Highly recommend this village wine as a great daily drinker at a good price. Drinking well now, but should improve over the next couple of years. I just picked up some of the 2019 at $25 from Saratoga Wine and they still have some 2018 available.
2018 Frederic Esmonin Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Prieur- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin (8/16/2020)
Bottled under Diam5. Fresh inner tube on the nose, with lovely floral notes. What it lacks on the nose it makes up for in spades on the palate with a bright acidity, fresh red fruit, black pepper and cardamom. Paired splendidly with filet and broccoli. (91 pts.)
2018 Frederic Esmonin Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Prieur- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin (5/5/2020)
Initial nose of an old sofa. Blows off to reveal warm floral notes like violets and pipe tobacco. Really an intriguing nose. Good acidity, medium weight on the palate. Tobacco and tart red berries. Finish is smooth. Lovely village level example. Drank just as well the second day. (90 pts.)
Great notes. I had a bottle last month and really enjoyed it too. Fortunately I managed to avoid the “nose of old sofa”, although I loved the description. Are you planning on cracking open one of your 2019’s anytime soon?
Interesting. Medicine cabinet sounds like band aid. I was debating whether it was band aid but I ultimately concluded that wasn’t quite right, but it was close. Either way I didn’t get any of that on the first bottle, so interested in the next one. But I didn’t feel it overwhelmed the overall experience.
I broke down and opened a 2019 this evening, and for the third vintage in a row this is my QPR champ from red Burgundy. It’s still very primary with bright fruit and a nice spine of acidity, and it paired beautifully with coq au vin. Not super complex, but very tasty. Can’t believe this single vineyard Gevrey is still under $30 when a lot of mediocre vin de Borgogne goes for more than that.
Needed a second bottle tonight and decided to dig one of these out.
2019 Frederic Esmonin Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Prieur- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin (12/23/2020)
Don’t buy this. It’s not an excellent Gevrey at a surprising price point. There may be some red fruit wrapped in floral notes. The palate definitely doesn’t have dark fruit on a backbone of acidity with a lingering finish. Save your money and buy some NSG or something from Chile. (91 pts.)
Can someone explain to me how a wine like this can be sold, presumably post-tariff, for $25 a pop in the states? Surely there must be some viticultural or other element lacking in the background that makes that price possible.
Probably the same way you can get 1er Cru Burg juice for 38€ and quality Riesling for 6€ at the cellar door.
The fact that every random winery in OR or CA is trying to peddle their base level Pinot for $30+ direct to consumer has skewed our expectations. That’s not the case in EU.