Winemaker Notes
The soil is composed of rendzines with a reddish appearance, it is thin, stony, marly in certain areas and strewn with rock heads which indicate a rocky and cracked subsoil favoring a very rooting deep.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Charmes Chambertin Vieilles Vignes is much more backward and laconic than the 2014 Griotte-Chambertin at this early stage. It is less fruit-driven but shows more stony/mineral aromas. The palate is smooth on the entry, quite precise with tart red cherries, fresh strawberry and a hint of vanilla pod. It starts to fan out on the mid-palate and then it clams back up towards the finish, suggesting that it deserves 4-5 years in bottle. Overall, it is very well crafted, quite cerebral Charmes-Chambertin from Christophe Perrot-Minot.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Wine Spectator
Offers expressive cherry, plum, earth and spice aromas and flavors, showing good definition. Balanced and structured, this picks up a mineral note on the lingering finish. Reveals echoes of fruit and spice. Best from 2021 through 2038.
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.