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  • Country ranking ?

    929
  • Producer ranking ?

    31
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    now to 2035
  • Food Pairing

    grilled red meat:beef & lamb chops

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

Gevrey Chambertin is the most northern of the great communes of the Côte de Nuits. There are 26 Premiers Crus and 8 Grands Crus. Half of the Premiers Crus surrounds the Grands Crus (near Morey) ; the other half faces the north (near La Combe de Lavaux), with calcareous and clayey soils. The origin of "Chambertin" comes from  one of the owners whose name was Bertin and who had the idea to plant vineyards close to the "climat" used by monks. "Chambertin" comes from "Champ de Bertin"
The Chambertin vineyard is situated on a chalky soil in the depth and clayey at the surface, which makes the wine both powerful and round. This wine is fermented in vats for 3-4 weeks  and aged 18-20 months in oak barrels.

In its youth the Chambertin has a very coloured robe (garnet red), which becomes crimson, copper,  when ageing. Meaty, strong, full of tannins,  generous with liquorice and undergrowth aromas. It takes a long time to get opened and needs several years to find its identity.
It will perfectly match game and mushrooms.

This wine is excellent to be kept, it will be possible to keep it during 20 years, or more following the vintages, in perfect conditions of moisture and temperature.

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Wine Information

Winter 2016 arrived late, with some of the coldest days occurring in February and March. It was slightly rainier than average. The beginning of April saw the first signs that the vines were awakening, putting this vintage ahead of schedule and a timescale similar to 2015. This early part of spring was mild and rain fell on a regular basis, while temperatures dipped in the later half of the month. In the last week of April cold winds from the North Pole swept through the vineyards. In some areas a late frost destroyed the first tender shoots in the early morning of 27 April. The prevailing humidity in some sectors was key to determining the extent of the damage – temperatures dropped to -4°C in the Yonne, but temperatures of -0.5°C in the Côte d’Or sufficed to destroy a high proportion of the buds. Those buds that were saved were warmed by the way the frost created a magnifying glass effect for the sun’s rays – ironically, the damage was done on a bright, sunny morning… Beaujolais and the Mâconnais were largely spared from the frost (apart from a few vines located right on the northern edge of the Mâconnais), but damage was extensive in the Côte d’Or, from Marsannay in the north to Rully in the south, passing through Chambolle and Savigny, as well as in the Chablis region, particularly in the area around Chablis.

 

The remainder of April, May and part of June saw many climatic disturbances and average temperatures well below the seasonal norm. Vegetative growth stagnated and the hailstruck vines were slow to recover. Hail fell on 13 April in the regions of Chablis to the north, in Saône et Loire (Pouilly, Fuissé, Saint-Vérand). The 13th of May and the 27th of May saw more hail fall on the Mâconnais (Vergisson, Prissé) and Beaujolais (Romanèche, Chapelle-de-Guinchay), as well as part of Chablis (Préhy, Courgis). Beaujolais was hit once again on 24 June, and mid-July saw isolated hail strikes in Chassagne and the Côte Chalonnaise in the south. This resulted in a very complicated start to the growing season, with unprecedented levels of downy mildew seen in vines that had been rendered vulnerable to disease by the impact of the trying climatic conditions. July saw the return of milder weather. Indeed, temperatures rose above the average in July, August and September.

 

The plants reacted by putting on a rapid growth spurt, sustained by the plentiful water reserves. Our growers found themselves racing through the rows in order to manage the vines’ rapid response. Flowering mainly took place at the end of June, although the frost-affected vines mostly flowered in early July – 2016 had slipped from being a precocious vintage to one of the latest (very similar to 2013). Veraison happened in the second half of August, with some bunches only changing colour during the first few days of September. The upshot was that we had to be patient with these high-yielding vines. In contrast to the start of the growing season, the latter half of September saw some hydric stress develop, particularly in the Côte d’Or, which saw little rainfall in summer (this was less the case in Beaujolais, the Mâconnais and Chablis). The long-awaited rain finally fell on 17 and 18 September, and we decided to wait for the vines to use this water to achieve greater degrees of ripeness before picking.

 

The grapes seemed to be healthy and developing well. Picking began on 27 September and lasted 10 days (compared to 12 in 2015). Harvest conditions were excellent. Our patience has been rewarded by a good level of ripeness in the grapes. Reds are revealing sweet fruit at this stage, along with ripe and supple tannins. Colours are rich and deep. Whites are showing great balance, and fermentations have been very lively. The cold temperatures of 2017’s winter and spring have created a distinct chill in our cellars. Malolactic fermentations have run late for both Pinots and Chardonnays. The white wines are crisp and expressive, and maturation on lees will lend them weight and complexity. Following on from the completion of the malolactic fermentation, the reds have maintained their supple, mouthfilling tannins and are showing very appealing bright fruit aromas. Over the course of the next few months we expect these wines to fill out nicely on the palate. 

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Vintage 2016

2016 RED BURGUNDY VINTAGE REPORT

The 2016 harvest was, of course, later for Pinot Noir in the Côtes de Nuits, and some climats had different productions depending on how they weathered the frost of April 26th. In this report I will talk about each of the producers’ allocations to illustrate the variations between the totals from the 2015 and 2016 vintages. I will also seek to give you an idea of the style of the 2016 red wines versus those of the 2015 vintage.

Depending on the producer, some growers actually preferred the 2016 red wines to the 2015s. There are definitely stylistic differences. The 2015 wines are more structured and powerful, and I consider the top 2015 wines to be superior to the top 2016 wines. However, this does not mean that there are not some fabulous 2016 red wines. I do feel that 2016 was a better vintage for red wines than for white wines, which is opposite of the 2015 vintage. And from what I heard and observed during my visit, the 2017 will also probably favor the whites. I actually think that 2017 could be the best vintage for white wines in quite a while, with the wines showing much more concentration than those of the 2014 vintage but possessing similar acid levels. Needless to say, it will be exciting to try them in June.

The Pinot Noir harvest in 2016 varied from as early as September 22nd for some villages in the Côte de Beaune to as late of the first week of October in the Côte de Nuits. The only other harvests that lasted into October in the past twenty years were those in 1998, 2001, 2008, and 2013. 2016 is by far better than any of those vintages. Looking on the flip side, there have been four harvests that started in August: 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2017. It appears as of now that 2017 will be the best of those. When I tasted the 2016 red wines, I was surprised by the supple textures and abundance of fruit. This fruit was very fresh and the ripeness and lovely acidity made the fruit last long on the palate. The acids were strong on the finish due to the high levels of tartaric acid. The wines are never alcoholic due to the quite cool weather throughout the growing season. Since there were no real heat spikes, no grapes were harvested with a potential alcohol level of over 14.5%, no matter when they were picked. That was not the case in 2015 where some growers that like to push the limits of ripeness went overboard and made top-heavy wines with too much tannin and too much alcohol. What is nice about the 2016 red wines is that even in areas where the frost was severe, it did not affect the quality, although the growers definitely did have to do a lot of work in the vineyards to prevent mildew after the frost and due to a very wet May. Luckily the mildew affected the leaves more than the grape skins. June weather returned to normal and flowering began midway through the month. This meant that harvest would start the last week of September. The areas that did not experience frost, such as Santenay, Morey-Saint-Denis, the northern side of Nuits-Saint- Georges (Vosne-Romanée side), some parts of Corton, and some plots of Bourgogne Rouge, had a larger harvest than in 2015. Some climats of Morey-Saint-Denis, such as Clos de la Roche and Clos de Tart, had their best harvest since the 2009 vintage. Happily, due to dry conditions in July, August, and September, there was beautiful weather for harvest. Rains on September 15th and 19th provided relief from hydric stress that had arisen from the lack of rain from August 5th until September 15th

(5 inches total fell in a month and a half ). So if the grower waited just a little bit after the last rain on September 19th, there was very little rain afterwards, except for about 3 inches on October 2nd. After this it did not rain again until October 14th at which point harvest was over for the vast majority of growers.

What was depressing was seeing so many upright barrels at the Domaines in many areas. Some producers in villages such as Pommard, Volnay, much of Nuits-Saints-Georges, and Vougeot had tiny harvests. Mongeard-Mugneret was down 58%, but given that they had normal crops in their Bourgogne vineyards, the drastic drop in quantity was in vineyards such as Échezeaux (down 70%) and Clos Vougeot (if your parcels were towards the back). Grands Échezeaux was a disaster, as was Savigny- lès-Beaune, which produced no villages level wines (thus we received no villages level Savigny-lès-Beaune from Mongeard- Mugneret). Another example, our allocation of Savigny-lès-Beaune Premier Cru Les Narbantons, which is usually around 170 cases, was only 15 cases in 2016. Also from Mongeard-Mugneret, Pernand-Vergelesses was down from an average of 45 cases

to just 14; Grands Échezeaux, down to 27 cases from the usual 85; Échezeaux, normally 100 cases was just 30; and Vosne- Romanée Premier Cru Les Orveaux, which is usually 87 cases was down to 37. Villages level Vosne-Romanée from vineyards that were lower in altitude also suffered terribly, as did Richebourg. In the end, it all depended on the wind currents, clouds, and if the vineyard was protected from the currents by walls.

 

My growers in Nuits-Saint-Georges that mostly have holdings in the southern side of the village gave me half of the 2015 allocation. Concerning Domaine Henri Gouges, I got half the allocation of Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru Les Saint- Georges as well as half the allocations of Premier Cru Les Vaucrains and Premier Cru Clos des Porrets Saint-Georges. While not as drastic as the previous appellations, I also received less Premier Cru Les Pruliers and villages Nuits-Saint-Georges. In the case of Thibault Liger-Belair, some vineyards in the Hautes-Côte de Nuits had to be combined into one cuvée because there were not enough grapes to fill a fermentation tank. In 2017, Liger-Belair only produced 8 barrels of Premier Cru Les Saint- Georges compared to 24 in 2017. To really get a picture of the situation, in 2009 he made 30 barrels. He has produced a few new wines in 2016. We will be introducing a villages Chambolle-Musigny made from purchased grapes, as well as a Corton Grand Cru Clos du Roi. He made 2 barrels of this wine, as well as 2 barrels of Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru. Thibault

is one of the growers who likes his 2016 wines almost as much as his 2015s. With regards to Thomas Morey and Vincent & Sophie Morey, the allocations are almost the same as in 2015. Domaine Matrot will be slightly less. Domaine Henri Boillot is almost identical to the 2015 vintage, but with more Pommard and Volnay. And, finally, Alain Gras and Domaine Michel Briday allocations are pretty much equal to those of the 2015 vintage.

Danny Haas

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Information

Origin

Beaune, Burgundy

Other wines from this producer

Batard-Montrachet

Beaujolais Lantignié

Beaujolais-Villages Combe aux Jacques

Beaune 1er Cru Boucherottes

Beaune 1er Cru Chouacheux

Beaune Bressandes

Beaune Clos des Couchereaux 1er Cru

Beaune Theurons

Bienvenues-Batard Montrachet

Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

Bourgogne Blanc Couvent des Jacobins

Bourgogne Rouge Couvent des Jacobins

Bourgogne Rouge Réserve

Chablis

Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume

Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre

Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos

Chablis Premier Cru

Chambertin Clos de Bèze

Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes

Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Feusselottes

Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuees

Chambolle Musigny Les Amoureuses

Chapelle-Chambertin

Charmes-Chambertin

Chassagne-Montrachet

Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot Duc de la Magenta Clos de la Chapelle

Chassagne-Montrachet Abbaye de Morgeots,

Chassagne-Montrachet la Romanée

Chevalier-Montrachet

Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles

Clos de la Roche

Clos-des-Ursules

Clos-de-Vougeot

Clos Saint-Denis

Corton

Corton-Charlemagne

Corton Pougets

Côte de Nuits-Village Vaucrains

Echézeaux

Gevrey-Chambertin

Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Estournelles

Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Saint-Jacques

Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux-Saint-Jacques

Grands Echezeaux

Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru

La Romanée

Latricières-Chambertin

Macon-Villages Grange Magnien

Mazis-Chambertin

Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrieres

Meursault Bouchères

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Montrachet

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Petit Chablis

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Puligny Montrachet

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Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières

Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles

Puligny-Montrachet Les Referts

Richebourg

Romanée Saint-Vivant Les Quatre Journeaux

Romanée St-Vivant

Sait-Aubin

Santenay Clos de Malte

Sauvigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Guettes

Volnay

Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chenes

Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots

Vosne-Romanée Les Chaumes

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