2013 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru

Although he considers the 2014s to be more concentrated than the '13s, Bertrand Dugat believes the skins were riper in 2013 and the wines softer. He also maintains that the 2013s show more site specificity than the '14s, noting: "The more the tension, the more the terroir."

This is the first time I tasted with Claude Dugat's son, Bertrand, who along with his sister, Laetitia, has taken over the family domaine. Longtime fans of this reference-point domaine will find quite a different style in the 2013s than has been the case in the past. Part of that is a broad move towards picking earlier and other global changes, including a transition from Cordon Royaut pruning to Guyot and less new oak in some of the wines. The 2013s were brought in beginning on September 29, which was early for the year. The wines were not chaptalized. All of that means the 2013s are sinewy and linear in style, with quite a bit less textural radiance than is the norm. It will be interesting to see if the 2013s flesh out in bottle, but my early impression is that some of these parcels may have been picked a touch early as I don't see full flavor and texture maturity across the board. Time will tell.

Although I had tasted with Claude Dugat as recently as last year, his son Bertrand and daughter Laetitia essentially took over responsibility for this small family domain in 2010. Bertrand is already making his presence felt in the wines, as his concept of the ideal balance for pinot fruit is somewhat different from that of his father Claude. He's picking a bit earlier nowadays as he prefers "an excess of acidity to a lack of acidity." In fact, he told me, the harvest of 2013 was slated to begin on October 5, but when he was deleafing the vines a couple weeks before then, he noticed signs of incipient rot and moved up the harvest by a full week, eventually picking with potential alcohol levels between 11.8% and 12%. And Bertrand would also prefer not to chaptalize his grand crus, noting that "13% is okay for these wines; grand cru don't need to have 13.5% alcohol." In fact, he told me that the family's grand crus were barely chaptalized in 2013--"except maybe 0.2%." Beginnng in 2014, he has also cut the percentage of new oak used to age his Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru from 100% to 50%, as he thought some past vintages of this wine were drying out. Interestingly, Dugat compared the 2013s and the 2012s to the estate's 2008s and 2009s, respectively. I was impressed by both of the recent vintages.