Winemaker Notes
This grand cru is located in a slightly sloping area. It is one of the most sunny and early sectors of the Gevrey-Chambertin finage, it very often reaches ideal maturity a few days before Chambertin.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru comes from two parcels, 44 and 88-year old. This is a step-up in complexity over the Charmes-Chambertin with a broodier, more introspective but perhaps more compelling set of aromatics. The palate is medium-bodied with silky tannins, very fine acidity, touches of dark cherry, cold black tea and bergamot that lead to a spicy, almost understated finish in contrast to the nose. This will be a charmer.
Barrel Sample: 92-94
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.”
The origin of perhaps the world’s very finest Pinot Noir, Côte de Nuits is the northern half of the Côte d'Or and includes the famous wine villages of Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Flagey-Echezeaux and Nuits-St-Georges.
Fine whites from Chardonnay are certainly found in the Côte de Nuits, but with much less frequency than top-performing reds made of Pinot noir. The little village of Nuits-St-Georges in its southern end gave the region its name: Côte de Nuits. The city of Dijon marks its northern border.