The 2015 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru comes from the younger vines (20 years old) from the Chambertin Grand Cru (a bit like Mugneret-Gibourg's own Gevrey 1er Cru in Ruchottes up until the 2011 vintage). It has a crisp, mineral-driven bouquet, a little pinched at first but opening up with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied and feels just a little oaky on the entry, although the second half is nicely balanced with a velvety smooth finish.

The 2014 Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru, from declassified 18-year-old vines from Chambertin, has an airy, refined bouquet with boysenberry and raspberry coulis, a touch of sous-bois coming through with aeration. The 50% new oak is nicely embroidered into the palate, quite sumptuous in the mouth with plenty of roundness here; this is an early drinking Gevrey that will drink well in its youth.

From the younger vines in Chambertin picked on the same day as the older vines, the 2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru has a fragrant blackberry and raspberry-scented nose infused with vanilla from the oak. The palate is chewy on the entry with succulent red cherry and blackcurrant fruit. There is a little hardness here, with some wood tannins prominent toward the finish, though that should be subsumed with time. However, there is a slight bluntness on the finish that detracts from its finesse.

The 2012 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru, which will come from the younger vines in Chambertin, has a vivacious floral bouquet with dried violet petals infusing the dark berry fruit with just a suggestion of black tea. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannins, a fine edginess, but showing just a little attenuation towards the brittle finish. Several years ago, mere weeks after it was announced that I would be working for this very publication, I visited Domaine Jacques Prieur to taste their 2005s unaware that the authorities had erroneously issued a letter declaring that I was the official reviewer rather than Mr. Schildknecht. I guess they were just six years premature. Nevertheless, I have tracked the progress of this domaine owned by the Labruyere family, who also preside over Chateau Rouget in Pomerol and their original estate in Moulin-a-Vent. Edouard Labruyere was out in Asia when I visited on a cold Sunday morning, so it was oenologist Nadine Gublot who guided me through their portfolio that had been curtailed by the inclement weather. “It was not an easy growing season,” Nadine explained in her lovely thick German accent. “The weather was like 2013, not very bad, not very fine, sunny and rainy with a constant pressure of mildew at the beginning of the season and oidium towards the end. We had to work very hard in the vineyard to preserve the healthy conditions. It is a low yielding vintage because June was fresh and overcast so the flowering was very bad for both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. On the positive side, as the weather was ‘comme ci comme ca’ the quantity of berries was small and the berries were spaced out, so it was like Mother Nature equaling everything out. Average yields came in at around 20 hectoliters per hectare; Volnay particularly affected by the bad flowering and hail at the end of June, so they produced only around 10 hectoliters per hectare. All the wines are still in barrels on the lees and not racked. Malo-lactic was very late, some just finishing one month ago (October) for the whites due to the cold weather and also because of cold natural temperatures in the cellar as I never warm it. (Consequently some of the whites are missing from this report.) There was no batonnage, which I stopped in 2008 because the grapes are naturally rich. The wines are a big surprise. At the beginning of the harvest, I never thought we would produce so bright wines, especially for the reds. We did not need any chaptalization. I am surprised by the fruit, texture, balance and freshness. I could never imagine during that summer that we would have produced such beautiful wines.” Reader will be aware that some of the usual cuvees are missing this year. Nadine had to make the difficult decision of blending severely affected vineyards together, especially in Volnay and Chambertin. “As the yield and crop were very low, we have a very small quantity in Champans and Clos des Santenots. Usually we have three premier crus. Volnay Santenots comes from the young vines of Clos des Santenots around 17 years old. We decided to make two Volnays in 2012 after vinifying and maturing them separately: Volnay 1er Cru that will be a blend of Champans and the young vines of Santenots and the Volnay 1er Santenots from Clos des Santenots plus a small part of the old vines in Santenots. In Chambertin we have four different parcels: two parcels of young vines of 17 years old and two parcels that are 50-years old that are vinified, matured and bottled separately. They form the Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru and Chambertin Grand Cru respectively. At the moment, I don’t know whether we will bottle a Chambertin Grand Cru.” Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700 and through Berry Brothers & Rudd (UK)

The Prieur 2008 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru – constituting the fruit of their recently re-planted Chambertin vines – smells and tastes of dark cherry, licorice, rose hip and blond tobacco. Its sweetness of fruit is challenged a bit in the finish by the resinous, toasty overlay of barrel, which the rest of this wine’s personality is not strong enough to resist. Drink it over the next 3-5 years. Martin Prieur, oenologist Nadine Gublin, and their team hung tight in the 2008 vintage and ended up harvesting very ripe-tasting Pinots, at the price of yields dramatically reduced by the necessary selection (to the extent hail and green harvest had not already cut them back). As a group, these 2008s tended toward a not entirely felicitous alliance of tannic abrasion and toasty, smoky, ultimately slightly palate-drying new wood, although many of the wines showed more harmoniously when I re-tasted them in April than they had the month prior, and I have accordingly favored my later impressions in the notes that follow. It may well be true by some measure – as Gublin opined – that the 2008s here are more consistently ripe than were the 2006s, but for now I find more depth, harmony, and charm in the latter. Their 2007s – which the domaine began picking already on August 30 – are not currently displaying much of the charm they showed very early on, and while the estate’s staff hope is that this will be regained (and certainly the wines have “structure” in the sense of tannin), I continue to be skeptical in general about deferring those pleasures that this vintage offers. In many vineyards, incidentally, 2008 represented the third consecutive vintage in which Prieur had harvested scarcely more than 20 hectoliters per hectare. Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700