More impressions of the 2015 vintage

On my third day of visits in Burgundy I had four tasings … Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair, Domaine Hereztyn-Mazzini, Albert Bichot and lastly Domaine Nicolas Faure. 

The visits confirmed the high quality of the 2015 vintage, but also some indications of the challenges for those who harvested later. The tastings also show that some individual wines are showing extraordinary quality given their level and appellation. 

Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair

The Liger-Belair 2015s are magnificent offering all the best sides of the vintage i.e. juicy red fruit, very fine freshness. Quite many of the cuvees showed the extraordinary richness and balanced foound in the best 2015s .. the Clos des Grandes Vignes is really singing in 2015. The Echezeaux is truly outstanding … the magnificent Les Cruots terroir clearly yielded some great wines in 2015. La Romanee is a true masterpiece in the making very generous and forward at this stage.

Photo: Louis-Michel Liger-Belair

Domaine Hereztyn-Mazzini in Gevrey-Chambertin

This was my first visit here and hopefully not the last. I tasted the full set of 2014s and 2015s with Florence Hereztyn-Mazzini, and these are all delightful wines. 

The 2015s showed very well – fresh with a gorgeous vibrant red fruit – lovely energy in the wines. The wines are very cool and transparent with a 30 – 65% whole cluster – they are expressive and fresh. Hard to pick favorites  .. as so many wines are showing the best sides of the 2015 vintage.

Photo: Florence Hereztyn-Mazzini

Albert Bichot – Domaine du Clos Frantin

I tasted a large selection of the 2015s with wine maker Cyrille Jacquelin. The quality here is very high, altough some wines are a bit on the darker side. The Grands Echezeaux is the star of the show offering extraordinary red fruit, depth and freshness – a masterpiece. The Le Chambertin and the Richebourg are really singing with fressness and energy .. magnificent juice.

Domaine Nicolas Faure

This is a new and very small Domaine established and run by Nicolas Faure who is producing these wines outside his normal work hours at Domaine Prieure-Roch. The production is very limited – in 2015 – Aligote, Coteaux Bourgignone (Gamay), Bourgogne Rouge, Nuits-Saint-Georges village and Aloxe-Corton village – in total around 10 barrels.

The wines here are unique – wines of the terroir – unmanipulated and intense. The reds are made with 100% whole cluster, and the use of SO2 is in the lower range, so very expressive wines. They have edge and offer a natural and direct expression of the vineyard … no polished wine making style here.

I adore these wines as they seem very genuine and terroir driven … these are very far from the technical wines made by so many in Burgundy. The tasting was a truly great experience .. sincere thanks to Nicolas for this generous tasting.

Photo: Nicolas Faure