Hello and welcome to week 5 of our WB Burgundy Appellation Series! This week we will focus on Chambolle-Musigny and the Grands Crus of Le Musigny and Bonnes Mares.
Random thoughts:
-There are 24 Chambolle-Musigny climats classed as Premiers Crus
-Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are produced at Musigny, though the chardonnay is currently not sold as Grand Cru Musigny, but as ‘Bourgogne Blanc’ by Georges Comte de Vogüé. This is due to the vines being of younger age than what the domaine views as mature enough to be labeled as Musigny Blanc, etc. There is no Chambolle-Musigny appellation for blancs, so it is bottled as Bourgogne Blanc (thanks for the correction CK)
-The Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru from Vogüé is actually young vine Grand Cru Musigny vines declassified to 1er Cru
-Standouts include Les Amoureuses, Les Fuées, and Les Cras
Full list of Premiers Crus:
Les Véroilles, Les Sentiers, Les Baudes, Les Noirots, Les Lavrottes, Les Fuées, Aux Beaux Bruns, Aux Echanges, Les Charmes, Les Plantes, Aux Combottes, Derrière la Grange, Les Gruenchers, Les Groseilles, Les Combottes, Les Feusselottes, Les Chatelots, Les Cras, Les Carrières, Les Chabiots, Les Amoureuses, Les Borniques, Les Hauts Doix, La Combe d’Orveau
If you have any photos of the village or it’s vines, please feel free to either post them or send them to me via email.
Ahh, Chambolle-Musigny. My favorite wine village of all. I know many would say Vosne-Romanee is at the top, the allure of DRC, et al. With all due respect to Allen Meadows’ seminal book about Vosne, my personal choice as the pearl of the Cote is Chambolle-Musigny.
Last year in the Burg Week series, we had a great discussion about Chambolle. Here is a link.
To get this year’s edition kicked off, I’ll throw up my personal opinion of the hierarchy of the crus…
First division grand crus:
Musigny
Bonnes Mares
Other grand crus:
(None)
Quasi-Grand 1er Crus:
Les Amoureuses
Elite 1er Crus (roughly top 20-25% of all red 1er crus):
La Combe d’Orveau
Les Cras
Les Fuees
Veroilles (controversial in last year’s thread)
Other 1er Crus = All the rest, 19 of them, with my personal “honorable mention” going to Charmes, Gruenchers, Feusselottes, and Baudes.
Couldn’t agree more. While Vosne offers famous sites that I enjoy to no end. Chambolle can speak of such finesse, grace, at times power that it steal the show without warning.
Berry’s excellent questionnaire asks what preconceptions there are in a village. For Chambolle it is the finesse bit. Chambolle can be quite broad, at times angular, backwards and still be 100% Chambolle.
Something which is a ‘must-do’ for anyone visiting the region is to drive through the village, up towards the direction of Chambeuf. You can see enormous ‘mother rock’ composed of ancient limestone which are just West, above the village. This is by no means coincidence. The soils here are quite special, with a strong proportion of clay to limestone. The results however are wines that are largely focused on grace, with a tremendous potential to be just as powerful at the same time. Chambolle to me is not just about grace, but balance.
Light bodied, elegant, red fruited, and stony. The nose opens after a while in glass, showing just a bit more shyness than the others in the 2008 range. Fresh red roses and red fruit can summarize this wine. Excellent purity of fruit, structure and balance. Subtle raspberry, bright cherries and light soil. Just a touch less complex than the Gevrey village. In sum, this is an excellent value and a pleasure to drink.
- What do you think are the essential characteristics of Chambolle Wine?
Elegance, silk, perfume
- What do you think are some misconceptions regarding the essential characteristics of Chambolle Wine?
Elegance, silk, perfume
The Bonnes-Mares styled wines can be anything but when young
- Who do you think are the top producers of Chambolle wines? (they dont have to live there)
Mugnier and Bertheau are my favs that I can think of off the top of my head
- Who do you think are some under-the-radar producers that make Chambolle wine? (they dont have to live there)
Henri Jouan
- What vineyards do you think are overrated?
None
- What vineyards do you think are underrated?
None that I can think of
- What is your most memorable Chambolle wine experience?
The few Mugnier Musignys that Ive been lucky to experience have been heavenly. Mugnier Musigny is my favorite burgundy red wine bar none.
That said, the wine that influenced me the most regarding how I view Chambolle was actually a 2002 Bruno Clair C-M village bottling. I threw a dinner party some years ago where we opened a few Grand Crus but the wine that struct me the most was that Bruno Clair. I was quite captivated by its floral perfume, erthreal nature and silkly floral flavors. Some people felt the wine was too light but it was by far my favorite of the night. It opened my eyes that power is less important than beauty when it comes to burgundy. At least in my eyes.
- What other village do you think is most similar in style to the wines of Chambolle?
Volnay is the obvious answer but I think the Volnay producers have a culture of producing a bit more austere styled wines.
- Any other thoughts or insights about this village you would want to share?
Everyone please stop buying as many Mugnier wines so the price can come down.
Ok, there was a question about the 1er cru Les Charmes. This cru is a favorite for me, and one that perhaps undermines the legitimacy to some degree of attempts to define a hierarchy of the terroirs. In that hierarchy post, the listed “elite” 1ers are those that are most grand cru-like to some extent. Charmes is less so, and less consistent as well in my experience. But when Charmes is “on”, it is quintessential Chambolle-Musigny premier cru, and perhaps a better teller of the Chambolle story than any of the grand crus. One of my very, very top most memorable wines of 2010: Bertheau 2001 C-M Charmes.
I had deleted the question because I had missed your mention of it in your writeup and didnt want to ask a redundant question. But Im glad you saw it as Im glad to have this detail.
What do you think are the essential characteristics of Chambolle Wine?
Feminine elegance, perfume, delicate lacy texture.
What do you think are some misconceptions regarding the essential characteristics of Chambolle Wine?
Feminine elegance, perfume, delicate lacy texture… as Berry pointed out, many leading producers have a style that is rather masculine, particularly when the wines are young. Ultimately, the Chambolle-ness can generally be seen, but with some producers, it takes a careful peek up the skirt, so to speak.
Who do you think are the top producers of Chambolle wines?
De Vogue, Mugnier, Roumier have the highest profile. And Ghislaine Barthod too. Jadot and Drouhin among the big grower/merchants (higher quality from Jadot IMO, but Drouhin’s house style creates a natural synergy with Chambolle).
Who do you think are some under-the-radar producers that make Chambolle wine?
Francois Bertheau. Bruno Clavelier for his Combe d’Orveaux. Jean-Marie Fourrier for his Gruenchers. Drouhin-Laroze for Moose and Bonnes Mares.
What vineyards do you think are overrated?
None.
What vineyards do you think are underrated?
Les Charmes, see my post above.
As for 1er Cru “Les Charmes”, a bottling to look out for is one from Ponsot/Chezeau. I’ve enjoyed quite a few of these, over countless vintages.
“Les Charmes” certainly comes across as less graceful than “Les Fuées” or “Les Sentiers” imo. The beauty in the vineyard lies in it’s richness, supple tannin ‘texture’ and balance.
As an aside, I really have a thing for 1er Cru “Les Plantes” after trying a few vintages (in barrel) from Freddy Mugnier. I believe that it typically goes into the village blend (anyone with more info on the components?). Either way, it is a special wine just by itself.
Correction, Ray. De Vogüé has the right to sell it as Musigny blanc, and if you look at the production figures, it is in fact declared as Musigny blanc each year. De Vogüé has been declassifying it because the vines are not old enough. When the vines reach sufficient age (which should be sometime around 2018, if I figure correctly) and the wine is deemed up to grand cru status, de Vogüé will market it as Musigny blanc, as it did before the old vines were replaced.
Note that unlike the young vine red Musigny which is declassified to Chambolle 1er Cru, de Vogüé is forced to declassify the wine to Bourgogne because Chambolle-Musigny (like Vosne and Gevrey, but unlike Nuits, Vougeot, Morey, Fixin, Marsannay, and Côtes de Nuits-Villages) can only be red.
I was in the process of posting my response to Berry’s post when he deleted it. As a result, my response got tossed out with the bathwater.
A couple of Christmases ago, I brought a magnificent 1998 Bertheau “Charmes” to a dinner celebrating my sister’s birthday. Lots of “Ooohs and Aaahs” at the table that night. A positively ethereal nose of rose petals, and raspberry and strawberry deliciousness dancing on the tongue. Maybe a year before, I had a 2001 Frederic Magnien “Charmes” VV which was excellent as well, but still too young. It wasn’t quite in the Bertheau’s class, though. I hear Hudelot-Noellat makes a very good Charmes as well.
Hey Claude,
that is great to know, quite interesting really! I will correct the above per your response. Was this why the vines are often cited as being at between Village and 1er Cru level currently by De Vogüé? In theory, 30 years down the line, we may see Grand Cru Musigny…en blanc?? That would be amazing.
Interesting – I find Charmes more graceful than those two, both of which show some influence of Bonnes-Mares. For me, Charmes is the Pivot of Chambolle, the synthesis of the two faces of Chambolle: the elegance of the Musigny-oriented wines and the somewhat more structured profile of the Bonnes-Mares satellites, and in that sense is the prototypical Chambolle wine.
As an aside, I really have a thing for 1er Cru “Les Plantes” after trying a few vintages (in barrel) from Freddy Mugnier. I believe that it typically goes into the village blend (anyone with more info on the components?). Either way, it is a special wine just by itself.
Mugnier’s village wine is always Plantes and the village portion of Combe d’Orveau. You have to be careful with Plantes, though – it is one of those discontinuous vineyards, part lying above Charmes, part below.
I believe that for de Vogüé, the cutoff for the white between Bourgogne and Musigny will be 25 years of age, just as it is for the red, which is why I calculate that ca. 2018, we’ll once again have Musigny blanc from de Vogüé (about 60 years ago, Ch. de Chambolle Musigny, i.e., Mugnier, also produced Musigny blanc). I’ve never heard or seen the comment that the wine is between village and 1er cru level, so I can’t really comment on it. My experience is that it is a wine that needs a lot of age.
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