To truly understand wine, you have to drink it – ideally in the company of fellow explorers just as curious as you are. This time, without any prior agreement, the evening turned into a Chambolle-Musigny focus around the wines of Nicolas Groffier, an undeniably gifted winemaker who has shaped a style entirely his own.
Les Amoureuses in his hands is pure magic in the glass. The 2015 was in perfect balance, with aromas of ripe wild red berries and dried roses, and a palate that was gentle and rounded. The 2020, by contrast, was much more concentrated yet showed a similar aromatic palette, only shaded a little darker, with more black berries and a touch of lavender blossom. The most delicate and refined wine of the night, however, came from the neighbouring vineyard to Les Amoureuses: Les Hauts-Doix 2022. In terms of finesse, elegance, and silkiness, it was simply incredible. Taken together, these three bottles clearly showed how climate change, combined with advances in oenological knowledge, shapes the final character of a wine.
The other wines were no less impressive. Chambertin 2018 from Jean‑Louis Trapet was a vivid representative of a hot vintage, with even black olives appearing on the nose against a backdrop of sweet black berries, yet on the palate the wine was flawless. Musigny 2011, on the other hand, laid bare all the challenges of that year in terms of ripeness: in the glass, it never really revealed itself. Both négociant bottlings, however, were spot on. If Pommard 2022 from Kei Shiogai represents the avant‑garde of today’s Burgundian winemaking, then the wines of Maison Leroy are the pure expression of Lalou Bize‑Leroy’s expertise as a truly outstanding taster.
Text and picture: Greg Somm
