2017 Vosne-Romanée Champs Perdrix

This year, Philippe Brun escorted me through the domaine’s 2017s. Once known for its intermittently rustic wines, there is a sense of newfound refinement and elegance that has seen Bruno Clair gain a wider and well-deserved following. This is partly because they have eased off the extraction and picked just a little earlier. They oversee a strong portfolio of cuvées, not just their Grand Crus and prized rows within Clos Saint-Jacques, but a cluster of excellent Village and Premier Crus that can offer great value. Brun told me that they commenced the picking on September 5 and picked over the following five days - quite a short harvest given their range of holdings. None of the wines had been racked when I visited, and they plan to blend the cuvées in January.

This was a very fine set of wines from Bruno Clair, though one or two, such as the Gevrey-Chambertin Petite Chapelle and perhaps the Cazetiers and Clos Saint-Jacques, left me wondering if they could have given more. It was another Gevrey-Chambertin – the 0.68-hectare monopole of Clos du Fonteny, which rises on a geological ledge a few meters above the rest of Fonteny – that really caught my eye, alongside a very impressive Marsannay Les Grasses-Têtes and a superb Bonnes-Mares that crowns their range. Generally, I found assiduous use of whole bunches here and a collection of wines that range from the easygoing to others that boast long-term potential.