Vosne Romanee

Domaine Cecile Tremblay Lights Up the Burgundy Fine Wine Scene with Her Highly Collectable Pinot Noir Wines – Tasting and Reviewing the 2024s in Barrel…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

After spending several weeks in December tasting the 2024 Burgundies in barrel with premium UK specialist importer Musigny Wines and their owner Andrew Pavli, including visiting and tasting at several of Musigny Wines’s key UK exclusive agencies such as Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot, Kei Shiogai and Domaine Koji Nakada et Jae Hwa, it became evident during the final tasting with Koji Nakada that he happened to be good friends with Cécile Tremblay, another iconic Burgundy producer that I had not yet had the privilege to visit. But as they say, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know, and after some kind introductions by Koji, Cécile Tremblay graciously agreed to host us for a tasting of a selection of her new 2024 wines.

Tasting some icon wines of Burgundy at La Lune restaurant – Domaine Tremblay, Kei Shiogai and Koji Nakada.

Domaine Cécile Tremblay is considered one of the most exciting rising stars in Burgundy at the moment and is recognized for producing wines that beautifully capture the true essence of the Côte de Nuits terroir as seen through the lens of utmost purity, elegance, and weightless concentration – a style I often refer to as “the new Burgundy.” Cécile Tremblay also happens to be the great-niece of legendary Burgundy producer Henri Jayer and has made a name for herself with wines that are crafted with a focus on organic and biodynamic practices. 

Winemaker Cecile Tremblay

The domaine’s vineyards, spread across some of the finest terroirs in Burgundy, are meticulously tended to ensure that the grapes express the true character of the land. Tremblay’s wines are celebrated for their purity, finesse, and ability to age gracefully, making them highly sought-after by collectors and connoisseurs alike. Whether it’s her delicately fragrant Chambolle-Musigny or her more robust, muscular Nuits-Saint-Georges, each wine in the Domaine Cécile Tremblay portfolio is a testament to the artistry and dedication of her winemaking skills. “Since I started about ten plus years ago, my aim has been to care for the land, its subsoil, and all the species that live there. Therefore, I chose to work using organic and biodynamic farming methods on the four hectares of vines I cultivate, a large part of which comes from family land” Cécile explains.

Morey vineyards next to the Domaine Tremblay winery.

The slowly growing Domaine Cécile Tremblay range now includes a Bourgogne Cote d’Or Rouge “La Croix Blanche” and village wines from Morey-Saint-Denis Très Girard, Chambolle-Musigny “Les Cabottes”, Vosne-Romanée “Vieilles Vignes” and Nuits-Saint-Georges “Albuca”. Her more ‘elevated’ vineyard sites include Premier Cru parcels from Chambolle-Musigny “Feusselottes”, Vosne-Romanée “Les Rouges du Dessus”, Vosne-Romanée “Les Beaumonts” and Nuits-Saint-Georges “Les Murgers”. Finally, Cécile also cultivates parcels of Grand Cru vines from some of the most sought-after vineyards in Burgundy including Chapelle-Chambertin, Echezeaux “du Dessus”, and from the 2024 vintage, a new parcel of famed Griotte-Chambertin.

But Cécile’s success has been earned through hard work, starting out as a young female winemaker in 2003 and only managing to build her cellar in 2012, with further building work completed in 2021. All the vineyards she cultivates lie between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Gevrey-Chambertin, farming organically since 2005 and biodynamically since 2016, thought she has chosen not to burden herself with the paperwork and bureaucracy of certification, rather preferring to let her wines do the talking. Though almost all the 2024 fruit harvested was 100% destemmed (tiny whole bunch fractions were included in the 2024 Grand Cru fermentations), the winemaking at the domaine often involves the use of a portion of stems during vinification, which takes place in wooden vats for up to a month, with some delicate punching down but very little pumping over. The tanks are then pressed at the end of fermentation with a small vertical press, and the wines are then raised in Burgundy barrels with between 33% and 66% new oak, for 15 to 18 months without racking.  Cécile’s favoured cooper is Chassin, who works closely with her to select specific types of barrels and toasts of wood to suit her individual wine styles.

In Cecile’s impressive cellars.

The incredibly difficult 2024 vintage has been well document by now with some of the worst flowering and yields seen in decades. While even just setting foot through the hallowed doors of Cécile’s cellar in Morey Saint Denis is considered a highly coveted privilege, this year Cécile took the decision not to taste several of her smaller production wines with any journalists or critics due to the tiny quantities produced and also not wanting to potentially compromise the wines in barrel with repeated opening and closing. For Cécile, the harvest started on September 19th 2024, with vines cropped at between 5 and 25 hl / ha depending on the specific vineyard. The Bourgogne and village level wines were particularly harshly impacted in 2024, more so than the Grand Cru sites.

The Tremblay winery in Morey Saint Denis.

Domaine Cécile Tremblay – Purity and Elegance Shine in 2024: 

Domaine Cecile Tremblay Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2024

Racked one week prior before being tasted in January 2026, this is an extraordinarily beautifully fragrant wine showing seductive aromatics, lifted and oh so pretty, bursting with pink musk, black cherry, and saline black berries with a delicate dusting of limestone minerality. The energy and freshness on the palate are palpable, pulsing with energy and intensity, a soft under belly of fine-grained mineral tannins bolstering the elegant, finessed texture. Really very, very pretty indeed. Drink 2026 to 2036+.

(Wine Safari Score: 90-92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Cecile Tremblay Morey Saint Denis Tres Girard 2024

A low yielding vintage at around 7 or 8 hl/ha, this is another beautiful wine displaying layers of blue and black berry fruits, and black cherry notes that intermingle with fragrant violets and a delicate sapidity. The palate is rich and concentrated, weightlessly intense with sweet black currants, savoury black cherry with a delicately minty nuance on the finish. With an earthy savoury undertone, this wine packs a lot of depth and complexity with a beautifully spicy finish. A truly enticing offering. Drink from 2026 to 2040+.

(Wine Safar Score: 92-94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Cecile Tremblay Vosne Romanee Vieilles Vignes 2024 

Made from grapes sourced from the Aux Commune and Les Jacquines lieu dits sites, this 2024 displays an incredibly intense perfumed aromatics brimming with violets and white blossoms over savoury dark black berry fruits, damson plum, black currant, and blue berries with subtle hints of earthy loam and subtle Asian spices. The palate depth is impressive, creamy, and almost lactic in texture, the tannins sweet and chocolatey with a picante cocoa spicy finish. Full and chalky, this wine is deceptively broad with notable extract and a real understated power. Drink 2027 to 2044+.

(Wine Safari Score: 93-94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Cecile Tremblay Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Feusselottes 2024

The aromatics are intense and striking, piercingly fragrance and intensity, with layers of saline black berry and oyster shell intertwined with violets, red currants, wild strawberry and a hint of tart plum. Beautifully elegant in the mouth, this wine shows a tenderness, a seductive elegance and an understated weightless intensity, finishing with a gently brûléed, velvety oak kissed finish. Impressive intensity and candied, musk-laden complexity. A beautiful expression. Drink 2027 to 2044+.

(Fine Wine Safari: 93-94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Cecile Tremblay Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Rouges 2024

Always a fresher cooler site facing northeast, this 2024 shows a bright, lifted, extroverted perfumed aromatics full of pink flowers, violets, musk, and delicately sappy notes over pronounced chalky limestone minerality and peppery spice. The fruit sits on the palate with a gentle glycerol weight, coating the mouth with a weightless intensity, more waves of spice and stony minerality, finishing with delicately tart, bright, savoury red and black berry fruits. Texturally linear and incredibly polished and precise, this wine harbours some real understated power and pedigree. Drink 2027 to 2044+.

(Wine Safari Score: 93-95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Cecile Tremblay Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Rouges 2023

When we finished the 2024 En-primeur barrel tasting, Cécile very kindly opened a ‘bottled’ 2023 Les Rouges for comparison. The aromatics are delightfully youthful, complex and broody recalling small, dark, saline black berried fruits, wild strawberry, and savoury bramble berry notes. The tannins are firm yet incredibly polished and precise, framing this elegantly pure cuvee handsomely, the mouthfeel beautifully harmonious and the fruit concentration supple, crystalline and intensely pure. Not the most common 1er Cru vineyard in Vosne Romanee but fast becoming one of my favourites!  Drink from 2026 to 2042+.

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

Later in the evening, I shared a phenomenal dinner with importer Musigny Wines’ owner Andrew Pavli at La Lune restaurant in Beaune with another Burgundy sensation, Kei Shiogai, who Musigny Wines import exclusively into the UK, and who also happens to be a massive fan of Cécile’s delicious fine wines. With a short but well-chosen selection of wines on the La Lune list, we sniffed out another two delightful 2021 wines from the Domaine Tremblay lineup which we enjoyed over dinner and who’s notes are included below.

Domaine Cecile Tremblay Chambolle Musigny Les Cabottes 2021, 13% Abv. 

This crisp fresh low yielding vintage shares a lot in common with the 2024 styling at many domaines. The delicious Cabottes 2021 is beautifully complex showing cardamom, red currant, wild strawberry and earthy brambly fruits. This wine is all about freshness, precision and energy which really shines on the palate with a bristling acidity, tart nervy red and black berry fruits and taut polished linear tannins. But don’t be fooled, despite the tension, there is plenty of flesh on the bone. Stunning purity, focus and intensity. Drink 2026 to 2042+.

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

Domaine Cecile Tremblay Morey Saint Denis Tres Gerard 2021, 13% Abv. 

This is a thoroughly classic Morey with intense notes of blue and black berry fruits, violets, black cherry and subtle lactic nuances. On the palate, the tension and acidity slightly mask the fruit depth, but given time in the glass, the power, weightless concentration and fruit power really shine without defeating Cecile’s philosophical mission of finesse and elegance with terroir character. A really impressive wine showing beautifully already. Drink now to 2044+.

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

Many thanks to Andrew Pavli at Musigny Wines for unlocking the cellar doors of some of Burgundy’s most sought-after producers for me to review. Contact Musigny Wines to learn about new release allocations from some of Burgundies most iconic growers.

Andrew@musigny.wine

Ending 2025 with a Big Burgundy Bang – Two Epic Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot Tastings in London: Part 2 – China Tang at the Dorchester…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Always one of the absolute highlights of visiting Burgundy, tasting at the Domaine Bizot cellar is undoubtedly one of the most coveted appointments a wine professional can attend. Unfortunately, the slightly later December visit schedule this year did mean that I would miss seeing Jean-Yves Bizot in person at his cellar in Vosne-Romanee when tasting the 2024 wines from barrel as he would already be in Asia on tour. We were expertly guided through the sublime barrel tasting by Jean-Yves’s right-hand man, Victor Mignardot, who would also be in London the following week to help tutor two sensational private client collector tasting dinners featuring some of Jean-Yves’s finest wines. The first of these tastings was in the private room at Chez Bruce, one of London’s most famous Michelin stared restaurants. The second tasting dinner took place in one of my favourite restaurants in the whole of London, China Tang at the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane.

Originally owned by Sir David Tang until his passing, this Chinese restaurant has come to exemplify top quality food and service over the years. Knowing Jean-Yves own personal penchant for Asian culture and cuisine, it was a fitting venue for the second Domaine Bizot private client tasting dinner. After preparing our palates with a couple of glasses of Champagne Petit & Bajan Promise Brut Grand Cru, a seductive blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir with a 4g/l RS dosage based around the 2019 vintage, we kicked the dinner off in proper style tasting the revelatory maiden release Le Charlemagne 2022 Grand Cru white. For any Domaine Bizot follower, this is certainly a wine that needs no introduction, representing the absolute pinnacle of white Burgundy quality. If I took the liberty to highlight one of my top reds of the year in Part 1, namely the Domaine Bizot Clos de la Bidaude 2023 red, then I would be remiss for not pointing the spotlight on this incredible white that was without doubt my favourite white wine of 2025, having tasted it from barrel and then from bottle three more times.

Domaine Jean Yves Bizot Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 2022

The two specific single vineyards of En Charlemagne and Le Charlemagne make up half of this famous appellation, while white grapes grown in seven other vineyards may also be sold as Corton-Charlemagne. As a result there can be a wide divergence in styles between earlier picked south-facing locations and cooler, later picked western slopes around Pernand-Vergelesses. Jean-Yves’s 0.14 hectares of vines are only located in the prestigious Le Charlemagne vineyard and in 2022 produced a meagre two new French oak barrels, or 600 bottles, of this golden Grand Cru nectar. A wonderfully sophisticated wine, it reveals a rich vinous tapestry tightly packed with savoury aromatics of leesy yellow citrus, fresh rain on limestone, wet straw, baking herbs and glacé lemon rind. The concentration on the palate is astonishing – glycerol, piercing, fresh and beautifully crystalline and saline with intense layers of lemon and lime cordial, green apple pastille over an electric laser-like acidity with just a subtle kiss of lemon butter and vanilla pod spice on the finish. An astounding wine of incredible power, focus and precision.

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

The Le Charlemagne 2022 was mind blowing the first time I tasted it from barrel and continues to impress with each subsequent tasting. The 2023 vintage was another exceptional wine from a slightly more generous vintage that yielded three barrels. Sadly, just as this astonishing benchmark white Burgundy is gaining its own global cult following, the volumes have cruelly been restricted to only a single barrel in both 2024 and 2025 due to low yields and obsessive fruit selection. 

The dinner tasting line up.

After a brief interlude, the red flights started to be poured by the China Tang sommelier team. As a special treat, Jean-Yves’s Le Clos des Fées ‘100 Phrases Pour Eventails’ Pinot Noir 2023, the fourth release from this IGP Cotes Catalanes project, was poured to illustrate the fluidity and flexibility of Jean-Yves’s winemaking brilliance. From a riper vintage than 2024, the 2023 was sumptuous and generous, fleshy but incredibly silky, pure and precise, finishing with a brambly, damson plum and black berry intensity with a subtle sapidity. (95/100 GSMW) This is a fascinating project in Southwest France and one that is well worth keeping a close eye on if the new 2024 I tasted at the cellar is anything to go by!

For anyone that drinks Jean-Yves’s wines regularly will know, the mantra of “less is more” sits comfortably when tasting both his Domaine Bizot Marsannay Clos du Roy 2023 and his Domaine Bizot Le Chapitre 2022. While the Clos de Roy vineyard was renowned for its quality potential, Jean-Yves has brought his winemaking magic to this appellation and, perhaps with a little help from global warming, has helped elevate this vineyard to a quality level making wines only ever previously seen in the Grand Cru vineyards of the Côte de Nuits.

Myself, Victor Mignardot and China Tang’s Head Sommelier and Wine Buyer Igor Sotric.

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, Domaine Gagey and Drouhin. Always one of my favourites in the Bizot range, the Clos du Roy 2023 is an incredible success for the vintage with a perfumed lift, a textural fluidity, and the most crystalline, finessed finish imaginable (96/100 GSMW). The Le Chapitre too is all about elegance and subtlety, effortless concentration with an earthy, brambly finish – the power of the 2022 vintage making itself felt on the palate (94+/100 GSMW).

For the next flight, we moved back down to Vosne Romanee and Morey St Denis where Domaine Bizot produces several village appellation cuvees. At the first Chez Bruce dinner, Jean-Yves’s Vosne Romanee 2020 proved one of the stars of the night. This time, we were treated to the delightful Domaine Bizot Vosne Romanee Village 2023 vintage, with its pristine and impactful aromatics, lashings of black cherry and raspberry fruits and its beguiling Asian five spice complexity. A benchmark wine within Jean Yves’s range (95+/100 GSMW). Accompanying the Vosne Romanee, we were treated to a repeat showing of the incredible Clos de la Bidaude 2023 Monopole red that continues to seduce collectors globally with its intensity, majestic concentration and fruit purity (98/100 GSMW).

For the grand finale, a surprise Domaine Bizot Echezeaux Grand Cru 2015 was slipped into the lineup to accompany the outstanding Echezeaux 2023. This was quite simply a Grand Cru pairing made in heaven. The 2015 showed incredible depth, power and concentration, fruit ripeness without being overbearing or disrespectful to the appellation’s terroir complexity. Incredibly youthful and harmonious, this wine was indeed a real highlight, showcasing the effortless purity, intensity and precision Jean-Yves has so masterfully perfected (97+/100 GSMW). The Echezeaux 2023 was all charm and elegance, packed with complex red and black berry fruits, whole bunch sapidity and phenolic dry extract, finishing with an alluring minerality on the finish. Another true Bizot star in the making (96+/100 GSMW).

This sensational lineup of iconic Domaine Bizot wines certainly reminded all the private client attendees why they love and covet the red and white Burgundy’s of Jean Yves so much. With last desserts accompanied by the obligatory Jean-Yves sweet wine favourite, the Vin de Constance 2017 from South Africa, the second Domaine Bizot tasting dinner was brought to a close with a few words of thanks from Victor Mignardot and Domaine Bizot’s exclusive UK importer, Andrew Pavli from Musigny Wines.

The Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot wines are imported exclusively into the UK by Musigny Wines. Contact Andrew Pavli to request an allocation.

Andrew@musigny.wine

Ending 2025 with a Big Burgundy Bang – Two Epic Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot Tastings in London: Part 1 – Chez Bruce…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

My last trip to Burgundy in 2025 was slightly later than usual, in early December instead of the usual early to mid-November. This actually worked exceptionally well as all the growers had recovered from the bravado of the Hospice de Beaune Auction events as well as the tsunami of global wine merchants and critics that descend upon Burgundy every year around this time ahead of the En-primeur campaign. Arriving later was a masterstroke as not only were the winemakers feeling a lot more relaxed, but so too were their wines… in this case the 2024 whites and reds from one of the smallest and most difficult harvests on record.

Unfortunately, the slightly later schedule meant that we (myself and Domaine Bizot’s exclusive UK importer) would miss seeing Jean-Yves Bizot at his cellar in Vosne-Romanee when we went to taste the meagre quantities of 2024s from barrel as he would already be in Asia on tour attending events in China and Korea. But fear not, we were expertly guided through the sublime barrel tasting by Jean-Yves’s right-hand man, Victor Mignardot, who would also be in London the following week to help tutor two sensational private client collector tasting dinners featuring some of Jean-Yves’s finest wines.

Victor Mignardot in the Bizot cellar.

With access to the Domaine Bizot cellar incredibly limited, I feel blessed every time I am able to visit to taste these unbelievable wines from barrel at the domaine, where their perfection, precision and true brilliance is laid bare in all their glory. Jean-Yves’s Burgundies do fortunately travel very well, but there is certainly nothing like tasting the new vintages from barrel to experience their purity and finesse which is amplified by Jean-Yves’s lack of sulphur use during the winemaking and elevage process, preferring a more modest, considered sulphuring of his wines before bottling. For the exceptional 2024 releases, demand will be incrementally greater due to their excellent quality, but tiny quantities of wine produced. To compensate UK buyers and loyal followers of Jean-Yves’s wines, two incredible dinners were arranged in London to which I was graciously invited. 

Chez Bruce private tasting room.
Tasting the 2024 vintages.

The first of these two incredible events in mid-December featured mostly new release “in-bottle” vintages of Domaine Bizot’s 2023 wines alongside a small array of slightly older vintages. Expertly matched with some incredible food pairings at one of London’s top Michelin Starred restaurants, Chez Bruce, Victor and Andrew Pavli from Musigny Wines, Bizot’s exclusive UK importer, guided the guests through a delectable line up of wines that started with two phenomenal whites.

The Domaine Bizot Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits Blanc 2022 was a rich, broad, expansive expression that showed beautifully expressive aromatics and fruit power. Layered with leesy lemon and saline, briney maritime notes, and delicate wood spice complexity. The intensity and piercing tangy acids were classic Bizot with a little extra horsepower from this punchy vintage. A really exceptional wine. (95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

This was followed by the Domaine Bizot Bourgogne La Violette Blanc 2023, an incredibly elegant expression with plenty of textural finesse and effortless intensity. Sweet savoury lemon aromatics, lime peel and a wet stone minerality carry the palate with a beautiful harmony, tight grained phenolics and finely integrated acids. Showing simply sublime balance and finesse. (94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Clos de la Bidaude Monopole just above Clos des Lambrays.

The next four wines, poured in two flights, excitingly featured a wine that I rated as one of my top Burgundies tasted in 2025… the Domaine Bizot Clos de la Bidaude Monopole 2023. From one of Jean-Yves’s newer vineyard purchases, the maiden vintage was only produced in 2021 with no 2022 released, upping the pressure and expectations from collectors for the follow up. Thankfully, the Bidaude 2023 is a knockout expression, the concentration, depth, elegance and sublime precision simply staggering. This is certainly a wine I am happy to highlight individually in more detail as one of my true favourites of 2025.

Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot Clos de la Bidaude Monopole 2023

A wine that is simply mesmerizingly intense with piercing aromatics of violets, saline crème de cassis, oyster shell, and sloe berries with a tightly knit complexity of smoky sapidity, crushed limestone and chalky spice. Piercing and powerful, the purity and intensity of fruit is awesome, the precision, polish, and concentration simply majestic. The perfect marriage of intelligent winemaking harnessing super fruit purity and perfect hillside terroir. A really super impressive success for the vintage. Drink from 2028 to 2040+.

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

With minuscule amounts of the Clos de la Bidaude 2024 produced, all eyes will certainly return to this wine for the potential 2025 release. This is a wine that you just feel Jean-Yves believes can match and even perhaps surpass, with time and further viticultural and winemaking tweaking, his iconic Vosne Romanee les Jachees and his Echezeaux Grand Cru. I myself, having tasted all bottled expressions, have no doubts whatsoever. So, with the 2023 Clos de la Bidaude upping the temperature on this cold wintery December evening in London, the follow up wines proved equally impressive.

Next up, the eye-wateringly delicious Domaine Bizot Vosne Romanee 2020 village, a wine with profound lifted aromatics, a savoury red and black berry fruit intensity, and a beguiling whole bunch sapidity that simply added the perfect ‘salt and pepper’ to this fine wine recipe. Youthful but drinking so incredibly well already, this wine, with the ripeness of the 2020 vintage, was one of the crowds’ absolute favourites on the night. (96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The last pair featured the well-priced Domaine Bizot Le Chapitre Rouge 2020 and the Grand Vin of Jean-Yves’s range, his Echezeaux Grand Cru. The Chapitre 2020 shared many similarities with the delightful Vosne Romanee 2020 without being quite as powerful and intense but perhaps, slightly more perfumed and ethereal. What this pair of 2020 reds certainly proved was how well they were drinking on the eve of their 6th anniversary. Certainly no rush, but a beautifully elegant wine. (95/100 Greg Sherwood MW).

Last but not least, the Echezeaux Grand Cru, one of the wines that has helped put Jean Yves on the global “most collectable” Burgundy map. As per my barrel tasting last year, a uniquely impressive expression but perhaps just 5% behind the Bidaude 2023 in both aromatic power and fruit intensity. But the brooding depth might make this the dark horse of the vintage for a late resurgence. (97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

While Jean-Yves might not have been there to share some of his own vinous treats, the evening nevertheless ended with one of his favourite sweet wines, the Vin de Constance 2017, a wine I tasted again earlier in the year with winemaker Matt Day at Klein Constantia during a vertical tasting. This is a bright, intense, seductive sweet wine that wears its greatness with effortless ease. A delicious end to a memorable evening of fine food and wine. (97/100 Greg Sherwood MW).

The wines of Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot are imported exclusively into the UK by Musigny Wines. Contact them to request an allocation.

Andrew@musigny.wine

Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot’s Iconic New Burgundy Wines from the 2023 Vintage Tasted and Reviewed…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The phenomenal wines of Jean-Yves Bizot represent the pinnacle of wine quality in a region graced with some of the most sought-after labels in the world of fine wine. Jean-Yves’ strict and uncompromising standards in the vineyards and his enviable old vine parcels in Vosne Romanée combine to offer a stellar line-up of miniscule production red Burgundies built for ageing. 

The Bizot cellar in Vosne Romanee.

Jean-Yves is a respected professor of viticulture and oenology in Beaune and lives in Vosne across the road from Henri Jayer’s old residence. He is also a quiet, composed man, uninterested in publicity and completely devoted to his wine craft. In an age where branding often overshadows substance, it’s refreshing to see someone who has never followed the crowd continue to pursue what he loves most – the art of wine.

The wizard of premium Burgundy, Jean-Yves Bizot.

Jean-Yves has an uncanny ability to produce wines that are delicate, feminine, and deeply expressive – wines that stand out at any fine wine tasting. But the true magnificence of his entire range has now acquired a fervent collector and connoisseur following the world over, making his new vintage releases some of the most highly anticipated in the whole of Burgundy.

The modest Bizot house and cellar in Vosne Romanee.

Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot Vosne Romanee Village 2023

A pristine, impactful nose with intense aromatics of black raspberries, black cherry and polished mahogany with a delicate sapidity over sweet Asian spices, black berry compote and bramble berry complexity. Crystalline and texturally taut in the mouth, linear, energetic and bright with tangy acids, limestone mineral tannins and incredibly focused elegance and precision. A benchmark for the vintage. Drink from 2027 to 2038+.

(Wine Safari Score: 94-95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot Vosne Romanee Lieu Dit ‘Les Jachees’ 2023

Fabulously deep alluring aromatics with a broody black cherry, bramble berry and sweet mulberry complexity laced with exotic Christmas spices, Asian five spice, together with a pronounced limestone minerality. The palate clearly shows an extra gear on the village cuvée, with hints of savoury cured meats, subtle forest floor and earthy blueberry fruits with a wound spring tension, linearity, and bright acid precision. Beautiful clarity and steely purity. Supreme terroir driven class. Drink from 2026 to 2040+.

(Wine Safari Score: 95-96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Clos de la Bidaude Monopole above Clos des Lambray Grand Cru. Vineyard.

Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot Clos de la Bidaude Monopole 2023

A wine that is simply mesmerizingly intense with piercing aromatics of violets, saline crème de cassis, oyster shells and sloe berries with a tightly knit complexity of smoky sapidity, crushed limestone and chalky spice. Piercing and powerful, the purity and intensity of fruit is awesome, the precision, polish, and concentration simply majestic. The perfect marriage of intelligent winemaking harnessing super fruit purity and perfect hillside terroir. A really super impressive success for the vintage. Drink from 2028 to 2040+.

(Wine Safari Score: 97-98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot Echezeaux Grand Cru 2023

This is a broad complex wine with broody, earthy black fruited aromatics laced with damp earth, savoury black berry, red cherry and a well-integrated sapidity with attractive bramble berry notes. The stony mineral grip is stark, the dry exact fabulously mouth coating and intense. This is a slightly more accessible, generous expression from the Domaine but retains all the allure, purity, and mineral precision of a profound Grand Cru Pinot Noir. Drink from 2028 to 2040+.

(Wine Safari Score: 95-96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The “Les Jachees” lieu dit vineyard in Vosne Romanee.

Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot Hautes Cotes de Nuits Blanc 2023

A broody complex white with intricate aromatics of lemon grass, sweet herbs, pithy white citrus, and sweet lemon pastille before notes of honey on warm white toast and grapefruit confit. The flavours are bright and tangy with plentiful nuances of wet stone minerality, honied lemon peel, bon bon rock candy and a dusty, powdery savoury finish. The astonishing concentration an ever-present Bizot hallmark. Drink from 2026 to 2035+.

(Wine Safari Score: 93-94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot Bourgogne Les Violetts Blanc 2023

This is an expressive white with delicious waxy citrus aromatics, dried herbs, lemon tea, wet slate and delicate leesy lanolin nuances. The intensity is piercing, the texture deliciously tangy, glycerol and concentrated with lemon and lime cordial hints, a crystalline purity and a long, stony, concentrated finish. An incredibly delicious white with plenty of legs to go 12-15+ years. Drink from 2026 to 2040+.

(Wine Safari Score: 94-95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Domaine Jean-Yves Bizot wines are imported exclusively in the UK by Musigny Wines. Contact Andrew Pavli to request an allocation.

Andrew@musigny.wine

Christmas Arrives Early in London as Domaine Bizot Previews Their New 100 Point Charlemagne Grand Cru 2022 at a Bespoke Michelin Star Dinner…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

A recent November 2024 visit to the cellars of Jean-Yves Bizot was undoubtedly the highlight of a week of 2023 En-primeur barrel tastings in Burgundy ahead of the new release campaign starting in January 2025. Domaine Bizot will not offer their 2023s for many more months, preferring to release their exceptional red and white wines after longer élévages and after the wines have already been bottled, as is becoming the trend with most top end producers in Burgundy. 

So, there was of course a lot of excitement when it was announced that Victor Mignardot, the Assistant Commercial at Domaine Bizot, would be coming to London in late December to host an exclusive private client tasting with their UK importer Musigny. The wines of Domaine Bizot are widely regarded as the pinnacle of premium quality red Burgundy with global collectors and connoisseurs chasing the meagre allocations of Jean-Yves’s wines that are released annually.

Tasting with Jean-Yves in Vosne Romanee November 2024.

With wines as collectable and sought-after as Domaine Bizot, Jean-Yves and his numerous global agents must work very fastidiously to make sure the wines reach the cellars of the most deserving collectors rather than letting the wines merely disappear into the black hole of wine investment portfolios. Part of this process naturally involves tasting new and archive releases in person with as many loyal collectors of the wines as possible, and I was very fortunate to be invited to join one such gathering at the exceptional London Michelin Star restaurant, Chez Bruce, to sample a selection of back vintages of Domaine Bizot’s wines but also to retaste the first ever public showing of Jean-Yves’s maiden release Charlemagne 2022 that is now bottled and scheduled to be offered in global markets in early 2025.

After several bottles of delicious Bollinger RD 2002 to clear the palate, the first flight of whites was poured, namely the Domaine Bizot Bourgogne Blanc Les Violettes 2019 and the Charlemagne Grand Cru 2022. The Les Violettes is made from a small 0.16-hectare parcel of Chardonnay just near the Bizot winery in Vosne Romanée, but which can only be classified as humble Bourgogne Blanc within this red appellation. Fabulously taut and linear, the Les Violettes displayed a taut structure and steely power way above any Bourgogne level wine, and the 2019 was incredibly youthful and crystalline with a pronounced limestone minerality, crisp bracing acids together with a seamless pear and pithy white citrus concentration. Really very special, but sadly only made in incredibly small quantities, so a real privilege to taste. (96/100 GSMW)

The second white was the highly anticipated Domaine Bizot Charlemagne 2022 that I last tasted and reviewed from barrel in January 2024. This was, at the time, a wine that redefined premium white Burgundy wine quality for me, coming from two small plots of 0.14 hectares in the famed Le Charlemagne vineyard. As Victor mentioned, when Jean-Yves bought the two plots, the vines were fortunately in very good health, allowing for a wine of exceptional quality to be made without the need for extensive regenerative vineyard work. Tasting this incredible wine once again, I was so pleased to see all the complex traits I described in my original barrel note, (see here…https://gregsherwoodmw.com/2024/03/04/domaine-jean-yves-bizot-prepares-to-release-its-maiden-corton-charlemagne-grand-cru-2022-from-le-charlemagne/) but now all just a little more polished and integrated as a finished bottled wine. The clients tasting this wine were literally speechless, the complexity on the nose and palate simply astonishing, the power, poise, and concentration unlike anything anyone had ever tasted from Burgundy, let alone Corton-Charlemagne. The closest we could get to a fair comparison from elsewhere in Burgundy was perhaps identifying several similarities with a top-notch vintage of Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru, as both wines share an incredible limestone minerality. I am very happy to elevate my barrel score from a potential 99-100/100 to a solid, unequivocal 100/100 GSMW. 

After the mind-blowing Charlemagne, the first of the reds was poured to transition to the Pinot Noirs with main courses. Once again, another exceptional new wine, a joint venture between Jean-Yves Bizot and Le Clos des Fées called Domaine du Clos des Fées ‘100 Phrases Pour Eventails’ Pinot Noir 2022, the third release from this IGP Cotes Catalanes project. This was my first tasting encounter with this wine that I have been hearing about for the past two years: Seductive opulence with a ripeness and density of black berry fruits offering aromas that are incredibly pristine, pure, and fragrant showing notes of lavender, black currant, black cherry, damson plum, cured meats and savoury black fruits with a subtle tilled earth complexity. The texture resonates true class, being creamy and plush with delightful hints of garrigue, black plums, and raisined black cherry framed by silky creamy tannins with gun smoke, graphite, and peppercorn spice on the finish. You can taste the sunshine and ripeness, but the fruit purity and precision are exceptional. A real beauty. (96/100 GSMW)

The final flight was another impressive selection of benchmark Pinot Noirs, two beautiful back vintages from Domaine Bizot accompanied by a Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 2007. With the collectability of Domaine Bizot’s wines reaching fever pitch globally, any opportunity to taste slightly more mature back vintages is an enticing proposition. The Domaine Bizot Vosne Romanée Village 2014 was initially tight and a little broody, offering up earthy forest floor aromatics, Christmas spices, and bramble berry fruits. But before long, the wine really started to fan its peacock tail, boasting delicately perfumed notes of pink musk, violets, and wild strawberries, beautifully balanced and seductively complex with a real translucent terroir quality. At 10 years old, there is still plenty of life ahead of this classy village wine. (95/100 GSMW)

The Vosne Romanée served as the perfect introduction to the next wine, Jean-Yves’s famed Domaine Bizot Echezeaux 2018, selected for its accessibility, generosity, and seductive depth of fruit. 2018, like 2023, was another one of the rare vintages that offered both quality and quantity. On the face of it, 2018 was a relatively straightforward vintage with a wet winter and spring topping up the vineyard water reserves, and a warm, sunny summer that ensured all the grapes reached optimal ripeness without difficulty. This Echezeaux 2018 was incredibly fresh and youthful with aromatics of saline crème de cassis, black cherry, nori seaweed, and strawberry compote. The palate was dense, broad, and fleshy, generously open and forthcoming, with creamy sweet tannins, a subtle underlying limestone minerality and a long, sleek, finish with a notable ripeness and concentration. While you can feel the ripeness of the warmer vintage, the purity of perfume and palate fruit is pinpoint and precise, with grapes picked just at the optimal time so as to be able to convey Jean-Yves’s style that is both terroir driven but incredible pure and precise with all the requisite wound spring tension you’d expect on a Grand Cru red of this pedigree. This was an utter joy to drink already. (97/100 GSMW)

The Domaine Bizot cellar in Vosne Romanee.

To request a Domaine Bizot allocation from their UK importer, contact: http://www.musigny.wine

Email: andrew@musigny.wine

Jean Yves Bizot Establishing His Stunning Domaine Wines As Some of the Most Sought-After in Burgundy…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

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 lutte raisonnée 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.

Domaine Bizot Bourgogne Blanc 2005, Burgundy, 13.5% Abv.

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.

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

Domaine Bizot Vosne Romanee 2005 Vieilles Vignes, Burgundy, 13% Abv.

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.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Previews Their Exceptional and Unique 2020 Vintages in London…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

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.

Getting Ready for Burgundy En-Primeur 2021 with a Fabulous Private Client Dinner Featuring the Wines of Top Talent Bruno Desaunay-Bissey…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

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.

Reviewing Domaine de la Romanee Conti’s 2019 Releases As a New Era Dawns for the World’s Most Famous Burgundy Estate…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

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.

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

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.