Taupenot-Merme: Mazoyères-Chambertin 2002-2017
BY NEAL MARTIN |
Next month, readers can expect my annual roundup of mature Burgundy bottles that have accumulated over the last year. Among them were a dozen notes relating to Mazoyères-Chambertin from Domaine Taupenot-Merme. Verticals of individual Burgundy cuvées are a precious currency, not only because of the scarcity of the wines, but because they present the opportunity to see how fluctuations in growing season, ceteris paribus, alter the resulting wine, since land, grape variety and, to a lesser extent, vinification technique are constant. This private tasting, hosted by UK merchants Stannary St. Wine Co., took place last October amid the flurry of barrel tastings in Burgundy, at La Cabotte restaurant in London. I will come clean: I mislaid my notes and thankfully discovered them recently. (Nothing irks more than a lost tasting note, which is why this absent-minded fool always frets about misplacing them.) The bottles were all bought on release by one of Stannary’s customers, a Burgundy-lover who generously shared them with likeminded oenophiles with all the accompanying exchange of views.
A bit of background first. Mazoyères-Chambertin occupies 18.59 hectares, just downslope from Latricières-Chambertin and adjacent to Charmes-Chambertin, whose familiarity has meant that for decades, producers have legitimately labeled their Mazoyères as Charmes-Chambertin. Are the two distinguishable? Well, it depends on the domaine, but generally I find Charmes-Chambertin more outgoing and perhaps “Chambolle-like” in style, whereas Mazoyères tends to have a touch more backbone and austerity, and occasionally more gaminess. The etymology of Mazoyères is obscure. It might derive from maisons, since there were settlements in that location many centuries ago. Winemaker and proprietor Romain Taupenot, who runs the domaine with his sister Virginie, told me that it does indeed come from old French dialect for masures, which means “huts” or “small houses.”
The courtyard housing the winery and family home in Morey-Saint-Denis.
One often-overlooked aspect of Taupenot-Merme is that its origins are tied with the domaine that lies directly opposite in Morey-Saint-Denis: Perrot-Minot. Christophe Perrot-Minot is Romain Taupenot’s cousin, and this explains the similarities in their respective holdings. However, I have found their styles quite distinctive: Perrot-Minot tending to be a little more upfront and bolder in style, Taupenot-Merme leaning slightly toward more red fruit and often a little earthier. What they have in common, apart from my admiration, is the unusual practice of vinifying their Charmes-Chambertin and Mazoyères-Chambertin separately, whereas most growers opt to blend their parcels together. Romain Taupenot told me that he began to vinify them separately from 2000. “Mazoyères is certainly more driven by the profile of Morey-St.-Denis,” he explained, “with multiple layers of black fruits, a floral touch and some spices."
He continued by explaining the geology of the terroir.
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Taupenot-Merme has become one of the leading Morey-based producers over the last decade. This article examines their crown jewel of Mazoyères-Chambertin from 2017 back to 2002.
