Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru, which includes 40% stems, has a gorgeous, engaging bouquet with a conspicuous oyster shell/marine influence running through the crystalline red berry fruit. There is outstanding aromatics, tension and energy here. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp acidity, harmonious and candied with finer tannin than the Mazoyères-Chambertin that one used to find with Bertrand Maume's wines, blessed with superb salinity and precision on the finish. This is a brilliant wine from Domaine Tawse, probably the best that has been made under the new ownership. Range: 96-98
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Here too there is just enough wood to notice on the much spicier and sauvage-inflected nose of red currant, dark pinot fruit and plenty of earth character. The impressively rich and full-bodied flavors possess excellent muscularity while delivering plenty of minerality on the well-balanced and beautifully complex finale. This is excellent but note well that it will definitely require at least some patience. Range: 92-95
-
Wine Spectator
This red features a chunky profile, packed with black cherry, black currant, graphite and tar flavors. The smoky, toasty, vanilla-accented oak frame adds both sweetness and tannins. Compact for now, this will take time to unravel. Best from 2022 through 2045.
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.