2021 Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru

Pierre Duroché guides me through a slightly curtailed portfolio due to the frost, yet he seems unphased by the dramatic season. “There was frost on 7 April that affected the vineyards, especially on the Brochon side like Gevrey Champeaux, where it was a disaster. The Grands Crus were protected by candles, even though I don’t like using them. Then hailstorm on 9 June, in the north part of Gevrey, damaged vines and made them difficult to prune, which will lower quantities in 2022. The average yield in 2021 is 20hl/ha. Then there was mildew, oidium and botrytis pressure, but we used copper and sulphate in the vines, spraying from nine at night to four in the morning in between the rain. The old vines affected by millerandage were easy to spray as there was space between the berries. Before the picking, it was sunny with a lot of light, so the phenolic maturity could be even better than the previous two vintages; plus, the growing season was a little bit longer – even the seeds were very brown. I started picking on 19 September and finished one week later. We blended some climats usually bottled separately for the Gevrey Village and Gevrey 1er Cru. I used the same level of whole bunches with no SO2 during vinification. The Grand Crus were picked berry-by-berry on the Sunday during harvest when it rained. The quality of the vines and the yield are key to the vintage.”

This is a strong set of wines from Duroché, crowned by a sensational Chambertin that must surely be a contender for wine of the vintage – if only there was more! Deciding to blend the measly volumes of some of his single-vineyard sites was a wise and perhaps ineluctable decision, and these are worth hunting down. Ethereal as always, Duroché continues his impressive run of form with whatever Nature throws his way.