2012 Chambertin Grand Cru

Bernard Dugat tossed out some fruit affected by oidium and mildew but told me there were very few underripe grapes to eliminate in 2012.He chaptalized his various cuvees between 0.5 and 0.75 of a degree and will bottle his 2012s at between 12.7% and 13% alcohol.Average yields here were a tiny 19 hectoliters per hectare.The malos were very late, and Dugat decided to heat his cellar to 57 degrees F to help the wines finish.He may move up bottling dates a bit "to preserve fruit."Dugat finds the 2012s to have atypical early harmony of fruit; he believes that most of his wines will begin to drink well after two or three years and will last well.

This is a fabulous set of wines from Bernard Dugat and the Dugay-Py family. According to Bernard Dugat, after 2003, 2012 is the vintage with the smallest production in the domaine's history. Yields came in at just 18/19 hectoliters per hectare. As always, the Dugat wines are rich, textured and super-concentrated in style. In 2012, Bernard Dugat used quite a bit of whole clusters, which give the wines gorgeous aromatics and a sense of lift that plays off the intense fruit beautifully. With one or two exceptions, it looks like the 2012s are going to need considerable time in bottle to show their best given the structure of the vintage here. All of these wines were racked about two weeks before my visit.