2012 Chambertin

The 2012 Chambertin Grand Cru comes from three parcels that total a sizeable 1.9-hectares scattered on different soils and this blend includes 90% whole cluster fruit. It has an intense bouquet: blackcurrant, raspberry leaf, forest floor, minerals and orange rind that is very delineated and focused. The palate is animated and tense on the entry. This Chambertin can barely contain its energy and it just shimmers in the mouth, gradually building to a precocious red cherry and citrus peel finish, the mineralite defining the aftertaste. This is a sophisticated, cerebral Chambertin for the studious, rather than the hedonists.||I have tasted the wines of this domaine for many years in London and they never quite pricked the soul like others were able to. Trapet and I – we just never made a connection. So it was time to rap on their door on the RN74 in Gevrey-Chambertin and taste directly from barrel with winemaker Jean-Louis Trapet, cousin of the Rossignol brothers over the crossroads at Domaine Rossignol-Trapet. He is an easy-going gentleman, mild mannered and softly spoken, just a little grizzled, a spiritual person that has embraced biodynamie, certified not once but twice courtesy of Demeter and Biodyvin. Naturally, I started by asking him how his vines had coped during the capricious growing season of 2012. “I feel that biodynamics helped us to have stronger vines. We had a long season that began early. During flowering it was cold – I had never seen that since 1990 when I took over. Due to this difficult flowering we had very small bunches. That is the most important point of this vintage - lots of millerandage. We started picking on 25 September. The berries were very small but ripe. We usually use between 30% and 50% whole cluster, but this year we used between 50% and 90%. You could really see the difference in the vat: there was 30 to 40% more volume using whole bunches. I think it gives elegance and structure to the wines.” As previously mentioned, I must confess that whenever I encountered the wines in London, they did not quite deliver. Perhaps these sensitive biodynamic “souls” did not travel well? Certainly here I understood the wines better and I feel that they were more representative. There was more energy, more cohesion and tension here in the cellar. I was very impressed by the trio of grand crus that were amongst the best that I tasted during my trip (and given this was my final day, I had tasted many.) There is an intellectual aspect to Trapet’s wines. They are not hedonistic delights. They are not “polished” to appease the masses. They are natural, perhaps uncompromising wines that deserve reflection and thought, before delighting in their sensory pleasure. eRobertParker.com.December, 2013