Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2021 Chambertin Grand Cru comes from a 0.2-hectare parcel and includes 100% whole bunches, yielding one 350-liter barrel. This has a lovely, quite intellectual bouquet with wonderful delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with red berry fruit, hoisin, white pepper and thyme, very focused and poised with a persistent and very satisfying, rather substantial finish. Bon vin.
Barrel Sample: 95-97 -
Jasper Morris
One new barrel out of two. Medium deep colour, lighter at the rim. A small cool plot at the top. An intriguing bouquet, 100% whole bunch vinification, poking its nose in slightly, in a way which I like. The tannins are a little more present, partly from the wood, but the wine comes back beautifully to finish. The more noble of the two Chambertin grands crus. Drink from 2028-2036.
Barrel Sample: 94-95 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Beautifully elegant and refined, the 2021 Chambertin Grand Cru unfurls in the glass with aromas of orange zest, sweet red berries, cherries, violets, rose petals and spices. Medium to full-bodied, ample and satiny, it's seamless and perfumed, with racy acids and a saline finish. As readers will remember, it comes from the southern extreme of Le Chambertin, from a parcel at the top of the slope that touches Latricières-Chambertin.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Decanter
Compact in style and tightly wound, this wine has an expressive nose with cool blueberry and pomegranate fruit, a profusion of rose petal aromas, and hints of star anise, wild herbs, and exotic spice. The wine is tannic and dense, with bright acidity, but it is far from closed. The grapes come from a 0.15-hectare domaine-owned parcel at the top of the slope. It is consistently among the last to ripen, and Weber fermented this as 100% whole clusters, even in the 2021 vintage.
Barrel Sample: 93
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
This small village is home to the Grands Crus in the farthest northerly stretches of Côte de Nuits and is famous for some of the deepest and firmest Burgundian Pinot Noir.
Gevrey boasts nine Grands Crus, the best of which are arguably Le Chambertin and Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. As with all of the fragmented vineyards of Burgundy, it isn’t easy to differentiate between the two, which are situated adjacent with Clos de Bèze slightly further up the hill than Le Chambertin. Clos de Bèze has a shallower soil and if you’re really counting, may produce wines less intense but more likely to charm. Some compare Le Chambertin in both power and plentitude only to the prized Romanée-Conti Grand Cru farther south in Vosne-Romanée.
Two other Grands Crus vineyards, Mazis-Chambertin (also written Mazy-) and Latricières-Chambertin command almost as much regard as Le Chambertin and Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. The upper part of Mazy, called Les Mazis Haut is the best and Latricières-Chambertin offers an abundance of juicy fruit and a silky texture in the warmer vintages.
Other Grands Crus are Ruchottes-Chambertin, Charmes-Chambertin, Mazoyères-Chambertin, Griotte-Chambertin and Chapelle-Chambertin.
The most respected Pinot Noir wines from Gevrey-Chambertin are robust and powerful but at the same time, velvety and expressive: black fruit, black liquorice and chocolate come into play. After some time in the bottle, the wines are harmonious with bright and sometimes candied fruit, and aromas of musk, truffle and forest floor. These have staying power.