2011 Corton Clos-du-Roi Grand Cru

Claude de Nicolay, co-proprietor at Domaine Chandon des Briailles, met me at the Savigny-based winery where bottling was busy going on outside.

“There was such a big heatwave during the harvest that we started picking in the last two days of August for the whites and September 3 for the reds,” she tells me. “The fruit was starting to shrivel, but it was too hot for the team to pick in the afternoon. Otherwise, we could use skimmed milk to treat oidium, carefully spraying every week, so mildew was not such a big issue for us. The crop was large so it took longer to ripen. Some bunches were still closed in early September, so we had to go little by little until the heatwave [at which point it was all hands on deck]. It is a ripe style of wine, but the whole bunch plus gentle maceration, more infusion than extraction, has been positive for the balance. The cuvées are all 100% whole bunch and mature in 15% new oak.”

Be advised that with just 10% of an average crop in 2024, there won’t be much around next year.

This estate has enjoyed a purple patch over the last decade. Once overlooked by cognoscenti, their take on classically styled Burgundy is now very much in vogue. François and Claude de Nicolay were just ahead of the game! “The only stress was in June during the storms that caused some oïdium pressure, especially with the whites,” Claude de Nicolay tells me. “We use skimmed milk to counter that instead of sulfur – it is preventative and curative. We have done this for ten years. We now use four horses to plow all vineyards and maintain grass between the vines and no longer use tractors. We use a caterpillar [Cheniette] that you have to steer from behind and weighs less than 400kg.”

“There was no mildew pressure in 2022. We find that the older vines react much better to the dry conditions than younger vines because their roots are much deeper and grafted onto the right rootstock [e.g., not 161-49, which is prone to degeneration]. It was a great vintage with similar picking dates to 2023, the whites end of August and reds in the first week of September. We picked early in the morning because of the heat and stopped at midday, though there were not really any dried berries [to eradicate]. Yields were similar to 2017, around 38hL/ha. We like to have a little bit of stock. There was no problem with the fermentation; everything is with 100% whole bunches, vinified in troconic wooden vats, apart from three cuvées in concrete. I like this because you don’t need to interfere with the wines and temperatures increase gradually and naturally, staying warm to maintain thermic balance. This enables a gentle fermentation [in 2021, they had to heat the vats a little as temperatures were cooler in October.] We do a half-carbonic pre-fermentation, an intra-cellular reaction that enhances aromatics and helps extract color and fruit. We are getting used to warm vintages now. Doing less plunging and gentle pumping over. We have to help the yeast get some oxygen. In 2022, the level of nitrogen in the soil was good enough to feed the yeast. Alcohol levels are between 13% and 14%, but no higher than that. There was no intervention until malo, though some barrels risked some VA, so we had to add some SO2 to those. The Premier Crus are raised in 10% new oak, and the Grand Cru, 20%. Most of the reds have just been racked, and they will be bottled in a month after time in stainless steel. We use nettle infusion, adding nitrogen to the lees.”

Tasting the wines directly after those of Domaine Bize, one can easily draw parallels, not least their strategy in the vineyard and use of 100% whole bunches. Perhaps the only significant difference is the modest use of new oak here. But what they do have in relation is a roster of wonderful 2022s that bolster the reputation of Savigny-lès-Beaune. It is too often overlooked, but you could argue it benefits from global warming. Whereas not so long ago, the vines struggled to achieve ripeness in cooler microclimates, nowadays, they may occupy the perfect spot in the Côte d’Or. Their Corton-Bressandes and Clos-du-Roi epitomize classical, transparent Pinot Noir imbued with complexity and poise. In Savigny, I admire their Aux Fournaux, although their over-achiever has to be a wonderful Pernand-Vergelesses Ile de Vergelesses.

Claude de Nicolay, who runs this Savigny estate with her brother François, guides me through their 2021s. “We lost a lot of Savigny and Pernand-Vergelesses,” she tells me, “around 75% of the crop. So, we averaged 15hl/ha but 30hl/hl in Corton that was pruned later, and the canes had not laid down. Also, Savigny and Pernand suffered more mildew pressure. The 501 silica helped the leaves to keep photosynthesizing which helped the berries to ripen – alcohol levels between 12.5 and 13.0%. There wasn’t too much acidity. We started picking the whites on 16 September and finished two days later, starting with the reds on 21 September until 27 September. The sorting took a long time. The skins were thin, so we did not have to extract too much. We still used whole bunches: 50% for the Savigny and Pernand-Vergelesses and 80% for the Grand Crus. We also had to be careful during the pigeage to maintain elegance and avoid dry tannins. We did a shorter maceration, two instead of three weeks. We are more than proud of the results of our 2021s, especially the balance. They evolved very well in barrel, and there is no chaptalisation. We used slightly less new oak (10%) compared to other years.”

Here was another winery where I had to navigate roadworks to enter the gates (it’s as if the entirety of Burgundy is being dug up). Proprietor François de Nicolay welcomed me with his three dogs. "It was not a cool winter as usual, and it was an early spring. Flowering went well, although the whites suffered a little frost, which is why the yields are low. The summer was hard because we lacked water in August. The ripeness came early and we started picking on August 17. We did not have to do a big selection, as we had no problem with mildew and oïdium. The fermentation was easy. There was a high level of alcohol, just under 2019 but with a better pH. Maybe that is why the wines still feel young at this stage compared to the 2019s. For some cuvées, we will conduct a longer élevage." This year, I preferred the reds to the whites, the latter feeling not quite as chiseled and tensile as I found the 2019s last year. But the reds have much to offer; they are classical in style, very respectful of their terroirs and full of energy.

What is the prettiest Domaine in the Côte d’Or? Chandon de Briailles must be in with a shout with its ornate maison and enclosed gardens. Thankfully its eye-catching looks are matched with eye-catching wines. Under brother and sister team of François and Claude de Nicolay, this Savigny producer has gone from strength to strength, producing classically made Burgundy wines from biodynamic practices in the vineyard, minimal sulphur usage and a hands-off approach in the winery in order to let the terroirs speak for themselves. “We started the harvest on 21 August until the 18 September in 2018 and from 9 September in 2019, picking over the next 15 days,” the ever congenial François de Nicolay told me as rain pelted down outside. “Everything is 100% whole bunches this year. I was surprised by the freshness of the whites, maybe because the yields were low and concentrated the acidity. We had about half a crop, around 20hl/ha for the whites and even less on the Ile de Vergelesses Blanc. The reds are around 15-20hl/ha, mainly because of the heat in June and July. We had grapes but without much juice, the same in 2020.” This was generally an excellent set of 2019s crowned by an outstanding Corton-Bressandes that is the best I have ever tasted from barrel at this address. There are one or two cuvées such as the Savigny Les Lavières where I felt that the 100% whole bunches impeded upon the terroir expression and masked some of the fruit. I might have dialled the stems down a little here. From a buying point of view, do not skip the oft-overlooked Pernand-Vergelesses Ile de Vergelesses that is likely to represent a great value.

What is the prettiest Domaine in the Côte d’Or? Chandon de Briailles must be in with a shout with its ornate maison and enclosed gardens. Thankfully its eye-catching looks are matched with eye-catching wines. Under brother and sister team of François and Claude de Nicolay, this Savigny producer has gone from strength to strength, producing classically made Burgundy wines from biodynamic practices in the vineyard, minimal sulphur usage and a hands-off approach in the winery in order to let the terroirs speak for themselves. “We started the harvest on 21 August until the 18 September in 2018 and from 9 September in 2019, picking over the next 15 days,” the ever congenial François de Nicolay told me as rain pelted down outside. “Everything is 100% whole bunches this year. I was surprised by the freshness of the whites, maybe because the yields were low and concentrated the acidity. We had about half a crop, around 20hl/ha for the whites and even less on the Ile de Vergelesses Blanc. The reds are around 15-20hl/ha, mainly because of the heat in June and July. We had grapes but without much juice, the same in 2020.” This was generally an excellent set of 2019s crowned by an outstanding Corton-Bressandes that is the best I have ever tasted from barrel at this address. There are one or two cuvées such as the Savigny Les Lavières where I felt that the 100% whole bunches impeded upon the terroir expression and masked some of the fruit. I might have dialled the stems down a little here. From a buying point of view, do not skip the oft-overlooked Pernand-Vergelesses Ile de Vergelesses that is likely to represent a great value.

Is it sheer coincidence that I seem pull into the gates of Domaine Chandon de Briailles whenever the sun is shining? It is certainly one of the most picturesque maison in the Côte d'Or, but more importantly they are currently making some of Savigny's best wines, molded in an elegant, natural style. "The vintage is as nice as I was expecting," co-proprietor Claude de Nicolay told me. "I like the freshness of the Pinot Noir considering the warmth. The ripeness came slowly and kept the freshness. Four horses now work 80% of the vineyards that are completely farmed biodynamic [since 2005]. The whites were picked end of August, the Corton Blanc on 21 August, the earliest since 2003. That is because it is supposed to only for the reds so the whites always ripen early."

Keep it under your hat, but this Savigny-lès-Beaune property is one of the most overlooked and underrated in the Côte d'Or. Maybe that is because of its address in what some misguidedly regard as an “untrendy” appellation. Maybe it is because Chandon de Briailles is a traditional grower without airs and graces. The bottom line is that they are making damn good wine, perhaps the best ever under congenial co-proprietor François de Nicolay, who runs the estate with his sister. For me, this is one of the most aesthetically pleasing estates in Burgundy, an idyllic family home not only designed in the manner of Versailles, but designed by the same architect as Versailles at the end of the 1600s. At the rear of the maison, hidden by a high, ancient stone wall, lies the large family garden that cuts off the outside world, imbuing the domaine with a sense of tranquillity. The interior décor is steeped in history, the tasting room lined with 19th-century books, a sideboard decked with black and white photos of ancestors. It is a little timeworn yet brims with character and charm.

That is all a moot point if the wine does not measure up. However, after visiting here for many years, I can say that the 2017s rank amongst their finest. The freshness and terroir expression is the best I have ever seen, their use of 100% whole cluster fruit deft in application insofar as the presence of stems is sensed but never imparts overt “stemmy” traits. “We started harvesting on September 1 and finished on September 26,” de Nicolay explained. “The fruit was quite healthy and so there was not much selection to do. We achieved around 13° alcohol and there is no chaptalisation. The malolactic fermentation went through the same time as the alcoholic, which is why I bottled some of the cuvées sooner. In fact, the white malolactic went through after the reds. The malolactic acidity was quite low and so the conversion started earlier. I used no sulphur until just before bottling.”

There is so much to recommend here. Those looking for quality without busting wallets should make a beeline for the superb Pernand-Vergelesses Île de Vergelesses. An appellation and indeed, a Premier Cru that is often overlooked, it produced wonderful whites and reds in 2017 – perfect drinking over the next seven to 10 years. Even better is their killer Savigny-lès-Beaune Aux Fournaux, one of the finest vineyards in the appellation. This punches well above its weight and would give many expensive Premier Crus a run for their money. To be honest, these Premier Crus are so good that they nip at the heels of their own Grand Crus. That said, the domaine’s Corton Blanc and Corton Clos-du-Roi are both well worth seeking out and may offer more longevity.

This estate purchased a vertical press for the 2016 harvest, then bought a second one in 2017. Co-winemaker Claude de Nicolay believes that the new devices have “changed the finishes of the wines,” giving the wines greater sweetness than their previous pneumatic press provided. In fact, the effects were obvious when I tasted Corton Bressandes from 2016 and 2015, with the more recent wine offering an element of early pleasure that’s not apparent today in the ’15. Of course, I should add that the 2016 Bressandes and Clos du Roi were also vinified in oak for the first time (they were previously made in concrete tanks), and this change has also had a softening effect on the tannins.

Happily, the ‘16s at this address are as fragrant as ever, in part owing to extensive use of whole clusters (and to the use of just 20% new oak for the Corton grand crus), but there won’t be much wine to go around, due to frost losses. Chandon de Briailles' vines in Aloxe-Corton produced just 20 to 25 hectoliters per hectare, but yields were so infinitesimal for what are normally the estate’s first five wines (all of their cuvées from Savigny-lès-Beaune and Pernand-Vergelesses) that they were all blended into a Bourgogne Gelée Royale that will be sold at the price of a premier cru. Nine hectares of vines produced a mere 8 barrels, in place of a normal 150, which works out to be roughly nothing (i.e., less than two hectoliters per hectare, all from the contra-bourgeons). Claude de Nicolay describes her '16s as "combining the fruit of 2014 and the freshness of 2010."

As this estate is known for precise, mineral-driven wines with moderate octane levels, it’s hardly surprising that co-winemaker Claude de Nicolay felt at the outset than the 2015s were too big. “But now they are more representative,” she told me in December, despite the fact that the premier crus are close to 14% alcohol and the grand crus around 13.8%. “They have very good sugar levels and high-quality tannins and the winemaking was easy to manage," she reported. "And our use of whole clusters has given the wines a floral quality.”

The estate started harvesting on September 7 and finished before the weekend of rain. Potential alcohol levels in Savigny-lès-Beaune reached 13.8% but the wines have good levels of acidity, “thanks to organic farming.” Claude and her brother François carry out a pre-fermentation cold maceration in closed tanks, which she says gives the wines more glycerol. Most of the malos did not take place until February or March, and Claude told me that for this reason 2015 is a vintage “where we decided to do a second part of the aging in barrels" [as opposed to racking the wines into tanks for their final months of _élevage]. According to Claude, “the creaminess of the 2015s will keep them on the fruity side.” She’s not sure that they will shut down after the bottling.

Following Demeter principles, Chandon de Briailles bottles with very low sulfur levels: about 15 parts per million free and 30 to 50 total. And pHs here tend to be on the high side by Burgundy standards (in the range of 3.7 to 3.8 for the reds in 2015). “But there’s nothing fragile about the 2015s,” said de Nicolay.

To give you an idea of how badly this part of the Côte de Beaune was affected by frost in 2016, Chandon de Briailles produced an infinitesimal seven barrels of wine from their 8.5 hectares of vines in Savigny-lès-Beaune and Pernand-Vergelesses. This wine will be bottled as “a super Bourgogne,” noted Claude.

As the 2014 malos finished very early, most of the 2014s at Chandon de Briailles had been bottled a week or two before my December visit. The estate harvested its Pinot Noir on the late side (the latest in the village of Savigny-lès-Beaune, according to Claude de Nicolay, who shares responsibility for vinification with her brother François), from September 20 through 30, with yields mostly down dramatically owing to the late-June hailstorm. The village parcels were at roughly 12% potential alcohol and were chaptalized by about 0. 8 degree, said Claude de Nicolay, but the grand crus were picked at 13%. There was some coulure and mildew in the vines and the estate sprayed with low-fat milk and nettles rather than using sulfur solutions. Routinely on the high side, pHs here were around 3. 8 on 2014, with the Corton des Maréchaudes reaching 3. 9.

De Nicolay told me that she's been comparing the young 2014s to the estate's 2000s."The earlier vintage had similar acidity and upfront fruit and we've been surprised by its longevity," she explained, adding that yields were lower in 2014 and that these wines are more tannic. Incidentally, this estate bottles its wines with extremely low levels of SO2: about 15 ppm of free sulfur and 40 of total sulfur, according to de Nicolay.

I was even more impressed by the 2014 whites than by the reds and have thus included notes on the estate’s top cuvées.

Chandon de Briailles was hard-hit by hail in 2013, with 80% of the estate's parcels affected and production limited to just 50 barrels, as compared to a normal 200. "Only the grand crus were untouched by hail," said Claude de Nicolay, "and their yields were almost normal at around 25 hectoliters per hectare." But production in Savigny-lès-Beaune and Pernand was closer to 10 hectoliters per hectare, she added. "The skins were thick and we knew we had enough tannins, so we did a very gentle extraction and more destemming than usual," said Claude, who runs this domain with her brother François. Acidity levels were relatively high in 2013, according to Claude, and the cellar was being heated in November to finish the last of the malolactic fermentations. The samples I tasted were from barrels that had completed their malos, some of them recently.

"The 2012s are large wines but elegant, like a better version of 2009," said Claude de Nicolay.The estate made just half of a normal crop in 2012--15 hectoliters per hectare--with mildew in May and coulure during the flowering resulting in tiny bunches on vines situated at the bottom of the slopes.Her brother Francois carried a longer cold soak than usual, including a bit of carbonic maceration with whole clusters, then more pigeages than in 2011 (two per day during the active days of fermentation), followed by a longer post-maceration fermentation than usual because the tannins were not dry.The malos then finished very early, said Claude, "right after the fermentations, and in some cases in vat."The 2012s are lower in acidity and higher in pH than average, and all the wines except for the Ile de Vergelesses and the Beaune Bressandes were in tank by the time of my visit.The estate now buys just ten new barrels each year but is not using its barrels as long as previously."People now are looking for fruit more than for structure," Claude explained."With older barrels we were losing fruit." (David Bowler Wine, www.bowlerwine.com; Ideal Wine & Spirits, www.idealwine.us; Beaune Imports, www.beauneimports.com)

Chandon de Briailles was not shy about vinifying whole clusters in 2010, and my notes suggest that this approach contributed power and tension to the wines. In fact, the chewiness and flavor intensity of the estate's '10s belie their moderate alcohol levels, which will range from 12% to 12.6% in the finished wines, with no chaptalization carried out. "We eliminated about 10% of our fruit due to rot," noted Claude de Nicolay, "but there was not a problem with underripe grapes." Although Chandon de Briailles uses very little new oak, the estate is now keeping its barrels around for no more than ten years; previously they used barrels as long as 20 years. The 2010s were still on their lees in barrel at the time of my November visit. (David Bowler Wine, New York, NY; Ideal Wines & Spirits, Medford, MA; Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA)

After being impressed by this estate's 2007s, which I tasted last winter in New York, I figured it was time to return for a visit after an absence of several years. Francois de Nicolay took over winemaking in 2005, aided by his sister Claude, and evolution of technique here in recent years is now resulting in much more supple reds, with more early personality, than the wines made here through the 1990s. One key change is that the family has reduced the number of years they use their barrels from 8-15 to 5-10. According to Claude de Nicolay, very little extraction is done during the fermentation, as the cold maceration brings lots of color. Fermentation temperatures do not surpass 30oC, and four or five days of post-fermentation maceration are carried out without heating the wine. I suspect the 2009s here represent an extreme style for this estate, as grape sugars were quite high in the style of the year, some of the malos finished very early, and a couple of wines showed an exotic, chocolatey, high-toned character in November. "Two thousand nine is the yummy vintage," notes Claude, adding that Savigny, as a village, has very good acidity in 2009. The '09s here have the tannic mass to age but will give pleasure early.

This estate was among the first to harvest on the Cote de Beaune in 2003, beginning on August 15.According to Claude de Nicolay, potential alcohol levels averaged 13.2%, and the Corton Valozieres and Marechaudes were picked at 14% on the first day of the harvest. Nicolay describes the 2003s as having "a lot of body, a lot of roundness, and a lot of tannins."She clearly prefers 2002, which she says "has the perfect balance of Burgundy."Nicolay used no new barrels and very few year-old barrels in either 2003 or 2002.

This estate did a five-to-six-day cold maceration following the '98 harvest, said Claude de Nicolay, then kept the fermentation temperature below 30oC. The post-fermentation maceration was kept cool and short, she added, because the tannins had a tendency to get dry quickly. Claude describes the vintage as "very Burgundian: the terroirs are easy to identify. The pickers eliminated about 10% rotten grapes in the vines. The wines are pure, the acids are sound, the tannins are moderately ripe, the wines were mostly chaptalized about one degree." The domain used no new barrels to age either the '98s or the '97s. I have provided '97 notes only for those cuvees I did not taste and report on in finished form last winter.

This estate did a five-to-six-day cold maceration following the '98 harvest, said Claude de Nicolay, then kept the fermentation temperature below 30oC. The post-fermentation maceration was kept cool and short, she added, because the tannins had a tendency to get dry quickly. Claude describes the vintage as "very Burgundian: the terroirs are easy to identify. The pickers eliminated about 10% rotten grapes in the vines. The wines are pure, the acids are sound, the tannins are moderately ripe, the wines were mostly chaptalized about one degree." The domain used no new barrels to age either the '98s or the '97s. I have provided '97 notes only for those cuvees I did not taste and report on in finished form last winter.

Claude de Nicolay did more destemming of the grapes than usual in 1997 two thirds, vs. a typical 50% in order to keep acidity levels from descending even further ("the stems eat acidity," says Claude), then retained only the first pressing. Fermentation temperature was kept below 29 degrees C to preserve freshness of fruit. This is likely to be a very open group of wines, like the '85s made here. In contrast, the '96s, with much lower pHs, were very slow to complete their malos (some cuvees took a full year to finish) and the bottling was not finished until October of '98. These are powerful, structured wines that will defy impatient drinkers.

Claude de Nicolay take on the '96 and '95 vintages for red wine is a bit different from the norm: 1995 is charming and glyceral, she says, while 1996 is more severe. She believes the '96s, which feature lower pHs and higher acidity than the '95s, will close up after the bottling. These are traditionally made Burgundies; Claude and her mother Nadine vinify their wines to age without making concessions to current tastes for immediately drinkable bottles. The de Nicolays do a further three or four days of maceration following the end of fermentation, pressing just when the tannins begin to turn tough. The estate generally gives the wines a major aeration after the end of the malos; in November Claude thought she would do a gentle second racking for the '96s. The '93s, she now admits, could have received a bit more aeration during levage Interestingly, the estate stopped using new oak with the '92 vintage, instead buying 18-month-old barrels from Domaine Meo-Camuzet. Claude looks for purity of terroir and does not think that Cote de Beaune wines need new oak. (Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; Daniel Johnnes/Jeroboam Wines, New York, NY; Ideal Wines, Medford, MA)

Claude de Nicolay take on the '96 and '95 vintages for red wine is a bit different from the norm: 1995 is charming and glyceral, she says, while 1996 is more severe. She believes the '96s, which feature lower pHs and higher acidity than the '95s, will close up after the bottling. These are traditionally made Burgundies; Claude and her mother Nadine vinify their wines to age without making concessions to current tastes for immediately drinkable bottles. The de Nicolays do a further three or four days of maceration following the end of fermentation, pressing just when the tannins begin to turn tough. The estate generally gives the wines a major aeration after the end of the malos; in November Claude thought she would do a gentle second racking for the '96s. The '93s, she now admits, could have received a bit more aeration during levage Interestingly, the estate stopped using new oak with the '92 vintage, instead buying 18-month-old barrels from Domaine Meo-Camuzet. Claude looks for purity of terroir and does not think that Cote de Beaune wines need new oak. (Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; Daniel Johnnes/Jeroboam Wines, New York, NY; Ideal Wines, Medford, MA)