Domaine Jean-Michel Guillon Chambolle Musigny 2011

WINE TALK
1

I had this wine at a restaurant in DC called Proof that has a great wine list. It was really a nice tasting wine - rich, but certainly not over the top, with beautiful flavors. Kind of classic Chambolle. I had not heard of the producer before - sommelier suggested this wine as a red Burgundy that would be good for non-wine geeks (I was with clients) and that was pretty open right now. I was very impressed. Does anyone know much about this producer?

2

I visited him in the summer of 2011 as it happens. Your somm was right. At the more modern style end but without being in any way OTT. Typically, good value as somewhat under the radar. Mainly a gevrey producer with quite a wide range of gevrey village and 1ers. We tasted through his 09s from bottle and his 10s in barrel and liked them a lot, especially for the price. I’ve still got the 6 packs of gevrey VV and la perriere that I bought.

3

Coincidentally he did a tasting at Chain Bridge Cellars in McLean last Saturday. Lovely man and terrific under the radar wines.

4

I’ve been a huge fan of these for a long time. I started with the 2002 vintage. Somewhere around 2008 he started dialing back the oak, and getting more rigorous in the vineyards. He thinks the world of Claude Dugat, so use that as a point of reference. His Mazis is spell binding, and any of his old vine bottlings are also exceptional. At one point, he was appointed president of the Gevrey grower’s association.

5

Too bad I missed that.

6

My first experience with Jean-Michel Guillon’s wines during a visit to France was his just released 2000 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champonnets, which I enjoyed very much. My former partner in the wine business began to work with Guillon shortly after that on the strength of my recommendation. He and I visited the domaine in 2005. Jean-Michel is a former airline pilot, with a passion for making wines. He is a striking look-a-like to Fred Dryer, the former NFL football player who starred in the TV series Hunter. Earnings were plowed back into acquiring vineyards, and Guillon leased his barrels rather than purchase. His wines are attractive and, I agree with Ian that tempering the new oak has been beneficial, has an interesting lineup. I like his GC Petite Chapelle as being a bit deeper than the Champonnets, and his Mazis-Chambertin can be outstanding. As a matter of fact I opened a bottle of the 2005 Mazis a couple of weeks ago to see how it was coming along. Extremely well, I must add. Planning to include that as one of the wines when It will be my turn to.host the Tucson Lunch Bunch in January with an array of Grand Cru’s from the 2005 vintage.

Unfortunately his wines are no longer going to be imported to Edmonton. Jean-Michel can be a difficult man to work with at times and my former partner decided he had enough and will not work with him again.

Hank [cheers.gif]