderful wines. 2018 was only her sixth vintage at the helm, yet in the short time since she took over she has turned a relatively obscure family domaine into a hot property, and proven herself to be one of her generation's leading lights - and she isn't even 30 yet. Tasting here last November we found a diverse but beautiful set of wines, complex, silky and refined, full of terroir character.
Moving south, Gevrey-Chambertin has turned out some impressive, powerful wines in 2018. The tasting at Dugat-Py was a dizzyingly good experience, showing wines of scale, concentration, grandiosity and remarkable aromatic intensity. Wine after wine was brilliant - and so they should be, as they represent generations of hard work. The domaine as currently constituted is modern, but the family has been making wine here for 13 generations. Their farming is intense and meticulous, with 5 people working full time on only 10 hectares of vineyard. But perhaps the secret more than anything else here is in the terroir. Not only does the domaine own some top sites in some top vineyards, they also have some extremely old vines, making for wines of remarkable depth.
Our biggest new discovery of last November was also in Gevrey. The tasting at Henri Magnien completely bowled us over; we found intense, expressive wines, that were beautifully textured and bountifully aromatic. We decided on the spot we had to have them. This is another domaine with a lot of history behind it - the Magniens go back to 1656, and the affable Charles Magnien, who took over a decade ago, represents no less than the twelfth generation here. Not only do they have some fantastic sites with old vines, they even have their very own clone of Pinot Noir. Pinot Magnien produces small, thick-skinned berries with concentrated juice, and the Magniens use it across 70% of their vineyard area. It goes part of the way to explaining the astonishing quality on show here, and it is being taken up by other domaines.
It has been a fast and furious two weeks of chasing Burgundy allocations here at Uncorked. We still have a number of allocations to confirm, so if you're after anything in particular, do drop us a line! /NT
Offered subject to remaining unsold; for shipment Winter 2020/21
