Winemaker Notes
Made from Pinot Noir grapes grown on clay and limestone soils. Fermented in stainless steel tanks, using naturally occurring yeast. The vines have been organically farmed since 2001.
This wine brings forth a spicy property in addition to dynamic fruit.
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
60% whole bunch. A rich crimson purple colour. There is vastly more fruit on the nose than the Gruenchers. Mildly reductive, but such a high-class fruit beneath. There is a magical intensity right across the palate, racy, finely balanced and above all persistent. Much more fruit than pepper to finish. Drink from 2027-2034.
Barrel Sample: 92-95 -
Vinous
The 2021 Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Combottes 1er Cru, which was made with 60% whole bunches, has a well-defined bouquet, quite tertiary in style with plenty of forest floor and pencil box aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with finely-chiselled tannins, one of the most mineral-driven in Dujac's range, precise and detailed, a pinch of spice, harmonious and quite persistent on the finish. A Combottes that feels like a Swiss watch - precise, precise, precise.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Decanter
This wine makes one stand up and take notice with its lovely cherry/floral fruit expression and plenty of depth on the nose. The texture is firmly tannins, with plenty of freshness and impressive depth. The ripe fruit echoes on the lengthy finish. For me, this is often the best value in the portfolio; that may be true this year too. It is produced from a 1.16-hectare site acquired in 2005 (making them the largest owner in the appellation). This year they picked the fruit on 29 October.
Barrel Sample: 94 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes has turned out especially well this year, exhibiting aromas of sweet red berries, exotic spices, rose petals and blood orange. Medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, its enveloping core of fruit is framed by powdery structuring tannins.
Barrel Sample: 91-93
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.