2017 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru

I have been feting Nicolas Groffier’s winemaking for three or four years now. Where once the domaine had a penchant for rather over-extracted wines, Nicolas Groffier has navigated a different course with completely different wines: elegant, full of tension and respectful to their terroirs. And that’s the thing: there vines populate some enviable patched of "dirt", which means once in the hands of a talented winemaking, you are inevitably going to make some serious wines. "They are like 2015 but with more yield and more accessibility," the ever garrulous Groffier told me. "Two thousand and eighteen is like its smaller sister, but there is more volume. It was a nice surprise to find berries with much more juice, but the vintage is serious for me. It is the opposite of 2017. The wines kept the tension. I started the harvest on 28 August harvest and finished 2 September, so it was quite quick. The average alcohol is around 13.0%, with just a little chaptalization to extend the fermentation. I didn’t find any sur-maturité in the wines and I strive for grapes that I recognise when I taste them in the vineyard. The extraction was easy." I find Groffier an erudite and engaging winemaker to exchange views with, so I asked him how he feels about a future whereby vintages start in August. "I prefer to pick at the end of September but I don’t mind picking at the end of August because the vines are happy in the warmth, even if it is not good in terms of global warming. No, the only real problem [of an early harvest] is deciding the date of the harvest. You must be reactive in terms of mobilising the pickers. For me, the ideal alcohol around 12.5% because at 13.5% Pinot Noir can become a bit of a caricature." Overall, Groffier’s 2018s fall into the "stellar" category and not just at the top end. The Gevrey-Chambertin Les Seuvrées punches at Premier Cru level but yes, if you can shell out for their stunning Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze, please invite me round when you crack it open.

When I commenced my professional wine career, I drank Groffier’s wines regularly, but over time I found them too heavy and excessively oaked. Consequently, they disappeared from my radar. Then, a couple of years ago, I caught wind that Nicolas Groffier had altered the style and the wines were significantly improved. I visited once again, and I loved them. Basically, Groffier is back making some of Morey-Saint-Denis’s best wines and maybe the cognoscenti have not yet registered the renaissance.

“The growing season was relatively easy,” Groffier informed me as we took a seat in his tasting room. “It was an early season with plenty of dryness, and the end of the season was humid. On August 23 and 25 there was some rain. I was very happy, as it has given the wines more freshness. I didn’t want another 2015. We put back the picking date by three days to September 7 and picked the Premier and Grand Crus in dry conditions. Then we waited for the rain on the weekend and then picked again and finished on September 12. So the harvest was over five or six days. The berries were in healthy condition, the potential alcohol was around 12.5° and there was good volume, averaging around 40hl/ha. The vinification was simple and very classic, just a light chaptalisation to extend the alcoholic fermentation a little. We put the whole bunch into the vat with the main stem. We have just racked the wines and added a bit of SO2 and they will be bottled next March.”

Like their 2015s and 2016s, their 2017s continue a run of deeply impressive releases that exploit a propitious array of holdings without pushing them too far. There is no need when you have terroir like Les Amoureuses or Bonnes-Mares in sizeable quantities, not just a piddling barrel here and there. There is intensity here but no excessive concentration or heaviness. There is clearly far more freshness than the wines of old, with bewitching tension towards the finish on nearly all the wines. Interestingly, Nicolas Groffier mentioned that he is hoping to sell more directly to consumers in the future. At the moment, only around 2% is sold in that manner, but he would like it to increase. Better make sure you are on that list, but in the meantime, contact your local merchant.