Over the last twenty years, Domaine Fourrier has turned out to be one of the great success stories in Burgundy, proof that a talented grower with good sites can rise out of near obscurity to make wines that have become some of the most sought-after in the region. The man behind this rapid rise is Jean-Marie Fourrier, whose father generously handed over control in 1994, when his son was twenty-four. He is lucky to have a large stock of old vines, but as ever, the secret to his success is meticulous work in the vineyards.
Jean-Marie does not follow organic methods specifically, but rather he tries to keep chemical treatments to a minimum and is more of an ‘intuitive anticipator’ of vineyard problems. While always remaining true to their terroirs, his wines have won over a legion of Burgundy collectors and followers with their unashamed ripeness, textural polish, and an all-round seductiveness that is normally instantly recognisable, but without ever compromising on the wines’ age ability.
Vintage 2022 in Burgundy:
The 2022 vintage undoubtedly represents a return to a warmer and dryer style of season after the trials and tribulations of the complex, frost affected, low yielding but high quality 2021 vintage. The 2022 conditions and wine styles have more in keeping with the trilogy of riper years in 2018-2019-2020 despite the region having had several near misses with frost during the season with low -4c temperatures recorded in April.
Fortunately, after a very meagre but high quality 2021 harvest, the volumes of 2022 rebounded, as is often the case with frost affected vines, with some generous grape yields of excellent quality for both reds and whites after a warm, dry summer without any heat spikes. Harvesting generally began towards the end of August in the Cotes de Beaune and in early September in the Cotes de Nuits and Chablis. The resultant wines are beautifully ripe and vibrant, with invigorating fruit concentration, crystalline purity, and delicious mouthwatering intensity.
Domaine Jean-Marie Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Saint Jacques 2022, Burgundy, France
A very classy, plush aromatics which suggests great pedigree and power but announces it with true elegance and soft-spoken restraint. There’s a lovely melange of both red and black fruits, strawberry, black cherry, red currant and plum spice. The palate is deliciously bright, sleek and fleshy but also beautifully delineated, with fresh underlying acids punctuating the focus and purity of fruit. All wonderfully in balance, the fleshy sweet fruit is tight knit, taut but silky, the tannins powdery and mineral. Very elegant and supremely classy with the archetypal Fourrier fruit purity and palate concentration but importantly with energising, revitalising acids in this warm ripe vintage. Yet again a thoroughly seductive Gevrey-Chambertin from this blue chip 1er Cru vineyard. Drink on release and over the next 10 to 15+ years.
Burgundy remains one of the most exciting and alluring French appellations producing fine wine today. Whether it’s because of its 900 plus years of history or its exceptional terroir carefully married to primarily one red and one white grape variety, namely Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, no other wine region around the world has been able to truly match the profound expressions being produced in these small village appellations. Today, Burgundy and its top growers are arguably making the most sought after, ethereal and unrivalled fine wines in the world.
Jean-Yves Bizot is a Vosne Romanee based vigneron armed with a PhD in oenology and geology producing iconic wines that have certainly captured the imagination of connoisseurs and collectors around the globe in recent years. Originally owned by his grandfather, Domaine Bizot was, in essence, brought back to life in 1995 by Jean Yves when he took over the running of the winery. A passionate winemaker with a keen eye for history, Jean Yves is a big fan of the wines from the 1950s and 1960s but is less enamoured with the wines that Burgundy produced thereafter. Being one of the smaller domaines in Vosne Romanee at just 3.5 hectares, Jean Yves took over a winery that had been renting out most of its vineyards to other growers as his father was a full-time paediatrician at the hospital in Beaune and did not produce any wine himself.
Jean Yves Bizot of Domaine Bizot
The original domaine was, in the earlier days, almost eight hectares in size before some of the vineyards were passed on to successive generations, with several hectares going to Domaine Coudray-Bizot in Beaune and some to Domaine Naddef in Fixin. When Jean Yves took over the domaine in 1995, he immediately stopped using herbicides and also attempted to reduce the general use of sulphides, reverting to the lutteraisonnée or minimal intervention philosophy early on before progressing completely to organic wine growing in 2004. Nowadays, the domaine consist of mainly Pinot Noir with a small amount of Chardonnay planted in the Haut-Cotes de Nuits and in Flagey-Echezeaux, which is sold as simply Bourgogne Blanc.
In 2007, Jean-Yves acquired additional vineyards in Chenôve, in one of Dijon’s suburbs. Le Chapitre is a regional appellation site, squeezed in between high buildings in the middle of Chenôve whilst Clos du Roy, despite being located in the commune of Chenôve, is a village appellation Marsannay and is the northern continuation of the vineyards around the village of Marsannay. Compared with the lieux-dits sites considered for Premier Cru status in Marsannay, Le Chapitre is just a small 5.5 hectares in size owned by around ten growers including illustrious names like Sylvain Pataille, Laurent Fournier, and Domaine Gagey, Drouhin, among others.
Back in Vosne Romanee, Domaine Bizot produces several village appellation cuvees and the occasional Premier Cru red from declassified Echezeaux vines as well as his now highly famed Grand Cru Echezeaux red. Jean Yves doesn’t produce a Vosne Romanee Premier Cru every vintage, but when he does, it is normally sourced from an Echezeaux parcel called Les Treux, a site lower down the slope below Loächausses. The second of the two parcels in Echezeaux is a slightly larger site in Les Orveaux which is normally a later ripening plot, and in years when yields are low, Jean Yves will blend the sites into a single Echezeaux cuvee. Just behind the winery in Vosne Romanee is Les Jachees, one of the biggest parcels of the Bizot domaine at 0.63 hectares, which is a village appellation and Jean Yves is currently the only producer to bottle this site separately.
Jean Yves Bizot now produces undoubtedly some of the most highly coveted fine wines in Burgundy and I was very fortunate to meet up with Jean Yves recently at a bespoke dinner hosted by his UK importer, Wimbledon Wine Cellars. As I get so few opportunities to taste and write about Jean Yves’s incredible Domaine Bizot wines, I have tagged on a few extra previously unpublished tasting notes from a tasting dinner at Noble Rot. Nowadays, these wines are coveted for their extreme finesse and sumptuous depth, partly as a result of the whole bunch extraction process that the Domaine utilises, and every year, Bizot only produces between 9,000 and 10,000 bottles, making them incredibly difficult to purchase.
Yellow honied colour raised concerns, but in the glass, the aromatics are perfect for a 13 year old white. Impressively complex with layers of orange peel, apple skins, pithy pear and the most delicious gravelly, liquid minerality. Just to spice up the equation, the wine shows the most delicious struck match reduction on the finish. What a surprise. Delicious.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Echezeaux Grand Cru 2008, Burgundy, 12% Abv.
Showing some lovely foresty evolution, the aromatics are very expressive with graphite, smokey black cherry, earthy forest bramble berries with a delicious piquant, sappy, resinous black berry notes. Superbly fresh acids, beautiful sweet / sour berry notes, and a fine concentrated long finish.
Lovely dark broody, smokey, reductive nose with salty cassis, pithy black currant skins and an alluring salty black liquorice complexity. Sleek, quite mineral in orientation, piquant and fabulously intense, this is quite an intriguing Vosne Romanee that certainly punches above its village weight. (The last vintage of the Vieilles Vignes Vosne Romanee was in 2009 before the vineyard’s old vines were destroyed by frost.)
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Nuits Blanc 2018, Burgundy
Incredibly steely, saline aromatics great your first approach to the glass followed by a complex melange of lime cordial, lemon biscuits, grapefruit confit over subtle hints of struck flint reduction. But there is so much more on offer, as incrementally the wine unfurls revealing hints of honey suckle, passion fruit, Parma violets, perfumed lemon tea and purple rock candy. Wonderfully fleshy on the palate, this makes way for a complex smoky stony complexity with soft supple tangy acids, crunchy white peach, incredible lemon and lime fruit concentration overlayed by a pithy liquid minerality. A very regal expression from such a modest appellation. Simply stunning.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Vosne Romanee 2017, Burgundy
A beautifully plush signature Bizot nose with dusty chalky mineral sappy floral lapsang Souchong tea spice notes over earthy bramble berries, mulberry compote, black berry and peppermint crisp nuances. The palate is weightless yet intense, focusing the senses with its stony mineral pithy black fruits, black cherry reduction, black currant, pomegranate and delicately savoury mineral spice. An ethereal expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Marsannay Clos du Roy Rouge 2017, Burgundy
First vintage was produced in 2007. A most powerful Cuvee from Marsannay. A beautifully bold, plush opulent expression of Burgundy boasting perfumed violets, wild strawberries, burnt wood embers, graphite and red currant confit. Fabulously saline and bright on the palate with phenomenal concentration once again, tangy fresh acids, tart red cherry and cranberry pastille over pithy chalky mineral tannins. Really lovely intensity, flamboyance and depth with subtle power and focus. Will certainly improve with further time in bottle.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Vosne Romanee Les Jachees 2018, Burgundy
A powerful vintage but one that lacked a little acidic backbone in general, according to Jean Yves. Another individual expression full of Vosne spice, liquid chalk, dried Provençal herbs, garrigue, charcoal embers, raisined cranberries, and stewed strawberry fruits. The palate is super complex packed full of dusty chalk minerality, wet river stones, cherry and strawberry compote notes that melt into creamy mineral graphite tannins. A wine with such energy and fruit concentration, all assembled into a very special expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Bourgogne Le Chapitre Rouge 2016, Burgundy
From a plot in Marsannay. Huge frost in the Spring allowing only a two barrel production. One of the smallest vintages until the 2020s. Vines planted in 1954 but with several replantings since to replace dead vines. Initially very taut and tight with stony aromatics, the wine slowly opens its shoulders to show hints of wood smoke, charcoal embers, tar, sappy spice and black chai tea over a smoky black berry compote fruit core. Silky soft, spicy and full of energy, this is a characterful Cuvée that punches well above its weight, with impressive red and black fruit concentration, a smoky stony mineral vein leading to pithy strawberry fruited finish. Effortlessly classy and elegant.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Clos de La Bidaude Rouge 2021, Burgundy
Only circa 900 bottles produced. The first ever showing of this new Cuvée from Jean-Yves outside of his cellar. Taut, young and energetic with the unmistakable Bizot signature smoky, sappy, mineral spice with an opulent melange of forest berries, black plum, sour black cherry, blueberry, wild strawberry and a dusty chalky top note. Youthful vibrancy ripples through the palate while all the while retaining a sense of composure, elegance and class. Delicious tangy acids enliven the red and black fruits leading to a long, chalky, pithy strawberry fruited finish. Beautiful!
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The wines of Domaine Bizot are imported into the UK on release by Wimbledon Wine Cellars. Register your interest for new En-primeur releases.
Having just celebrated international Pinot Noir day recently, it seems an appropriate time to recognise the truly excellent quality of both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir coming out of the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley in the Walker Bay region. One of the most respected quality focused producers in the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge ward is of course the Creation winery.
Originally from Switzerland, JC Martin together with his South African wife Carolyn (nee Finlayson), bought their original 22 hectares of virgin land in the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge and completed their cellar in time for their 2007 harvest. Their Walker Bay estate now encompasses 50-plus hectares planted with over 11 varieties, but focusing mainly on premium Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Carolyn Martin was recently in London with Cape Wine Master Winnie Bowman to present a wonderful multi-flight tasting of Creation’s top cuvees of Art of Chardonnay, Art of Pinot Noir, Glenn’s Chardonnay and Emma’s Pinot Noir, the latter two wines made by their respective son and daughter. The tasting was presented at wine mecca 67 Pall Mall in London with JC joining by Zoom from South Africa.
Flight 1
Creation Art of Chardonnay 2020
Bright and crystalline, there is fabulous lift here with expressive aromatics of white citrus, limestone minerality, lemon and lime peel, with subtle leesy biscuit notes and a well integrated vanilla pod spice over delicately reductive struck flint nuances. The palate is crisp and taut with a brilliance of citrus fruit purity draped over a structured mineral frame. Subtle, incredibly Old World and Burgundian in style but ultimately defined by its freshness and restraint.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Creation Art of Chardonnay 2021
A rich, opulent, expressive vintage that shows extra layers of fruit intensity, leesy complexity and oak spice notes. There are wonderful hints of biscuit and grapefruit preserve, oak spice and sweet lemon peel. This is a textural masterpiece with supreme balance and finesse, with creamy sleek pithy citrus and green apple layers. Very classy but certainly more extroverted and showier than the 2020 vintage.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Tasting with Carolyn Martin at 67 Pall Mall in London.
Creation Art of Chardonnay 2022
Deliciously youthful and exotic nose of green apple purée, honeydew melon, yeasty beer and hop nuances over tangy Granny Smit apple and a crystallised lime peel complexity. Embryonic brilliance but shows all the class you’d hope for from a new Creation release.
(Wine Safari Score: 95-96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Flight 2
Creation Glenn’s Chardonnay 2020
Very similar to the Art of Creation 2020 but with a subtle, undefinable extra exoticism undoubtedly from the 100% wild yeast fermentation. The aromatics are wild and leesy with nutty savoury notes of salted pistachios and grilled almonds. The palate is impressively full and mouthfilling with a soft creamy and an notably fleshy core of lemon citrus and lemon biscuit, finishing with a long, stony, gravelly liquid mineral finish. Really quite a thrilling wine indeed.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Creation Glenn’s Chardonnay 2021
The 2021 shows an aromatic breadth and flamboyance underpinned by sweet white and yellow citrus fruits, lemon pastille, lime cordial and subtle leesy, nutty undertones. The texture is full and fleshy, streamlined, silky and incredibly polished with tangy acids adding zip and energy to the long, concentrated, well defined finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Creation Glenn’s Chardonnay 2022
A very animated, classy expression that layers pithy stone fruits over lemon cordial, wet slate, green apple and fragrant yellow pear. Texturally very fine, focused and sleek with a silky, creamy palate and a long, savoury, tangy fresh finish. A really beautiful wine that will surely improve with further time in bottle.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Flight 3
Creation Art of Pinot Noir 2021, 13.1% Abv.
80% whole bunches used. Delicately spicy chalky nose with a lifted perfume of violets, rose petals and a definite sapidity. The intensity is impressive, the mouth-watering complexity really quite profound. Built around a fine acid frame, this is really something special, drinking well now but showing all the classicism, precision and elegance for potential further development. Mineral, sappy, and very seductive.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Creation Art of Pinot Noir 2022, 13.6% Abv.
A little sweeter and fleshier, the aromatics are opulent and forthright, showing red plum, sour red cherry, tart strawberry and a subtle chalky sapidity. Texturally very fine, silky, soft and harmonious with a generosity that never over steps the boundaries of ripeness of restraint. This is a fabulous new Pinot Noir coming down the tracks. A release not to be missed.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Flight 4
Creation Emma’s Pinot Noir 2022
Opulent and fresh fruited on the nose showing red currant, raspberry, pomegranate and subtle notes of blood orange. There is a real purpose, drive and intensity, but also a classicism and an inner beauty to the Emma cuvées, and this 2022 promises a fine medium term age worthiness.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Creation Emma’s Pinot Noir 2019, 13.5% Abv.
Quite dark and broody on the nose, there is an earthy, brambly, stewed strawberry depth before notes of cranberry, pomegranate, sour red plum and intense chalky mineral nuances reveal themself. Possesses a really beautiful texture, being classical and poised, making for a serious expression of Pinot Noir.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Creation Emma’s Pinot Noir 2017
A dark fruited expression with incredibly Burgundian styled aromatics of bramble berries, wild strawberry and hints of forest floor. Sleek, vibrant and still incredibly youthful, the vibrancy, minerality, and chalky black fruits really impress. Ready to go now but certainly no rush.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Creation wines are imported into the UK by Bibendum Wines.
You know that when Aubert de Villaine declares that he believes their 2020 vintage will find a very special place among the great successes of recent years because of its uniqueness and originality, that you are in for a real tasting treat. Never one for exaggeration or hubris, Aubert nevertheless feels that the 2020 range of wines released in 2023 by the Domaine are really something exceptional.
With the vintage being produced in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s UK importer comments that it is therefore “quite fitting that Nature should have decided to take a very different path during the growing season of this, arguably the most beautiful of the fabulous trio -2018, 2019 and 2020. Born in a timeless world of clear skies, empty roads, smokeless factories … the 2020 vintage may almost be seen as an Ode to Joy.”
The wines share the opulence, power and density of 2018 and 2019 but their unique signature is a precision and startling freshness allied to an eery calm and authority – what Co-director Perrine Fenal called “a Zen-like quality of being undisturbed.” After tasting the full line up, I can concur that the wines are indeed incredibly charming but also pretty serious.
At harvest time, the grapes were magnificent. Small, thick skinned, intense, sweet and perfectly healthy, with a final sorting table selection only removing 1.5% of the crop. Yields were average in 2020 and vinifications were effected with 90 to 100% whole bunch clusters, without destemming, and lasted on average 18 to 21 days under the supervision of Chef de Cave Alexandre Bernier.
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Vosne Romanée 1er Cru Cuvée Duvault-Blochet 2020
Made only rarely and in exceptional years, the 1er Cru Vosne Romanée which is always reserved for on-trade restaurant clientele, is deep and dark fruited but also beautifully fragrant and perfumed showing violets, lavender, purple flowers over black plum, earthy black berry and Vosne five spice. Palate shows impressive depth and density with lovely layers of red and black berry, raspberry confit and earthy, musky spice. An impressive offering from fruit sourced mostly from La Tāche and younger vines in Grands Echezeaux.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Corton Grand Cru 2020
The 12th vintage of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Corton sourced from Clos du Roi, Bressandes and Les Renardes reveals pure and precise aromatics with a real focused perfume of musk, black cherry, small black currants and earthy wild strawberry hints. Super sleek with good mid-palate weight, there is a very fine, finessed core of dark fruit power all wonderfully balanced with a drying tannin structure. There is also some sapidity and resinous red fruit complexity on the finish but also a delightful symmetry. Elegance with power.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux Grand Cru 2020
Wonderfully sappy and dark fruited expression packed full of five spice, dusty limestone minerality and a pronounced chalky lift. Red and black fruits, raspberry, strawberry candy and red cherry all lift the palate. Compact, fresh and very precise with a hint of ripe summer berry fruit warmth on the long finish. Always an impressive and utterly delicious wine.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru 2020
One of the Domaine’s first vineyards to be picked, the 2020 is beautifully dark fruited and reserved with black cherry, black currant and broody spice with a sweet ripe core of savoury power and sapidity. Cool, crisp and very precise with a harmonious but powerful palate weight, hints of rock candy, cherry and spicy sun-dried cranberry before darker earthy berry nuances emerge. Compact and focused, there is something quite special here yet again. Finesse, minerality and subtle majestic power.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-St-Vivant Grand Cru 2020
A more perfumed exotic aromatics of red cherry pastille, strawberry rock candy, musk before ripe savoury raspberry fruits. The wine coats the palate with beautiful red and black berry fruits all tied together with silky soft mineral tannins and a purple rock candy intensity. Just the most subtle top notes of crystallized red berry fruits on the long, suave chalky fine-grained finish. A delightfully profound wine.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg Grand Cru 2020
Dark and alluring aromatics abound, layered with violet perfume, sweet mixed red and black summer berries over a delicate salted caramel kiss. Plush, broad and finely textured, this shows plenty of red cherry rock candy fruits, spicy black currant and small blueberry fruits over a chalky, sappy mineral frame. Regal, confident, but beautifully polished and rather effortlessly noble expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tāche Grand Cru Monopole 2020
Not totally dissimilar to the Richebourg aromatics but seemingly turbo charged with a few more gears. More red fruited than black initially but all underpinned by a fabulous, dusty, sappy, chalky limestone elegance. Very full and intense, showing massive sweet fruited concentration, regal power, focused depth and incredible mouth coating red and black berry fruit power. Beautifully dominant and imposing, confident and very impressive but still shows a lovely classical twist of cherry, sapidity and chalky drying structure on the long balanced finish. Another memorable La Tāche for sure!
(Wine Safari Score: 98+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti Grand Cru Monopole 2020
A dark and mysterious Romanee Conti that seemingly combines all the complexity and vintage elements of all the other vineyards all in one riveting glassful. Still quite broody, savoury, and dark fruited but with plenty of suggestions that beneath the youthful demeanour lies a fair amount of exoticism and exuberance waiting to reveal itself. Seamless oaking and deliciously broody black fruits combine with a chalky sapidity to create something extra special. Understated intensity, seamless balance and a true classy finesse and harmony on the long fresh regal finish. Simply beautiful.
(Wine Safari Score: 99/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2020
The second vintage of this new Domaine de la Romanée-Conti white is born from a very small 2.9 hectare plot leased from Bonneau du Martray lying in 2 locations, Le Charlemagne (Aloxe-Corton) and En Charlemagne (Pernand-Vergelesses). It is beautifully intense and exotic showing the warmth and ripeness of the vintage. Sweet lemon confit on warm buttered white toast, leesy oatmeal, waxy lemon rind and that seductive hint of struck match reduction seduce the senses. Riper, sweeter and more exotic than the 2019 maiden vintage but equally succulent, intense and concentrated. A wine that captures the imagination with the aromatics and then delivers in spades on the refined palate. Big money indeed, but not too many white Burgundies of this quality are produced every year.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wines are exclusively imported and distributed in the UK by Corney & Barrow fine wine merchants.
Burgundy is full of talented wine makers, but every now and then, a new name comes along almost out of the blue, with incredible flair – this is Kei Shiogai – a superstar in the making. Originally from Japan, Kei left Tokyo to travel to New Zealand as he was so interested in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. After a short spell there, he was strongly encouraged by locals to pursue his passion in the true home of these varieties – Burgundy – where studied viticulture and vinification in Beaune and Dijon.
Kei arrived in Burgundy and proceeded to work with several top producers including Philippe Pacalet, Domaine Rousseau and Domaine Roulot. Indeed, his earlier vintages in Beaune were produced while he was still working at Domaine Roulot. Even with his 2020 vintage, Kei started to turn heads and draw attention to his wines with their incredible elegance and purity of fruit produced from modest “village level” sites.
Kei is hard working, especially when it comes to taking care of the vineyards. The purposely low yielding vines ensure that he harvests only the best quality of grapes which he vinifies using whole clusters, without sulphites. He has a very precise vision of what he wants to achieve and is undoubtedly a perfectionist when it comes to wine making. His roots are subtly integrated into his passion and the knowledge and inspiration he gained from his various work experiences in Burgundy, can be seen in his own wines. This natural fusion combines with respect to the soils, while targeting the finest characteristics from each of his terroirs.
My first encounter with Kei’s wines was here in London, sadly not in Burgundy, where he operates out of a small but spotless cellar. 2021 was of course an incredibly small but high quality, concentrated vintage in Burgundy and Kei’s wines are simply astounding, explaining why he has acquired a cult following around the world in such a short period of time. From all accounts, his 2022s are even more impressive than his phenomenal 2021s, suggesting there is going to be a massive scrap to get hold of precious allocations. With wines of this quality, Kei Shiogai definitely deserves to take his place in the Burgundy hall of fame even at his tender young age.
Kei Shiogai Gevrey Chambertin 2021
A beautifully lifted, dusty, sapppy mineral led aromatics underpinned by pink flowers, wet chalk, crushed red cherries, wild strawberries and subtle petrichor notes. The palate purity is pinpoint, focused and intense, the saline red and black berry fruited concentration piercing, almost overwhelmingly so. Simply stunning for a village level wine.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Kei Shiogai Pommard 2021
Very classy effort shows beautiful aromatics of purple flowers, cherry blossom, violets and purple rock candy with subtle undertones of sweet sappy oak spice following to a taut, elegant palate with the texture of polished marble, a black berry intensity, hints of bramble berry and a sweet, pure, concentrated finish. A wine that really grows and puts on weight in the glass. Very impressive with all traces of Pommard rusticity banished.
Majestically perfumed and lifted with hints of crystallised cherries, strawberry compote, wet chalk and a sappy, black bon bon fruited candied exoticism. Silky and soft textured, beautifully precise and pure with incredible focus, seamless harmonious balance and a long, lingering mineral finish. Positively regal and very, very impressive indeed.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Kei Shiogai Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru 2021
After tasting this incredible wine, you can only conclude that the Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru vineyard can no longer be considered the poor cousin of the likes of Ruchottes, Mazy and Clos St Jacques. The perfume on this wine is simply intoxicating, overwhelming the senses such is the supreme intensity and florality on display. Seductive layers of sweet kirsch cherry, salty black currant, blue berry pastille and chalky liquid minerality tease the palate. Full, plush and elegantly fleshy, the mouth-coating intensity floors you with its sheer concentration, breadth and harmonious depth. Simply mind blowing in terms of young, pure, vibrant red Burgundy. A paradigm shifting wine.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The 2022 releases will be available in the UK from Wimbledon Wine Cellar.
I first discovered the incredible wines of Bruno Desaunay-Bissey in January 2021 when I was invited to review the “in-bottle” 2018 vintages with his main UK importer Wimbledon Wine Cellar. I had never heard of Bruno’s wines, never tasted them and was unable to even find anything of interest online about his wines… not on Vinous, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate or even Jasper Morris’s new Burgundy web resource. Bruno genuinely seemed to not only fly below the radar but remained one of the best kept secrets of the Cotes d’Or.
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. 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.
Come the UK Winter, in November and December, all attention and thoughts automatically swing back to the Burgundy En-primeur tastings that will occupy the minds and palates of most Burgundy lovers in the UK for the duration of January and February. Just to get some customers back in the mood, Wimbledon Wine Cellars hosted an incredible food and wine paired dinner with 30+ private clients to taste through a cross section of Burgundy’s best kept secrets from Bruno.
The evening started with a delicious glassful of Bruno’s Bourgogne Blanc 2019 (89/100 GSMW) as an aperitif. Rich and textured with fleshy, citrus oil layers infused with minerality, combining with pithy, waxy lemon peel nuances that made this wine a perfect piquant aperitif white Burgundy before launching into the reds. The opening salvo from the first pair was incredible and really set the tone for the rest of the evening. The Nuits Saint Georges Les Belles Croix 2017 from Vieilles Vignes (94+/100 GSMW) was dark and deep with bottomless layers of blue and black berry fruits, a subtle oystershell salinity and an incredibly mouth-watering underlying acidity that energised the wine beautifully. One of the night’s favourite wines despite only being a lieu dit and not a Premier Cru.
The Nuits St Georges was followed by a vibrantly youthful 2014 Gevrey Chambertin that I had not tasted before. This rich, deep, earthy black fruited example showed an impressive depth of fruit and fine tannins wrapped around a fleshy, earthy, plummy, cured meat core of intensity. Plenty of vibrancy and youthfulness evident (93/100 GSMW). As if not to be outdone by the savoury black fruited opulence of the Gevrey Chambertin, a beautiful 2017 Chambolle Musigny from Combe d’Orveaux more than held its own alongside the Gevrey, showing impressive classical precision, focus and spicy mineral tannins as well as all the text book elegance you’d expect from a top Chambolle Musigny (94/100 GSMW).
The next flight was made up of two Vosne Romanee Premier Cru classics, Les Beaut Monts 2018 and Les Rouges 2018, both of which left a long-lasting impression on me the first time I had the privilege to taste and reflect on these wines. The Beau Monts 1er Cru remained classical and regal with fabulous power and depth of black berry fruit, intense cassis fruit concentration and subtle bramble berry and Vosne five-spice notes scattered liberally across the palate making for a very complex expression (95+/100 GSMW). The Les Rouge 2018 was another standout expression showing plenty of opulent concentration, blue and black berry fruits, purple rock candy and all the textural power and drive that you could hope for from a top Vosne Romanee producer (95/100 GSMW).
Just like a wintery November Guy Fawkes fireworks evening, there always needs to be a few big guns to end the show to reiterate the absolute pedigree of the finest red Burgundies produced. An incredible final pair including an Echezeaux Grand Cru 2018 (95+/100 GSMW) and a very regal Grands-Echezeaux 2019 (96/100 GSMW), were alluringly bold, concentrated and red fruited displaying incredible purity, power and textural promise, helping to end a most spectacular evening of food and wine in true style. Sadly, Bruno was not there to share his unique story, but the wines were as fascinating and beguiling now as they were the very first time I tasted them.
Watch out for Bruno Desaunay-Bissey’s incredible 2019 reds that have arrived in the UK and will be hitting the shelves of a few select merchants. Unfortunately, most of his prestigious wines will have sold out already on En-primeur release. But the eagle-eyed Burghound might still be able to sniff out a few rogue bottles of back vintages. Otherwise, you can beg and grovel for a small allocation of his 2021s which will be offered in the UK in the coming months. This is most definitely one producer in Burgundy to watch very closely indeed.
Contact importer Wimbledon Wine Cellar to register for a future allocation.
Resonance is the first winery outside of Burgundy from Maison Louis Jadot. The first vintage was 2013, and a new winery and tasting room were completed just before their 2018 vintage. The 6.07 hectare Decourverte vineyard is located in the Dundee Hills and is planted mostly to Pinot Noir with also 1.01 hectares of Chardonnay.
The Pinot Noir clones include Pommard, Dijon 777 and Coury. The new winery has a maximum production capacity of around 25,000 cases and the grapes are mostly 100% destemmed but there is some experimentation with whole bunches.
Similar to the previous two vintages, the 2016 growing season continued to push the envelope for defining the new normal in Oregon as one of the earliest on record. An unusually warm spring gave way to moderate summer conditions, which provided even growing conditions through véraison. Summer provided average conditions with fewer heat spikes than the 2014 or 2015 vintages, which led to smaller berry size and a higher concentration of flavours. Though it was an intense growing season due to the early start, the fruit produced throughout the state resulted in wonderful concentration and complexity with characteristic natural acidity. Overall, the 2016 vintage saw practically immaculate fruit with few signs of disease, pest or bird effects. Vineyards and wineries in the Willamette Valley were largely finished with harvest by the end of September to early-October, while wineries in other regions carried on through mid-to-late October.
The longtime Louis Jadot winemaker Jacques Ladière came out of retirement a few years ago to oversee this project after visiting the already-established Resonance vineyard in Yamhill Carlton. Guillaume Large, who was born in Burgundy and previously worked at Jadot has since taken charge of winemaking at Resonance. With this 2016 single vineyard wine from the Dundee Hills AVA, Guillaume has fashioned a beautifully elegant Pinot Noir that offers aromatics of red currants, macerated blood oranges, sweet mulled wine Christmas spices along with earthy mushroom and savoury forest floor notes. The palate is elegant and soft textured but still tight-knit and deliciously fresh with a vibrant line of acidity supported by plush red berry fruits, cranberry preserve, wild strawberry and ripe pomegranates. A thoroughly approachable, stylish wine that will appeal to lovers of riper vintage Cotes de Beaunes expressions of Pinot Noir.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The wines are available to the trade in the UK from their exclusive importer Hatch Mansfield.
As the world’s wine merchants return from Burgundy after tasting the almost non-existent 2021 vintage, Domaine de la Romanee Conti prepares for the latest ‘in-bottle’ releases of their 2020 vintages in early 2023. But as I tasted the 2019 releases earlier this year, it was certainly clear for all to see that a new era was dawning at the Domaine with Bertrand de Villaine taking over from his uncle Aubert, and Perrine Fenal moving into the place of the late Henry-Frédéric Roch. For an estate that is based on tradition and unerring continuity, these changes constitute a true “changing of the guard” and must be considered substantial and significant in nature.
So sadly, this occasion probably constituted the last new vintage tasting I will ever do with Aubert de Villaine in attendance. Thankfully, the 2019’s are another truly incredible array of Burgundy wines.
Domaine de la Romanee Conti Corton Grand Cru 2019
Launched in 2009, the Corton Grand Cru blend delivered a truly graceful expression in 2019 showing its perfumed elegance to perfection, with complex aromatics of rosehip, violets, brambly sweet vermouth spices over dark black berries, fruit cake and dried orange peel. The fruits of the palate are dark, earthy and sweet with impressive concentration, a rounded mouthfeel and a harmonious yet fresh interwoven acidity. The finish is elegant, mineral-laced and very precise.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Neal Martin discusses the 2019 vintage with proprietor Aubert de Villaine
Domaine de la Romanee Conti Echezeaux Grand Cru 2019
As the last of the domaine’s reds to be harvested, this 2019 reveals a fully ripe, exotically red and fruited core boasting notes of mulberry, spicy blackberry compote and stewed winter black fruits. The palate follows with notes of macerated black berries, stewed black cherries, plum stone and brambly wild nuances laced with dried mint and wild herbs. A ripe, opulent, generous expression of Echezeaux.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanee Conti Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru 2019
Paler and brighter than the Echezeaux, the aromatics are equally seductive and complex showing lovely perfumed notes of Rosehip, pressed violets and top notes of cherry kirsch liquor. The palate follows with a similar sense of graceful power and coiled intensity of red and black berries, blood orange and pomegranates over limestone minerality and a cool freshness the accentuates this wines purity. A very classy Grands Echezeaux vintage.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanee Conti Richebourg Grand Cru 2019
Harvested slightly earlier than some of the other cuvées, this Richebourg offers up a wonderfully perfumed richness and generosity of violets, cherry blossom and intense notes of red cherries, pink musk and sweet exotic vermouth spices. The first sip confirms the wines intensity and power, racy freshness and piercing concentration that arrives in supple waves, drenching the palate in refined flavours of red and black berries, sun dried cranberries and pink rock candy nuances. Lovely focus and precision but also super refinement.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanee Conti Romanee St Vivant Grand Cru 2019
This vintage offers up a distinctly rich, round, opulent expression cool aromatics of stony blue and black berry fruits, black cherry and bramble berry spice. Its boldness lies in fruit generosity rather than ethereal perfumed intricacy with a real sweet and sour acid vibrancy on the palate, piercing concentration and a seamlessly elegant persistence. Simply beguiling harmony and power.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanee Conti La Tache Grand Cru Monopole 2019
A wine Aubert suggests rivals the great 2018 in its youth, this is certainly a rich, ripe expressive La Tache with plenty of dark mysterious black earthy berry fruits, raisined cranberry, sweet black berry compote overlying a resinous sapidity and richly extracted depth of fruit. The freshness is uplifting and effortless and helps invigorate the long, persistent finish mixed with dried herbs and crushed mint. A wine of great substance.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanee Conti Romanee Conti Grand Cru Monopole 2019
A decidedly deep, taut and broody expression of Romanee Conti that reveals imposing old vine concentration and an aromatic melange of pressed roses, chalky minerality, black fruit purity and baked black plums. The palate is silky and effortless, intense and concentrated with regal depth, contemplative textural intricacy and delectable prowess. A Pinot Noir blessed by the gods themselves!
(Wine Safari Score: 99/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine de la Romanee Conti Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2019
Always special to taste a maiden release especially when it’s from DRC, and this new white conjures up the same excitement as tasting the maiden 2009 Corton red. Rich and golden, the aromatics offer up all the classic Charlemagne notes of lemon pastille and butter, lemon cream biscuits and a deliciously complex mealy, leesy intensity. On the palate there is clear pedigree with generous, unctuous, mouth-coating concentration and fabulously savoury, harmonious balance with freshness and a light touch elegance on the long finish.
This is an exciting wine project I have been hearing about for the past few years from winemaker Emul Ross as well as its proprietors Anthony and Olive Hamilton Russell every time I met up with them in either Cape Town or London. But this year also marked the release of their maiden offering of their new Oregon Chardonnay 2019 produced from the Maple Grove Vineyard in the Willamette Valley AVA, joining their premium Eola-Amity Hills AVA Pinot Noir.
During a quiet moment of the Cape Wine 2022 trade fair, I met up with Anthony and Olive to taste their new Chardonnay and Pinot Noir over a quick lunch. As we sat there discussing this exciting Oregon project, photos of the new Chardonnay 2022 harvest fortuitously started popping up on Olive’s phone, sent by Emul Ross as they had just commenced picking in the Willamette Valley.
Tasting the new Oregon releases in Cape Town with Anthony and Olive Hamilton Russell in October 2022.
Sadly, these wines are not yet available in the UK or in the South African market but are available in 21 different US states through Vineyard Brands. But judging from the excellent quality, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before some stock finds its way out of the USA!
Hamilton Russell Oregon Maple Grove Vineyard Chardonnay 2019, Willamette Valley AVA, 13.8% Abv.
1.9g/l RS | 5.70g/l TA | 3.40pH
Maiden vintage and second crop from this Jackson Family owned Maple Grove single vineyard Chardonnay. South West of Salem, from an area due to become a new AVA, just south of the Van Duzer corridor. Pure Clone 95 in 2019, this wine was fermented with the Hamilton Russell’s own indigenous yeasts and was then aged in 34% first fill and 66% third fill Francois Freres barrels. The nose displays fabulous creamy leesy lemon biscuit notes, vibrant layers of waxy yellow citrus and a saline, stony minerality. The palate shows a fabulous lemon butter opulence, a honied leesy savoury complexity and a broad, soft, harmonious, fine boned persistent finish. Very classy, nuanced and pure. Fruit from a great terroir shaped and nurtured by the winemakers hand. More porcelain than pottery. Drink now and over 5 to 8+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
286 x 6 cases produced and exclusively sold in 21 states in the USA at circa $65pb. Vegan friendly. Distributed by USA Vineyard Brands.
Hamilton Russell Oregon Zena Crown Pinot Noir 2019, Eola-Amity Hills AVA, 13.3% Abv.
1.2g/l RS | 5.30g/l TA | 3.58pH
A classically orientated style of Pinot Noir aged for 14 months in 1st fill 23%, 2nd fill 30% and 3rd fill 47% French Francois Freres oak barrels. The aromatics are very exotic and seductive boasting delicate red and black cherry fruits, cranberry, pomegranate and hints of foresty bramble berry and wild strawberry. The palate is beautifully cool and sleek, light on its feet and finely textured with a real light touch elegance, a stony volcanic minerality and delicate silky tannins with an aspirational grandeur. Just love the effortless beauty of this wine. Plenty of appeal here for Burgundy lovers. Drink now and over the next 8+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
565 x 6 cases produced and exclusively sold in 21 states in the USA at circa $85pb. Distributed by USA Vineyard Brands.
Damascene is the super exciting South African winery partnership between top talent Jean Smit, previously the winemaker at Boekenhoutskloof, and David Curl, the former owner of Bordeaux’s Chateau Gaby. The maiden Damascene bottlings were only in 2017 but already the winery has, since then, established itself as one of the most exciting new producers on the Cape fine wine landscape.
While the new 2021 vintages have just been released to great acclaim in South Africa, the 2020 vintages are the current releases on the UK market and in May 2020, I caught up with Jean Smit in London to taste through his exciting range of whites and reds.
Tasting with Jean earlier this year in London.
As Jean explained, the idea of Damascene’s wines was to represent the different regional identities of the South African winelands with grapes being sourced from across the Cape. The wines are made in a well-equipped cellar on David Curl’s Elgin apple farm, which also supplies the Pinot Noir for the Moya Meaker label.
Damascene Semillon 2020, WO Franschhoek, 13.5% Abv.
Sourced from two old vine vineyards plss as noted in 1962 and 1942, this wine was fermented and aged on lees in 1000 litre Austrian foudre and offers up beautifully bright, fragrant, piercing aromatics of white citrus, white blossom, lemon and lime peel, a hint of sea breeze salinity (from the 1962 vineyard) and kelp nuances. Taught and concentrated with a fine glycerol texture, lemon grass, lemon butter, white citrus, tangy green apple and a hint of lanolin on the finish. Delicious and crystalline. A very impressive expression of Old Vine Semillon.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Damascene Chenin Blanc 2020, WO Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.
Sourced from three blocks on the crest of the Bottlary Hills. Granite (5% on skins), Greywacke and Shale soils which give acidity & lemon lime notes. Rich, savoury and yellow fruited, with lots of honey suckle, ginger, white blossom and dusty mineral spice. Aged 11 months in old oak barrels. The wine shows bruised yellow peach and yellow plum that follows to a palate loaded with tangerine, Seville oranges and honey on warm toast. Lovely complexity, flinty minerality, tart acids and impressive depth of flavour. Wow!
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Moya Meaker Pinot Noir 2020, WO Elgin, 13.5% Abv.
10 barrels (300 litre light toast) using 777 & 667 Pinot Noir clones. No stems and 11 months ageing. Reveals a lovely rose petal, black cherry and bramble berry perfume with hints of pink musk. Texture is pure and sleek, beautifully polished and focused with pomegranate, blood orange, hints of cured meats and complexing wood smoke notes. Pinpoint focus and precision with really bright acids and textural elegance.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Damascene Cabernet Franc 2020, WO Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.
Aged 11 months in 1000 litre Austrian foudre. The terroir is based on poor granite soils in the Bottlary Hills. The nose shows sweet red and black berry fruit, bouquet garnier, potpourri, fennel, dusty granite, sweet cedar and grilled herbs. The palate is pure and elegant with a salivating fresh acidity supported by a fine line of tannin grip but all exceptionally well balanced. A really delicious expression of Franc!
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Damascene Syrah 2019, WO Stellenbosch, 12.5% Abv.
75% of whole bunches used with no submerged cap. 2/3 Karibib fruit (lending pepper & perfume), 1/3 Bottlary (north facing for extra tannins). Boasts sweet dark red and black berry fruits, potpourri, musk perfume and a savoury cured meats complexity. Beautifully pure and elegant with red berry concentration, great textural finesse and soft integrated acids. Wonderful harmony and pedigree. This is something very special indeed.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Damascene Syrah 2020, WO Swartland, 13% Abv.
75% whole bunches used then aged in 2000 litre foudre from vines grown on brown schist soils. Aromatics are dark and broody with incense, waxy crayon, earthy black berry, black plum, lavender and wild bramble berry notes. The palate shows plenty of power, depth and concentration with focused mineral tannins, plenty of broody savoury black and blue berry fruits with a hint of black olive tapenade. Very Northern Rhone like in character and also quite individual. Another cracking wine.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Damascene Syrah 2020, WO Cederberg, 13.5% Abv.
Made using 45% whole bunches (on average), from one block at 940m above sea level. Shows classic Cederberg Shiraz aromatics of blue and black berry fruits, blue berry crumble, grey slate minerality and sweet vanilla pod dust. Palate is full and round with dense, sweet creamy tannins, cinamon spice, tart underlying acids and a taut linear structure. Lovely depth, fruit intensity and balance showing the true purity offered by Syrah from high elevation vineyards.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Damascene Cabernet Sauvignon 2019, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
Grapes mainly from Vlottenburg vineyards grown on koffee klip and granite soils (graphite notes) and Helderberg and Bottlary Hills (cranberry notes). Aged 12 months in 80% new 225 litre oak barriques, second year in 1000 litre Austrian foudre. Lovely sweet cedar, wet tobacco, tannery leather and a mix of red and black berry fruits and grilled herbs. Rich, plush and creamy with cassis, blueberry, musk, red cherry and creamy tannins with bright mouth-watering acids. Very impressive expression of Stellenbosch Cabernet!
Greg Sherwood MW 