2021 Chambolle-Musigny Derrière La Grange 1er Cru

This is a Chambolle-Musigny estate to keep an eye on. I’ve been visiting for over a decade now and always felt there was untapped potential, mainly because, despite enviable holdings, their winery was outdated and definitely short of space. That is all being addressed with the construction of a new winery building at the entrance of Chambolle that was used to vinify the 2022s. Though the 2021s were vinified in the old winery, the new facility afforded Prue and Antoine Amiot-Servelle more space, which meant that the barrels did not have to be racked downstairs. I notice the difference in their wines already. They feel calmer, more harmonious.

“It was a complicated and challenging vintage,” Antoine explains. “We had quite a few changes in the vineyard. We now prune according to the lunar cycle, which means only during two weeks each month. So we pruned late, and consequently, no buds were burnt by the frost. The real problem was the snow. It meant there was a lot of humidity, and because of that, we lost 50% of the entire crop. It’s a lot. We were unlucky, but it is less than some of our neighbours. We have sowed some cover crops in 2021, which helps reduce humidity, so we had mildew but hardly any oidium, only on the leaves. It was easier to farm with the tractor using cover crops. We picked on 25 September and finished on 29 September. We had good phenolic maturity. The pips matured early, and the stems were fine, so we used more or less the same as previous years, depending on the health of the vineyard.”

This is a very promising set of wines, given the challenges of the vintage, and they should be rightly proud. They are augers for their wines in the future, demonstrating assiduous use of whole bunches, which is little changed from other years, plus a slightly more prudent use of new oak. I sense a shift, an opening of a new chapter. Plus, I look forward to tasting in their new deluxe tasting room next year!