Was excited to try the range of 2022 Jean-Pierre Guyon wines given the cult status that they have attained. All of the wines were vinified with the “tri en nuage” technique, i.e 100% whole clusters were cut up by hand; the central stems of each bunch were removed while leaving the pedicels. Thought the candied fruit style was pulled off well here, and my clear favourites were the two Vosne 1ers with top spot going to the Brûlées.
2022 Jean-Pierre Guyon Nuits St. Georges Les Argillats Blanc- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges
100% Pinot Blanc. Rather sweet with tropical, honeyed fruit at first but gained acidity as it warmed up in the glass. Too rich for my taste. (89 pts.)
2022 Jean-Pierre Guyon Chorey-les-Beaune Les Bons Ores- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chorey-les-Beaune
Had the signature house style of sweet, candied fruit but was too airy for me. More of a fun, easy-drinking wine in the mould of a Bojo. (90 pts.)
2022 Jean-Pierre Guyon Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Peuillets- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru
A step up from the Chorey-les-Beaune. Slightly darker in fruit profile but still firmly in the red spectrum, liked the depth on the nose and structure on the palate here. Became more candied with air. (91 pts.)
2022 Jean-Pierre Guyon Vosne-Romanée- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée
Some VA and very pretty, slightly candied red fruit. Made in an approachable style but I was hoping for more depth. (90 pts.)
2022 Jean-Pierre Guyon Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru En Orveaux- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
A clear step up from the other wines, this was much more exuberant with the Vosne spice on full display. Lovely aromatics with cinnamon spice and mocha notes, palate had elegant and silky red fruit. (93 pts.)
2022 Jean-Pierre Guyon Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Brulées- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Fresh strawberries and some smoked tea notes on the nose. Very pretty, sappy red fruit on the palate with a superb texture. Terrific balance between power and elegance here, definitely an iron fist in velvet glove type of wine. My favourite in the flight. (94 pts.)
2022 Jean-Pierre Guyon Mes Nuages- France, Vin de France
Made from plots below Corton, aged in new oak then ceramic barrels. Oak influence was overbearing to me here, felt like there was insufficient fruit to stand up to the oak treatment. Not as refined as the other wines. (88 pts.)
2008 Jean-Pierre Guyon Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru En Orveaux- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Someone brought this to compare the new and old style but unfortunately this was advanced despite the perfect cork, thought this was from the 1970s. NR (flawed)
NV Girard-Bonnet Champagne Grand Cru À mi-chemin- France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Base 2018 and 2019. Disgorged oct 2022, 2g/l dosage. Guessed this as a BdB because of the strictness and taut acidity. Similar to previous impressions, this was woolly and anaemic. Think more recent iterations and the higher cuvées are huge step up. (87 pts.)
2020 Etienne Sandrin Champagne Le Bruyant- France, Champagne
My contribution. 90% Pinot Noir, 10% Pinot Blanc. Disgorged 7 Feb 2024, 2g/l dosage. Pale salmon pink in colour, plush red fruit but with high acidity. Very pleasurable, have liked what I’ve tried from this producer so far. (92 pts.)
2023 Aubert Chardonnay Larry Hyde & Sons- USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros
Initially this was quite green and acidic so I thought this was a young aligoté (!). After a couple of hours the oak and sweetness became much more apparent. Not the most cohesive wine now. (89 pts.)
MC turned me on to JPG and have tasted through 4 of the 2022s so far:
-Bourgogne (fantastic for what it is, a perfect porch pounder and one of the best at its price point but not for those looking for no flavor/fruit/sweetness)
-CLB village… not sure I understand this one but a nice wine but nothing special like it is for the Bourgogne at the same price point
-NSG is my favorite of the bunch.
-Gevrey Village … again not sure I get this one like the CLB.
My takeaways being new to this producer- is there enough structure for the mid to longer term at the above level wines… not long term that’s for sure and some not mid level either. That’s ok if you enjoy all phases of a wine’s development but if not into primary phases perhaps not.
The rest of the wines are still in Grance so we shall see how they perform at the higher end of the spectrum, GC and VR, but am a bit surprised by the easy drinking profile. That’s not good or bad depending on your presence but it will be hard to keep my hands off the Bourgogne and NSG
I think it’s really hard to say how wines will turn out in the long run. I’ve definitely opened up a bunch of random village burgs from the 90s with no expectations and they’ve been fantastic. I think a lot of what you’re getting is from the vintage; 21 and 22 are quite accessible vintages. I don’t think you’d get the same experience with 20s, for example.
MC- this wasn’t a broad brush stroke on the producer, rather a direct correlation of those 4 labels of the 2022 vintage as it relates to the lower structural elements required for longer term aging. And don’t get me wrong I am loving every minute of it to the point I am kind of obsessed - can’t wait for the bigger dogs to come in without a 200% Tarrifs… had to stop my shipment from Burgundy until more clarity/cooler heads prevail (hopefully).
Yeah my point is that with burgundy you can’t really assume something won’t age. There are a lot of wines with a bit of fruit that are lighter bodied and age much better than you’d think. Glad you liked the wines!
When these wines are on, I think they’re absolutely brilliant. Ravishing, even. I do think his winemaking is high risk, high reward. Particularly with regards to SO2. As a result, the wines can be inconsistent and occasionally crash and burn.
I taste these, blind, at Burgfest and even within one vintage you can seesaw between outstanding wines and unclean examples showing brett and oxidation. It’s just a bit of a gamble.
Excellent notes as ever, @melvinyeo much thanks. @Matthew_Hemming appreciate the follow up about the risk-reward. I’ve always thought I was a destemmed kind of guy, until some perfidious tempter filled my glass with Dujac… now I swing both ways, and places in between.
“Tri en nuage” sounds like semi-cluster or some such.
Curious to hear from others if this is a common approach, or an outlier / fad?
I like younger wines and evident fruit, though older wines that retain freshness are starting to chip away at my preconceptions. Standouts that surprised me recently at Paulee included very tasty and approachable 10 and 12 Grivot Echezeaux and a 99 H. Lignier Charmes-Chambertin that knocked my socks off.
Often a key ingredient to balance and longevity (I think) is a spine of acid, which all 3 of the above bottles shared, yet whole cluster winemaking tends to make softer higher pH wines (right?). Somehow though most of us still like Dujac, which seems to hold up just fine.
It seems like these days the destem vs. whole-cluster schism has given way to a less doctrinaire, more flexible approach, adapting to changing conditions. Makes sense to me. I like Tremblay too, and Fourrier, both of whom make wine more on the sliding scale (Burg folk, correct me if I’m wrong)
I own some JP Guyon, but if I’ve tapped any, I’ve not gotten around to writing notes so far. Time to explore
Thanks for the notes, the fact that the fruit was candied worry’s me a little because I found that in some wines in 2018 but it seems like a style choice here as opposed to heat. My 22’s, 13’ and 17’ are in storage and haven’t tried any so we will see what some age does. I did have an 05’ Ech last year at one of our GC tasting’s and it did well but it was very classic in style revealing more savory notes with dark fruit and delicious mixed herb component. It’s nice to see some notes on JPG because information and TN’s can be hard to find.
Thanks all for the engaging discussion, I have shared the link with the importer that invited me for this dinner so will report back on any feedback (the first was Mes Nuages was aged in sandstone and not ceramic as someone mentioned during dinner).
In my opinion, this producer is interesting to try but I wouldn’t chase. The identity of each wine is clear, but I am not the biggest fan of candied fruit in general. Also agree that I am a bigger fan of producers that are adaptable, instead of having a dogmatic approach (e.g., Dujac, Fourrier that @Steve_McL mentioned).
Interestingly @dibbsghosh asked if I preferred Tremblay or Guyon, and my reply was Tremblay but I wouldn’t pay the market price for either given my budget.
Holy moly - I missed that one. It may be I was wandering (stumbling) around with a jero of Fourrier CSJ. Pro-tip: there is such a thing as too much wine to share - jeroboams are heavy.
There was a 97 Leroy Gevrey Combottes poured but in the bibulous bustle it didn’t make an impression on me- a measure of my hamster palate perhaps, and sensory overload. It was a pleasure to connect in person @MChang
I tapped a bottle of 18 Guyon Bourgogne last night. 18 was a big hot mess of a vintage that even a fruit-loving peasant like me mostly avoids, but in the interest of science I stepped up-you’re welcome.
This was a velvet sledgehammer of ripe blackberry fruit teetering on a thin tightrope of welcome acid/tannin and not quite falling off. Touch of cinnamon and maybe a wisp of natty VA. “Candied” is a good descriptor, thanks @Dan_A
A big sloppy wet dog kiss of a wine. This is brassy Bette Midler, not smooth Sade. I liked it, but I can see it would be polarizing. Will be interested to sample some cooler vintages from 1er/GC sites.
Hey Steve, I had a JPG CLB yesterday that was an 18’. Luckily it was not bretty it was actually pretty clean, there was definitely some ripe dark fruit but luckily not candied. It opened up after about an hour and had some nice underbrush character with tannins and acidity that were well balanced, I’m happy this didn’t come off as “natural”. I think it was well done especially for 2018 and will be holding off on my other bottles for another year or two.
