2015 Gevrey-Chambertin Champ

Pierre Duroché, who began working with his father at the family domain in 2003 and took over winemaking responsibilities in '05, told me that vintage 2015 was his “best yet in terms of the constitution of the wines.” He finds the ‘15s even more concentrated than the ‘10s, and noted that there was less stress and a lower crop level in ’15 than in 2005. He made just 28 hectoliters per hectare in ’15. Duroché harvested between September 4 and 11, bringing in his fruit with between 12.8% and 13.2% potential alcohol. His fermentations generally take three or four days to start and, as he vinifies with a high percentage of uncrushed grapes, the fermentations tend to proceed slowly. Still, he told me, the 15-day cuvaisons in 2015 were a bit short by his standards, “but it was very easy to extract color.” He does gentle manual pigeages to avoid oxidation, and then “a lot of remontage at the end.”

All of the 2015s had been bottled at the end of November, about two weeks before my visit, and Duroché showed me a sampling of the new vintage. I was troubled by a distinctly sauvage aspect to a few of these wines but for the time being I will give them the benefit of the doubt as they had just been bottled. But Duroché's 2014s are more pristine.