tasting / laying down / 2023 Burgundy
down after that. Richly glossy and muscular. A dense and compact palate, super-savory on the finish. This Valmur is all guns blazing. 2028–40. | 93–94
SIMONNET-FEBVRE White
Chablis Premier Cru Forêts
Sweet strike, but with more energy and intensity than the Montmains. It’s also quite soft and creamy, but lighter and more refined, with rich floral notes to finish. 2025–30. | 87
Chablis Premier Cru Montmains
Earthy up front, it gathers richness and creaminess on the mid-palate. Ripe and easygoing, quite soft and immediately accessible, with a slightly smoky finish. 2025–28. | 85
Chablis Premier Cru Vaillons
A glossy palate, with generous apricot fruit. It has a smooth glide, with a light, savory, stone underpinning to the palate, which carries into the finish. 2025–30. | 86
Red Irancy Les Mazelots
Bright and juicy, with attractive, crunchy tannin and a slight piquancy. I like the rosehip aromatics. A simple, lively, crisp wine from a warm vintage. 2025–27. | 82–83
CÔTE DE NUITS MARSANNAY
DOMAINE BRUNO CLAIR Fixin Premier Cru Les Arvelets
Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Les Cazetiers
An intense and exuberant aroma and an enthusiastic splash on the attack. Sweet red currant fruit. Very accessible. Always a high pH, so it’s not acidity but sapidity that carries this wine. The tannins are fine and chalky, and the finish is engagingly austere and persistent. Lovely and long. 2028–40. | 95–96
Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Clos de Fonteny (monopole)
Very small berries, because some of the vines have a virus, and the rows are oriented east-west. Filigree Gevrey. Delicacy and refinement. Intense, pure, and lucid wine. Shimmers on the finish. I love this style. 2027–37. | 95
Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Clos St-Jacques
An aromatic petal aroma floats into such a perfumed palate, sweet and fine and satin-textured. There is a real sweetness to this Clos St-Jacques, but it’s entwined with freshness. 2028–40. | 95
180 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 87 | 2025
There is substance to this premier cru, which has red-cherry fruit, lightly textured, crunchy tannins, and plenty of freshness. Joyful, yummy Fixin. 2026–30. | 86
Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Petits Monts
Silky glide into the palate. Ripe blueberry fruit, with a ripple of freshness and a crisp, taffeta texture to the slightly spicy, minty finish. A refined and delicate Vosne. 2027–35. | 93–94
GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN DOMAINE DENIS BACHELET “The quality in 2023 is outstanding,” remarks Denis Bachelet. “High yields, but the good weather to ripen them. And because the yields were high, we could take off all the dry berries.” The biggest evolution in the winery is a reduction in the number of punch-downs. “Before 2013, it was three a day, now it’s two a day, then just one a day in the morning and a pump-over in the evening. When the bunches have very high ripeness, we do not need much extraction. I like elegance and accessibility. I want to see bottles empty on the table.”
Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Fonteny
The soil in this plot is fine-textured and shallow. High-toned, fresh, and upright aroma, with violet notes. It pirouettes on the palate, silky and delicate in texture. Powdery tannins. A filigree Gevrey, threaded with shiny freshness that carries through the fine-spun finish. Delightful. 2027–40. | 94–95
Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Lavaux St-Jacques
Floral perfume—elderflower white petal and a touch of redcurrant—almost more like a white wine on the aroma. Slim and racy. Fine, chalky texture. This has nervosity and bright, fizzling salinity. I love this wine. 2027–40. | 95
Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Petite Chapelle
Blackcurrant fruit with a light anise note. This takes you off-guard with the satin slide on the front palate, because it follows up with tension and vigor. There is freshness and bite in the middle, where you feel the body from the clay soil. A touch of licorice and aniseed to finish. 2027–40. | 93
Bright and vivacious, with splashing red fruit. I like the zesty finish and the lively character of this Gevrey. 2028–35. | 92–93
Echézeaux Grand Cru
Ripples elegantly. Fine-grained tannins, precise and quite delicate, but intense. Fresh, pure, and persistent on the finish. 2028–40. | 96
FIXIN
DOMAINE BERTHAUT-GERBET Amalie Berthaut makes fruit-forward Fixin with soft tannin, debunking the stereotype of robust wines from this village. Super-juicy wines with fine textures in 2023: “I used very little whole-bunch.” She chaptalized a few cuvées by 0.5% ABV, explaining that she prefers to pick early rather than to pick later and acidify.
CHÂTEAU DE MARSANNAY Sylvain Pabiot, the technical director here, highlighted the importance of leaf- and fruit- thinning in July. He arranged for 100 pickers to start harvesting on September 9—a week earlier than anticipated. As a result, actual alcohol levels averaged “only” 13.5%. Sylvain also moderated punch-down, because extraction was easy, and despite yields exceeding 45hl/ha, the mouthfeel of the wines is fleshy and well structured.
Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Les Champeaux
Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru
Ripe strawberry-field aromas. Sunny and alluring. Finely textured, silky, and airy—there is volume but not a whit of heaviness. A scented, floating persistence. A perfumed presence. Just a delight. 2027–35. | 96
DOMAINE BERNARD DUGAT-PY
I last visited this domaine 20 years ago, when the wines were aged in 100% new oak and were pretty extracted. So, it was overdue for a re-appraisal… and goodness, the change in style is radical. Loïc fully took over from his father Bernard with the 2015 vintage. “I make the wines with lots of freshness.” This is clearly reflected in his 2023s—such a warm vintage, yet there is plenty of freshness and energy. I enjoyed tasting these vibrant wines, where excellent use of whole-bunch, following an early harvest, supercharges the freshness with herbal sappiness and lift.
Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Les Corbeaux
From 60- and 80-year-old parcels. A rich, deep, and earthy aroma, with attractive, sooty, and graphite notes. Super-succulent slice into the palate, which grows in volume to become rounded on the mid- palate. Full and deep, with black-chocolate density, and here, too, a vibrant herbal note brings freshness and spice to the finish. 2028–40. | 94
Chambertin Clos de Bèze Grand Cru
Beautifully aromatic. This gusts into a sumptuous and succulent palate, full but not heavy, retaining an airy and light feel. Gauzy texture. There is a delicacy that carries all the way through to a delightfully fragrant finish. “I am very proud of this,” says Arthur Clair. And so he should be. Among the finest wines I tasted this vintage. 2028–40. | 98–99
Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Les Corbeaux
From a climat with deep clay, next to Mazis. A touch of anise, with a wealth of ripe blackcurrant fruit on the nose. Deep, dark, dense, and well- defined palate, with firmly contained lusciousness. A black satin touch to the texture, with a smooth and fresh graphite note to finish. 2027–35. | 93
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