2012 Gevrey Chambertin Lavaux St Jacques

The 2012 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St-Jacques is reduced to just two barrels this year, from vines located just behind Bernard Dugat’s house, and includes around 75% whole cluster fruit. It has a beguiling, floral bouquet with dried violet petals infusing the lush dark cherry and cassis fruit that is extremely well defined and carries the oak with ease. The palate is medium-bodied with a gentle grip on the entry. This is a dense Gevrey but the acidity is nicely pointed and slices through the thickly layered dark berry fruit on the finish that springs a spicy tail to keep you on your toes. There is palpable energy here – superb. Rapping the door at Domaine Dugat-Py, at first sight I thought that Bernard Dugat had aged a little…about thirty years to be exact. Now I know that his parents live in the conjoined house next door and that his son inherited his looks from his father, Pierre Dugat, as well as some of the most propitious vineyard holdings in Gevrey. Bernard’s wines have always had a modern sheen with relatively high use of new oak from his village crus upwards (100% for all his premier and grand crus.) These are not wines for those expecting subtlety or “transparency” – they are packed with intense flavors, bold structure and occasionally extravagant finishes. The 2012s are no exception, but for the most part these wines handles the new oak with aplomb, principally because a combination of grand crus and old vines give the solid foundation for that level of new oak, that culminate in a quite audacious Mazis-Chambertin. Of course, as Bernard mentioned, his preponderance of old vine material meant that he was hit hard by millerandage and as a consequence yields are miniscule: around 18 or 19hl/ha. The harvest commenced on 21 September with the premier crus and like many growers the malo-lactics were late, which meant that I was unable to taste two or three crus such as the Gevrey Petite Chapelle. If you like your Burgundy packed full of intensity but with finesse and do not mind cellaring for a decade a more, Dugat-Py is the place to come. Importer: The Sorting Table, LLC, 1700 Second Street Suite 380 Napa, CA 94559 ; tel: 707-603-1466 and also through Lea & Sandeman in the UK.