2022 Chambolle-Musigny Derrière La Grange 1er Cru

When I visited this domaine over a decade ago, it was one of those occasions where I could see the potential, rather than being amazed by the wines. What held them back was not their portfolio of vineyards but rather their old barrel cellar’s cramped conditions: barrels racked on top of each other four or five tiers high, rendering working practices laborious and restrictive. The vat room could probably need updating too.

Fast-forward to 2023, and finally, they have a splendid new winery at their disposal, constructed by the same architect who designed the new winery at Dujac and others. Twenty thousand and twenty-two is the maiden vintage to be vinified in the new facility lying on the outskirts of the village on the road leading to Morey-Saint-Denis. Suddenly, they are afforded far more space so that even in abundant vintages like 2022 and 2023, barrels are stacked only one or two tiers high. There’s a reassuring sense of space, and they can now work by gravity and have storage space to hold some vintages back for late releases. There is a fleet of new stainless-steel vats and a sense of cleanliness that was not there before. All this has revolutionized Prue and Antoine Amiot-Servelle’s modus operandi, reflected in their rapidly improving wines. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the weather, even in 2022, had to play along…

“We had some hail in June, and we lost 40% to 45% of the crop,” Antoine tells me. “This happened on the same days as the torrential rainfall in Gevrey-Chambertin. Also, there was heat and lack of water, plus using grass as a cover crop, which all together means there is half the potential crop. We began the harvest on September 3 and finished on September 8. The wines have not been racked yet, and at the end of February, we will put them into vats for three weeks, then another racking to extract the gross lees, and then another three weeks in tank before bottling. Alcohol levels are around 13% to 13.8% with very little adjustment necessary.”

This is a wonderful array of wines, much more elegant and refined than those I encountered during my first visits. Apart from a predictably sublime Les Amoureuses, Chambolle-lovers should get excited about their Les Fuées and Les Borniques Premier Crus, as well as their quite structured yet compelling Charmes-Chambertin Aux Mazoyères for those willing to shell out more. But overall, this is a very convincing set of wines marking the opening of a new chapter at Amiot-Servelle.