Cote d’Or

Jerome Galeyrand – One of the Hottest New Burgundy Talents in the Cote d’Or: Tasting the Sensational 2022 Releases…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

It is always a great pleasure to travel to Burgundy to taste with the vignerons themselves in their own cellars. But the privilege is amplified when you visit a producer like Jérôme Galeyrand who is currently being lauded as one of the most talented vignerons in Burgundy at the moment and a domaine “at the top of its game.” Jérôme Galeyrand is a discreet, soft spoken and incredibly thoughtful winemaker whose wines are personified by perfumed precision, refinement, purity and elegance – wines that are not only serious, but seriously delicious to drink.

Originally from the Loire Valley, Jérôme came into winemaking after working for over eight years in the French food industry. After several harvests working for Domaine Alain Burguet in Gevrey-Chambertin from 1996, Jérôme embarked on his own project culminating in the purchase of his own first tiny vineyard plot of 0.05 hectares in Les Retraits in Comblanchien. Since then, Jérôme has grown his domaine to its current 5.25 hectares of vines. His viticulture is largely organic for 70% of his vineyards and sustainable for the remaining 30% of vines. No pesticides are used, and all vineyard rows are ploughed. Some wines include whole-clusters, and the vinification is carried out as delicately as possible with limited use of SO2, which helps contribute to his wines’ refinement and purity. After being manually basket pressed and fermented with natural yeasts, all wines are aged in oak barrels, 12 months for whites and between 18 to 24 months for reds.

Jérôme Galeyrand produces a little over 2,000 cases per year depending on the vintage, but the highlights of his exceptional range are undoubtedly his four famous reds: La Justice, Billard, Croisette and Les Retraits, which renowned Burgundy critics like William Kelley and Jasper Morris MW consider to be in a class of their own. As with all Burgundies of this quality and refined elegance, these are undoubtedly wines for the connoisseur. But don’t miss out on Jérôme’s superb white wines and especially his characterful Aligoté cuvées that exemplify the newfound quality this cultivar is capable of producing. 

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Antonin Bourgogne Rouge 2022

Crisp, fresh and beautifully bright. This perennial over performer is lively, vibrant and fresh with layers of red cherry, raspberry and bramble berry fruits, powdery mineral tannins, great linearity and a long finish. 

(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Marsannay Le Village 2022

 Dark, black fruited and attractively plummy with an earthy bramble berry and damson aromatics. Tantalisingly tangy and racy, the palate is fresh and fleshy with ample tension, tart cherry and cranberry fruit concentration, soft supple tannins and a long linear finish. Wonderful focus.

(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Cotes de Nuits Village Rouge 2022

Already shows a deep, complex, earthy, savoury red berry plummy aromatics with subtle smoky, sappy, leafy hints, and an attractive, sweet berry fruited intensity on a long savoury saline finish. 

(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Fixin Village 2022

This is a complex and impressively expressive wine already showing a smoky, saline reductive nose boasting salty black currant, oyster shell and damson plum. Really impressive breadth and depth from the outset, a harmonious balance and cool, compact racy acids that hold a lot of charm and energy. A very classy effort indeed.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Gevrey-Chambertin ‘La Justice’ 2022

 This is always a wine with stature and presence, and the 2022 is stony and saline with crushed oyster shell nuances, salty cassis, pithy black currant and a cool, broad, plush elegance with real balance and purity but also classically racy acids and a long, harmonious length. Really impressive craftmanship on display here from this famous lieu dit.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Gevrey-Chambertin Billard 2022

Another one of Jerome’s most famous cuvees, this 2022 reveals an exotic melange of rose petals, savoury black berry, wild brambly fruits and subtle stony limestone nuances. Plush, full, and fleshy on the palate with impressive depth and balance, Galeyrand fans are going to be seduced by the generous weight of fruit and a voluptuous breadth. 

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes En Croisette 2022

Made from beautiful old vines planted in 1900, this 2022 is succulent, deep, dark and broody packed with aromatic layers of blackberry fruits on the expressive nose. Everything just falls seamlessly into place on the palate with exotic purple fruits, black berries and a damson plum intensity. A compact, chalky, and incredibly complete expression of old vine Pinot Noir majesty at its finest.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Fixin Champs des Charmes 2022

Another of Jerome’s flagship cuvees made from old vines planted in 1960s. Reveals a piercing aromatics of black currants, pithy black cherry, oyster shell, and saline nori seaweed hints. Full and dense, plush and generous in the mouth with incredible texture, fleshy opulence and a savoury plummy, earthy depth. Another very complete, harmonious wine. Simply gorgeous.

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Marsannay Clos du Roy 2022

The 2021 cuvee caught the eye of many serious Burgundy collectors and impressively, the 2022 vintage is another super impressive wine showing an incredibly lifted and perfumed personality on the nose with pressed violets, spring blossoms and pink flowers together with red currants and delicate musk notes. Superb balance and a harmonious structure with a compact, saline, sumptuous mouthfeel. Very impressive indeed and probably one of the stars of the vintage for Jerome.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Cotes de Nuits-Villages Les Retraits 2022

While this is not made from one of Jerome’s most famous appellations, the Les Retraits has fast become one of his most sought-after wines. The 2022 is incredibly complete, fabulously silky and round with notable balance and harmonious depth, finely balancing a creamy concentrated structure with soft, elegant, silky tannins while never losing its bright, mouth-watering, brambly fruited energy. A beautiful wine that punches well above its weight.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Aligoté 2022

Medium to full bodied, this deliciously fleshy Aligoté boasts evocative aromatics of Glacé orange peel, lemon rind and citrus oil with tangy vibrant acids, a salty briney freshness and a fabulously cool, classy finish with a subtle stony liquid mineral kiss on the finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Aligoté Chaumant Blanc 2022

A real stand out wine for me while tasting with Jerome, it possesses a delightfully bright, tangy, vibrant aromatics of orange peel, citrus oil, and ripe tangerine with a chalky talc minerality that simply seduces the palate! In the mouth, the wine is jam packed full of salty, briney Jura’esque picante oyster shell salinity, a stony limestone minerality, massive extract concentration and a long, understated dry mineral finish.  I absolutely loved it. Top drawer Aligoté!

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Aligoté Bouzeron 2022

Another impressive Aligoté expression from this unique terroir, boasting juicy aromatics of glacé apples, white citrus, smoky lemon peel, freshly baked apple strudel, and mineral limestone hints. The palate shows impressive depth and balance but with an understated, restrained intensity, finishing with a simply delicious, tangy, dry grippy persistence.

(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Bourgogne Chardonnay Orane 2022

Made from Chardonnay grapes sourced from 0.42 hectares located in Brochon and Flagey-Echezeaux, the aromatics show succulent melon and white peach nuances, white citrus and an earthy, savoury, leesy depth. Charming elegance, a notable fruit acid harmony and a pithy, vibrant finish. Simply spot on!

(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Cotes de Nuits Villages Blanc 2022

The aromatics on this Cotes de Nuits Villages Blanc made from a massale selection of old Chardonnay vines boast complex layers of sweet citrus, lemon oil, wet chalk and a dusty, cedary wood spice hint. The balance and harmony is very impressive, seamlessly interwoven with a smoky limestone minerality before a truly energetic, zippy finish. A delightful white Burgundy.

(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jérôme Galeyrand Marsannay Les Champs Perdrix Blanc 2022

Made from seven-year-old vines, the 2022 Les Champs Perdrix reveals a seductively rich, mineral, smoky nose, with tangy orange citrus, pear drop, orange cordial, and a smoky limestone minerality. The palate is fabulously cool and genteel with layers of tangy acidity, orange peel zest and a plush, fleshy saline depth. Truly delicious!

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The wines of Jerome Galeyrand are imported exclusively into the UK by http://www.musigny.wine and are available on allocation. Contact: andrew@musigny.wine

A True Burgundy Star On the Rise – Tasting the New 2018 Red Releases from Bruno Desaunay-Bissey…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

So much has been written on or about the iconic domaines and wines of Burgundy making it so much more satisfying coming across a top drawer producer that I have not encountered before. Discovering the incredible wines of Bruno Desaunay-Bissey and unravelling the story behind this family domaine has been a great pleasure. These are wines with wonderful focus and purity of fruit, carefully considered extraction, impressively creamy concentration and an understated power all polished off into a final artisanal expression in bottle that shows an authenticity of style that represents Bruno’s own personal taste and passion for wine.

Together with his wife, Marie-Christine Bissey and his son, Bruno manages this small family domaine based in Flagey-Echezeaux that consists of 6 hectares, some of which is owned by the family, including prestigious old vine plots in Echezeaux and Grands Echezeaux, with additional plots farmed on a “fermage” basis. A fermage is a piece of land which is owned by someone other than the person cultivating it, or a farming tenancy in effect.  It is estimated that in 2010, two-thirds of all French agricultural land was tenant-farmed. Because vineyard land tends to inspire affection in the families who own it, even when they have become involved in other activities, fermages are very common in French wine regions even though this may not necessarily be identified on the producer’s wine labels.

With first vintages produced in 1975, it seems almost inconceivable that wines of this quality have managed to enter the market almost unnoticed, especially considering the current clamour and fervour of wine merchants to discover “the next big thing” in Burgundy. Over the years, some of the production was sold off to other domaines and as recently as the mid-1990’s, several of Bruno’s valuable barrels of Grands Echezeaux were being sold to illustrious names like Dominique Laurent. The Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru appellation takes the shape of a triangle with its northern point orientated towards Musigny, its eastern flank bordered by the Clos Vougeot Grand Cru and its western flank by Echezeaux Grand Cru. The Desaunay-Bissey old vine parcel, planted from 1928 onwards, is located on the point of this triangle.

Since 2007 Bruno uses no herbicides or pesticides and all the soil is tilled. Bruno’s winemaking is very terroir-expressive, doing short pre-fermentation macerations, using only indigenous yeasts and crucially, not too much extraction.  Barrel-aging is on average about 33% new except for the Grands Cru reds where a slightly higher percentage is used.  Since the early 1990s, the wines are neither fined nor filtered.  Bruno’s wines are normally only racked twice, once after malolactic fermentations and once before the assemblage.

Bruno cultivates, together with his father-in law, Daniel Bissey, several other parcels of very old vines situated in Vosne (some 80+ years), Echezeaux (some 110+ years) Grands-Echezeaux (70+ years), Chambolle (90+ years) and Nuits St. Georges (60+ years).

Bourgogne Vieilles Vignes 2018, 14.5 Abv.

This ‘entry level’ Bourgogne appellation Pinot Noir displays some of the most seductive exotic notes of purple flowers, pink musk, blueberry and black cherries showing where the old vines start to make their influence felt. On the palate there is focus and tension, powdery tannins and fine textural shape all framed beautifully by bright fresh acids. A delicious offering with intensity and blue and black berry length, hints of wild strawberry and a beautiful saline bite on the finish. This really punches above its weight. Drink now to 2028+.

(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Gevrey-Chambertin 2018, 14% Abv. 

Deep and alluring, this Gevrey shows an impressively broody depth of black currant, blueberries and a savoury, brambley, meaty complexity with a kiss of graphite spice. Pure and expressive, there is impressive concentration and focus on the palate with Parma violets, caramelised cherries, blueberry crumble and some attractive chalky limestone mineral grip on the finish. Vibrant, energetic and textually very polished, this should evolve beautifully over a few more years in bottle but it’s already so mouth-watering and delicious. Archetypal premium quality village Gevrey. Drink from 2022 to 2034+.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Chambolle-Musigny Combe d’Orveaux Vieilles Vignes 2018, 14% Abv. 

This famous Chambolle plot yields a richer, earthier expression with a wonderful overlay of perfumed dried flowers, potpourri and subtle savoury Chinese five spice hints. Laser like focus on the palate, the wine shows a potent intensity of red and black berry fruits, mouth-coating richness and a long, liquid minerality on the finish. A very pretty wine that displays impressive powerful and tension behind a classy, elegant demeanour. Drink from 2022 to 2035+.

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Vosne Romanee Vieilles Vignes 2018, 13.5% Abv. 

Initially this displays a deep, earthy, broody dark fruited aromatics with bramble berry, black currant and layers of savoury Vosne spice. With a little more coaxing, this wine starts to yield notes of pink musk, violets and blueberry hints which follow to a wonderfully chiselled, focused, tight knit palate with incredibly chalky, fleshy sweet tannins. Again, plenty of concentration, blue and back berry fruits, purple rock candy and all the textural power and drive that you could hope for from a top Vosne Romanee producer. Despite being perhaps a little less intricate and exotic, this wine’s power, concentration and pure focus are alone enough to bowl me over and make me contemplate pouring a second glassful. Absolutely delicious. Drink from 2022 to 2034+.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Beaux-Monts 2018, 14% Abv. 

Sourced from an 80+ year old vines, this wine shows pure class and allows its pedigree to shine through in this serious expression of Vosne Romanee. One of the most respected 1er Cru vineyards delivers quality in bucket loads in 2018 with even more perfume, lift and intricacy than the village wine. The aromatics display a splendid array of crunchy wild strawberries, red and black cherries, subtle dried herbs and alluring Vosne spice. The palate reveals incredible depth and breath with piercing mouth-watering concentration, fine-grained tannins like polished marble and a tart, bright maritime salinity on the finish that retains a seductive kiss of pink rock candy. This is a very serious effort indeed. An utterly seductive Pinot. Drink from 2022 to 2038+.

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Echezeaux Grand Cru 2018, 14% Abv. 

Made from old vines planted in 1902, 1940 and 1945, this Grand Cru red shows a more reticent and broody demeanour to begin with before revealing a complex melange of red and black berry fruits on the nose, seamlessly integrated oak and a subtle freshly tilled earth savoury note. Broad, suave and texturally plush, this is a wine to savour, to lose yourself in and to allow the more intricate finery to reveal itself slowly over time in the glass. The texture is dense, compact, almost creamy, with powder fine tannins, layers of bright blueberry, cassis and Fraises des Bois notes that linger for an age on the finish. Grand Cru Burgundy is not just about more volume, it’s about intricacy and complexity of rhythm, more drum, more base and an altogether more melodic crescendo. Drink from 2022 to 2038+.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru 2018, 14% Abv. 

There is plenty of fragrant intricacy and complexity evident on this big hitting Grand Cru all delivered with the most considered delicacy, complexity and subtlety. The wine shows notes of rose petals, violets, pink musk and perfumed red and black orchard fruits underpinned by a grounding of chalky, stony minerality. The palate displays a broad seductive rainbow of flavours starting with tart red berry fruits and strawberry pith before fading to more darker blue and black berry fruit notes. But it’s the tension, taut energy, stony minerality, focus and length of flavour that really makes this a real eye opener. Quality comes at a price and this is certainly worthy of top echelon Grand Cru Burgundy status. Drink from 2022 to 2040+.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wines available in the UK from Importer Wimbledon Wine Cellar London and Handford Wines.

White Burgundy Producers Making Great Red Wines ~ Tasting Domaine Roulot Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru Rouge…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Domaine Guy Roulot is a legendary Burgundy producer responsible for some of the finest Meursaults, if not some of the world’s finest white wines. Under his charge, this small family domaine was elevated to global stardom. Guy’s marriage to Geneviève Coche and his own hard work added more prime parcels to the family’s holdings, which he vinified and bottled separately.

Guy’s sudden death in 1982 left the family in transition, as his son and heir apparent, Jean-Marc was in Paris pursuing a career in acting. A series of three winemakers later, including biodynamic convert Ted Lemon from Sonoma’s Littorai, assisted in the changeover period until 1989, when Jean-Marc at last agreed to return to take over the reins of the estate. Today, the wines of Domaine Roulot are among the most sought after wines in all of Burgundy.

The red wines at Domaine Roulot use grapes that are de-stemmed and vinification takes place in open top wooden cuves where must is kept at a low temperature for 3 to 4 days cold maceration before fermentation, which lasts around 12 days with pump-overs and occasional punch-downs. The reds are then aged for 12-15 months in barrels, 15% to 18% of which is new oak.

Domaine Roulot Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru 2014, Cotes de Beaune, 12.5 Abv.

The 2014 Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru has a very pretty aromatic profile that feels more delicate, tender, seductive and perfumed when you know the wine is made by one of the greatest white Burgundy producers. Like Coche-Dury reds and Jean-Claude Ramonet Chassagne Montrachet reds, this alluring Roulot Burgundy speaks with its own unique authoritative voice. The nose is jam packed with red cherry, logan berry and crunchy cranberry laced with exotic notes of sweet dried coriander seeds, fresh herbal parsley notes and a subtle boxwood spice. On the palate, what strikes you immediately is it’s sleek, elegant, crystalline red fruit profile, weightless fruit concentration that is so well defined with out being brutish or too ripe and powerful. A very succulent, welcoming wine that finishes with a very more’ish bright, mouth watering acidity and a softly saline, pithy, sea breeze twang. Wonderful pedigree, lovely class in the glass. Drink now to 2030+

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)