Winemaker Notes
Gevrey-Chambertin could be served with beef bourguignon, coq au vin, grilled meat and great cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Vivid fresh black cherry underlain by charred meat set the key themes for Drouhin's 2006 Gevrey-Chambertin, which offers subtly creamy, mouth-filling generosity allied to a good sense of finishing grip, in which roasted meat, char, chalk, and cherry pit prominently figure. This manages to exhibit a wide tonal range, with especially prominent bass notes, yet remain supple, elegant, and even refreshing. Most of the fruit for this outstanding village wine came from parcels high up on the Combe de Lavaux west if town. I would feel free to follow it for 4-5 years, and as its production (nearly 3,000 cases) is huge by Burgundy standards, it ought not to be difficult to latch onto.
Celebrated as some of the best wine in the universe, red wine from Burgundy, otherwise known as red Burgundy, is Pinot noir. In fact Burgundy is the birthplace of Pinot noir and the source of the planet’s most sensual, delicate, valuable and sought-after Pinot noir wines.
Understanding and enjoying red Burgundy can stay simple, with a basic knowledge of its subregions, become more intricate by dialing down to the villages and vineyards or become a life-long passion, exploring climats (plots of vines), vintages and the post French Revolution land ownership laws. In any case, a fine red Burgundy will display refined nuances of black currant, red fruit, earth, spice, alluring floral aromatics and have great elegance, complexity and longevity.
Most famous, praised and collected of Burgunday are those from the Côte d'Or. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the area now called Côte d'Or was under a warm ocean whose sea floor has, over time, shifted and decomposed into various layers of limestone, sandstone and clay interspersed with ancient fossilized sea creatures. This is what is referred to as the famous escarpment upon which all of the highly sought-after Grands Crus and Premiers Crus vineyards can be found. In other words, from north to south, the best vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Flagey-Echezeaux, Nuits-St-Georges, Aloxe-Corton, Pommard and Volnay follow the path of this ancient sea bed.