2012 Chambertin

The 2012 Chambertin Grand Cru is stricter on the nose when compared to the Chapelle-Chambertin, only reluctantly revealing marine influences that impregnate the black fruit profile. It is a little “strict” and “aloof” at the moment. The palate is sensual and very well balanced on the entry with supple tannins, a gracious Chambertin with an elegant, feminine and very pure finish. However, I feel that it is outclassed by both the Clos-de-Beze and Chapelle-Chambertin this year. One statement nonchalantly uttered by head winemaker Frederic Barnier not only summed up the 2012 vintage, but the plight of Burgundy in recent years. “We have lost around one and a half crops out of the last four.” Imagine losing your equivalent income? For a significant negociant such as Louis Jadot, one that under outgoing(ish) winemaker Jacques Lardiere and his successor, have constantly striven for quality, that dearth of fruit has a major impact. The dramatic decrease in crop means that more people are “fighting” for top quality contracted fruit. The rise in land prices has exacerbated the problem as few can afford to buy vineyards and therefore resort to building small negociant businesses and join the queue. Now, small operations that just require one flagship barrel of grand cru might just be able to afford to pay over the odds. However, a merchant such as Jadot simply cannot afford to do that when they need dozens of barrels to satisfy worldwide demand. So how do they do it? “Relationships,” answers Frederic, “It all comes down to relationships with our contracted growers.” For evidence of that, just flick down to my review of their Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet that came a whisker away from never being made. So with all the sturm und drang, how are Louis Jadot faring? Suffice to say that Frederic seems to have slipped into Jacques Lardiere’s impossible-to-fill shoes by simply slipping into his own. There was a confidence about him when I conducted two morning sessions with him, though he never crosses the line into braggadocio. The first tasting focused on a complete horizontal of the white. “The (white) 2012s were very rich,” he remarked. “Some of the village crus were overwhelmed and they were too fat and heavy. So in order to maintain freshness we blocked the malo-lactic through sulfur addition.” Frederic goes into more detail of the vintage in the accompanying video, but the main point is that the skins were thick and the berries yielded very little juice. This meant that he had to exact a very prudent vinification in order to eke out the free-run juice without leeching hard, bitter, perhaps astringent elements. He appears to have done exactly that. While I would not say that it was an unmitigated success, after all when you annually produce 100 crus there are bound to be some that don’t quite make the grade, Louis Jadot’s 2012s continue a fine run of form that disprove the theory that large-scale merchants cannot produce wine equal if not better than bijou growers. And that comes from a lot of sweat and tears. Frederic rued that he had not seen his wife or children over the previous four weeks during the harvest! But these prenatal wines appear to have made that temporary estrangement worthwhile. These samples were all taken from barrel and prepared by Frederic Barnier on the same morning of my arrival, with as much effort to reflect the final blend as possible. Note that for the village crus, samples did not include deselected premier crus barrels that will obviously ameliorate those wines. Importer: Kobrand Corp., Purchase, NY; tel. (914) 253-7756 and through Hatch Mansfield in UK.

A cool and highly restrained nose of spice, plum, underbrush and animale notes displays an ample amount of wood influence. The driving minerality of the openly muscular and hugely proportioned flavors is patently obvious and it continues onto the mouth coating and breathtakingly long finish. I very much like the balance here and while it can't quite match the sheer depth of material evidenced by the Chapelle, it's close and like the Chapelle I would suggest that this is very definitely not a good candidate for early consumption. Tasted: Apr 15, 2014. Drink: 2032+

The 2012 Chambertin Grand Cru is stricter on the nose when compared to the Chapelle-Chambertin, only reluctantly revealing marine influences that impregnate the black fruit profile. It is a little “strict” and “aloof” at the moment. The palate is sensual and very well balanced on the entry with supple tannins, a gracious Chambertin with an elegant, feminine and very pure finish. However, I feel that it is outclassed by both the Clos-de-Beze and Chapelle-Chambertin this year. Dec 2013, www.robertparker.com