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.
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: Gevrey Chambertin La Justice, Billard, Croisette and his Les Retraits Red from the Cotes de Nuits-Village appellation, which will now be joined by two new scintillating heavy hitting wines… a white from Meursault and a new Grand Cru red from Clos de Vougeot in the Cotes de Nuits.
Domaine Jerome Galeyrand Meursault 2023, Burgundy
When news started to leak out that Jerome Galeyrand had produced a tiny amount of Meursault, merchants worldwide instantly started the desperate scramble to secure a treasured allocation. Jerome’s winemaking style has been intricately developed and cultured over the years, seducing drinkers with his phenomenal Aligoté expressions and his pristinely complete reds. This new Grand Vin Blanc from Meursault represents yet another new pinnacle for Jerome’s fast evolving winemaking career. The aromatics on this embryonic white are icy cool, pure, and fine, showing elegant notes of white citrus, freshly sliced fennel, white pear, yellow apple, and dusty crushed limestone. But its on the palate where you see the complete synergy of Jerome’s precise winemaking style come to the fore, slowly opening to reveal a medium-bodied Chardonnay with a satiny bright sheen, elegantly fleshy and soft textured yet simultaneously crystalline, pure, and bright, seductively offering up concentrated layers of hazelnuts, yellow citrus, ripe white pear, and a subtle, mouth-wateringly fresh dry chalky finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 94-95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Jerome Galeyrand Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2023, Burgundy
As if a new Meursault from Jerome was not enough to get the international wine trade into a complete frenzy, this new white wine will be joined by a couple of barrels of Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru red, produced from vines situated near to the water tower centre left in the Clos when looking down from the castle. Frustratingly, I walked the vineyard with Jerome in January 2024 but was sadly not able to taste the wine in barrel back then. Thankfully, my patience has been rewarded and a “work-in-progress” sample made its way to me in July 2024, and this exciting new wine is everything one could have hoped for. This Grand Cru is built around two barrels of Clos de Vougeot Pinot Noir, one a new French oak barrel and one aged in a multiple passage French oak barrel, blended together to reveal a fabulously multidimensional wine loaded with aromatics of sweet red and black berries, rose petals, sweet Asian spices, and subtle blood orange nuances. The palate is broad and creamy, tight knit, expertly balancing optimally ripe sweet berry fruit concentration with chalky fine-grained tannins and deliciously tangy bright acids. But it’s the final elegantly muscular assembly and the pristine purity of the wine that really resonates. I feel privileged to have tasted this phenomenal wine in its youth as the queue to try and secure merely a bottle or two of Jerome’s masterpiece will no doubt be a challenge given the worldwide demand for his wines.
(Wine Safari Score: 95-96+ Greg Sherwood MW)
The wines are available from the Burgundy specialist merchant http://www.Musigny.wine in the UK. The Meursault 2023 was released for £550 IB per 6. Price not yet available for the Clos de Vougeot 2023.
Andrew@wimbledonwinecellar.com