I just opened a bottle of 2009 Gevrey-Chambertin VV, poured it into the glass, and it smells like… cigarettes? If I didn’t check CT I’d think I was going crazy. Does anyone like this tarry flavor? Where is this “pure fruit” that people speak of with Bachelet?
All I can add is that Bachelets shut down hard and I have had similar experiences. Still waiting for the 05s to open.
In fairness, that’s true of most of 05s from almost all producers. I’ve had some good Bachelets, but none that have compelled me to buy any myself, especially for the price.
One of the greatest Burgundies I have ever tasted was a 1990 Bachelet. Since then I have been greeted by an impenetrable wall of structure with every bottle I have opened.
It seems unfair to make broad assertions about a producer based on a sample size of one bottle.
I opened up a ‘10 Gevrey VV last month that was open, red fruited and delicious. No ash and no wall of tannin.
I am a fan. As with the producers I buy regularly, most bottles sing and a few croak. That’s Burgundy.
Even Ted Williams struck out some time.
He was also an asshole.
I had a very good and pleasurable bottle of the 2001 a couple of weeks ago.
I drink a good bit of bachelet. I love the wines. I haven’t had the ‘09 gevrey recently but I’ve never gotten cigarettes from any of his wines. I had a very odd 2012 CdN villages earlier this year but it had been sitting in a store since release and I assumed that the storage had its ups and downs. I really like the gevrey VV - i actually it prefer to the 1er corbeaux most years and stopped buying the corbeaux as a result. The charmes that I’ve had in the last three or four years - ‘83 and ‘99 - have been fantastic. That being said, all the wines need a lot of time, the same amount of time really, from gevrey all the way to grand cru.
Setting aside the harsh reality of paying for burgundy these days I don’t consider the wines to be too expensive on a relative basis. The gevrey vv is a little less expensive then the Rousseau gevrey clos du chateau, and the bachelet is a better wine for me. The charmes price shot up kind of suddenly but it’s the best charmes and a buy for me.
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Bachelet had some issues with their cooper in 2009, 2010 and 2011 that no one in the trade or press likes to talk about (perhaps I will render myself persona non grata by writing this, but I don’t think so). If you drink 2008s and 2012s, by contrast, you will be delighted.
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I would say that the style has evolved in a more supple direction since around 2007. They extract a bit less. If one wanted to make analogies, one could say that they used to be a bit more like Roty in style (their friends and neighbors in one of their Charmes parcels, as well as in their CdN-Villages), and that today the style is a bit more giving and fruit-driven, while Roty remain a bit more old fashioned.
1999 Charmes - best wine Denis ever made? Discuss!
The 90 Charmes is one of my very top Burgundy experiences.
Back when I wrote for Decanter and was impossibly poor, I passed on a bottle of 1989 Charmes for maybe 250 EUR. Still regret that…
As always, your candor and expertise are both greatly appreciated. Guess I’ll have to try a 2012 before I totally write the wines off!
Loved the 1999 (a friend brought it to a restaurant for dinner, I brought a 1999 Truchot Clos de la Roche), but the 1985 also was quite good.
My first visit in Burgundy was to Bachelet. I will never forget it. Unless you have been there, many might not know how little wine he actually makes. It’s insanely small cellar and production.
In 2008 I traded Alan Weinberg 3 bottles of 2005 Rousseau CsJ for 3 bottles of 1999 Bachelet Charmes. I thought it was a good trade then and still a good trade today. Forget prices… 99 Bachelet Charmes is breathtaking.
Yep, '99 Charmes is the bomb.
I’ve got to say, a wine that smells like cigarettes sounds like the ultimate evolution of French wine. Maybe you’re just too American to appreciate it 
I’m gonna pop one of the 17 GC vv I got recently soon
The 96 ain’t bad either.