Gevrey-Chambertin Lives Again

GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN — As he sits in a restaurant wearing bright green overalls, Philippe Charlopin looks more like a heating engineer than a French revolutionary. Yet he and a handful of other vintners have spurred an amazing revival of this town, the moribund emperor of Burgundian wines.

A decade ago, Gevrey-Chambertin was notorious for producing very few wines that lived up to their ancient reputation. Today, though, it is regarded as one of the most dynamic wine towns in the fabled Cote d’Or area of Burgundy.

When asked what’s so different about the new wines, Charlopin replies gleefully, “Fruit! The new wines have the most wonderful fruit, and that’s what Pinot Noir is all about.”

A visit to Charlopin’s home and winery just a few doors away makes clear how different Burgundy still is from most other successful wine-producing regions. There is no imposing architecture, new or old, and the winemaking equipment is entirely functional.

Charlopin’s tasting room leads straight onto the town’s main street, and although it is a warm spring day, a wood fire burns in the grate; there is no heating. The austere stone-floored room looks like a scene from a 17th century painting, or would, were it not for those brightly colored contemporary overalls Charlopin favors.

The contrast between the vintner and his surroundings is rather like that between old-style red Burgundy and the new wines. Once, the typical Burgundy was pale red tinged with brown. The wines often tasted old when released at two years and could be thin and dull. Worst of all, they sometimes had funky barnyard aromas.

Charlopin’s wines, though, are impressive examples of the new style of Burgundy, full of intense, vibrant fruit character. All the 1997s, tasted from the barrel, have aromas of crushed cherries, blackberries and mulberries that fairly leap out of the glass.

“That’s why we don’t rack or pump the wines at all during the 20 months or so of barrel aging, to preserve this fruit,” he says with a broad grin. “Very ripe and very clean grapes are essential to get these flavors.” During a tasting tour of his cellar, he’s almost like a kid in a candy store, excited anew by each wine.

Although his 1996s, which are about to be bottled and shipped, are slightly less exuberant, they are also impressive wines. The best value is the Gevrey-Chambertin “Vieilles Vignes” (old vines), which has the earthy character typical of the town’s wines as well as ample black cherry fruit and supple tannins. The best of the lot is the Mazis-Chambertin, an extremely lively wine despite its power and rich flavor of forest berries.

These are the qualities for which the wines from Gevrey-Chambertin’s nine grand cru vineyards were once famous. Of course, the fact that Chambertin was Napoleon’s favorite certainly did a great deal for their reputation as well.

During the 1970s and 1980s, though, nearly all the town’s vintners rested on their laurels, hoping Gevrey’s name recognition would substitute for real quality. During this period, the only domaine, or wine estate, here that continued to enjoy a high international reputation was Armand Rousseau.

Domaine Armand Rousseau can still make excellent wines, as the magnificent 1995 Chambertin proves. It has the combination of the aromatic subtlety, firmness and elegance that have long been this domaine’s hallmarks.

Owner Charles Rousseau is a small man with a broad smile; in his mustache and checked cap, he looks so much like the caricature of a French winegrower that it’s hard to believe he’s real. His ebullient enthusiasm for wine has charmed a generation of wine merchants and journalists.

His tone becomes much more serious when he talks about the importance of limiting yields--that is, the size of the crop per vine--to achieve a high quality. Nevertheless, many of Rousseau’s wines from the 1996 vintage, a year when nature generously loaded the vines with grapes, are thin and ungenerous.

If consistency is an important factor in measuring a wine producer’s performance, there is no question that he has been overtaken by some of his younger colleagues. One of them is Claude Dugat, whose domaine is based in the town’s 13th century tithe house, just across the road from Rousseau.

Dugat’s 1996s have a great intensity of flavor yet are neither overbearing nor exaggerated. Because he ages his wines almost exclusively in new oak barrels, Dugat has gained the reputation of being obsessed with oak, though when he talks about his wines, he dwells on harmony and fruit and never says a word about oak.

His 1996 Gevrey-Chambertin has plenty of tannin and toasty oak aromas, but its lavish blackberry character is what dominates the wine. Likewise the enormously concentrated blackberry flavor and incredibly persistent aftertaste of his 1996 Charmes-Chambertin do not in any way rely on tannin from the grapes or from wooden barrels.

When asked to explain this intensity of flavor in a year that yielded many light wines, he answers simply, “I think it’s a question of yield. That’s Pinot Noir for you, it’s a very sensitive vine.”

The uncompromising way he cultivates his vines appears to be Dugat’s secret. “Every attempt to encourage the vine to carry more grapes can only have a negative effect on the resulting quality,” he says in a tone that is at once gentle and unswerving. “We are really retro in this department, doing a great deal of work by hand.”

Among red Burgundy collectors, Dugat’s name is uttered with a degree of awe. However, there is nothing whatever of the star winemaker about him. Balding, with short-trimmed gray hair, he radiates an inner serenity. Talk to him and you quickly realize that he knows exactly how good his wines are.

“Yes, it’s a great wine,” he says softly when his 1996 Gevrey-Chambertin is praised. It is as if he is commenting upon something as obvious as the fact that a warm, sunny day is beautiful.

The young, self-assured and outgoing Denis Mortet is as different from Dugat in personality as you can get, but their thoughts on winemaking are remarkably similar. “We do a great deal of work in the vineyards in order to get the best possible grapes,” he explains in his icy barrel cellar. “And down here we don’t mess around with the wines or do anything remarkable. There is no secret to making great red Burgundy.”

Mortet had already made some good wines, but it was his superb 1993s that catapulted him to fame. His restless striving to reach the top has driven him on to even greater successes since then. The greatest of these is his 1997 Chambertin, a wine of monumental proportions with black cherry, chocolate and smoke character of extravagant richness. The huge tannins are almost completely masked, giving it a texture that is already very seductive in spite of the fact that it is still a year from bottling.

Mortet’s rapidly acquired reputation comes not only from highlights like this but also from the astonishing quality he achieves with three vineyards not classified either as grand cru or premier cru. These are the Gevrey-Chambertin “En Motrot,” which gives fragrant silky wines; Gevrey-Chambertin “Au Velle,” whose wines are firm and slow-developing; and Gevrey-Chambertin “En Champs,” which yields rich, powerful Pinot Noirs.

Mortet’s 1996 Gevrey-Chambertin “En Motrot” is a model of his wine style. The cherry and raspberry aromas and flavors are ravishing, but the wine is delicate as well as generous and has a very clean, subtle aftertaste. It is a sophisticated wine that is also frank and joyful.

“There are more than 70 winegrowers in Gevrey-Chambertin, but perhaps only 10 who are working uncompromisingly for quality,” he explains in a less than joyful tone.

This may be a high proportion compared to the wine towns and villages in other parts of France, but the idea of so many good vineyards whose potential remains unrealized clearly pains him.

Other interesting producers in Gevrey-Chambertin include Alain Burguet, Michel Esmonin et Fille, Bernard Meaume and Geantet Pansiot. Several domaines outside Gevrey-Chambertin with holdings in the town’s best vineyard sites also make exciting wines.

In neighboring Morey St.-Denis, Domaine Ponsot makes some of the most powerful and imposing wines from Gevrey-Chambertin. Laurent Ponsot, who runs this estate with his father, Jean-Marie, has an unusually humorous way of describing his own wines. “I am lazy, but hopefully in the right way,” he says when asked about using only old oak barrels.

“This is a V-8 engine,” he says, drawing a sample of the 1997 Griotte-Chambertin from a barrel. It certainly is an extremely powerful wine, but what makes it stand out is the intense earthy-spicy character, nuances of which seem to unfold with each second that it remains in the mouth. In comparison, the 1997 Gevrey-Chambertin is not as fine but is still a big wine, rather full of black cherry and earth character for this appellation.

Ponsot was also very successful in the 1996 vintage, as his Griotte-Chambertin proves. With several years of aging, this mouth-fillingly rich, firm wine should match his imposing grand cru wines of the 1985 and 1988 vintages. They are certainly among the finest wines produced in the Co^te d’Or in these highly regarded years.

With all its quirky individuality, Burgundy is a fascinating wine region, but it can be infuriating. A decade ago it was hard to find a good bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin; experts talked about a 1-in-10 success rate. But the new generation of growers has changed this situation dramatically, proving again that in Burgundy you never can tell.