2002 Domaine Taupenot-Merme, Charmes-Chambertin, Grand Cru, Red Burgundy, France.
The beautifully mature, dark ruby/garnet hued and silken Charmes-Chambertin, by Romain Taupenot at Domaine Taupenot-Merme, starts with a nose of wilted roses, truffle, a hint of meatiness and evolved red fruits before revealing its Grand Cru force on the medium bodied palate with deep cherry, dried plum, fig and spiced raspberry fruits, along with black tea, cedar, espresso grinds, grilled orange and chalky notes. Taupenot-Merme’s small set of vines in Charmes-CHambertin were planted between 1958, 1968 and 1998 and are farmed all organic, since 2001, and allow for small yield power and complexity, as seen here. This 2002 is reaching maximum pleasure and was absolutely charming, pure and seductive lingering on and on, but it is not a flamboyant wine, and for Chambertin, it is wonderfully subtle, though there’s no doubt of its pedigree. Known for his lighter touch, Romain uses all de-stemmied berries and does the maceration and native yeast fermentation in stainless steel tank with gentle extraction, after which the wines, like this one, saw 15 months in French barriques with a slightly less then usual toast with about 40 % new oak. This fabled site is on classic limestone and clay soils with Taupenot only having a tiny .6 hectare plot, making for an exclusive and very limited bottling of Charmes-Chambertin. My main prior tasting of Taupenot-Merme was their Gevrey-Chambertin, with their 2016 being the last reviewed version, which is in my price range, and a lovely and rewarding Burgundy.

Romain and his sister Virginie Taupenot, of the highly prized Domaine Taupenot-Merme in the village of Morey, are the ninth generation of their family to run the domaine that has some outstanding and historical parcels in mainly the Côte de Nuits, with prime vines in Clos Saint Denis, Chambolle Musigny to the south and Gevrey Chambertin to the north to name a few. The family’s holdings, as importer Kermit Lynch notes, also extend to the Côte de Beaune, centered principally he says around the lovely hilltop village of Saint Romain, plus a special parcel in Corton. Lynch continues, this fabulous, or inspiring collection of top-flight Burgundian vineyards, at Domaine Taupenot-Merme, which a newer addition to his incredible portfolio, was created by the union of the Taupenot family from Saint Romain with the Merme family from Morey Saint Denis in 1963. Romain Taupenot has carried on the house style, which has been described as hauntingly elegant and gently delicate and my own experience with these wines would have me tend to agree and especially with wines such as this pristine and pure Charmes-Chambertin which has a velvety core even with the underlying power of this famed terroir. Reading up, I see that Domaine Taupenot-Merme have close to nine full hectares in the Côte de Nuits side of Burgundy and another 4.5 hectares in the southern zone of Côte de Beaune, so now Romain and Virginie now produce close to 7,000 cases and nineteen different wines, all of which are highly sought after. As mentioned, the village wines here at Taupenot-Merme offer a lot of value for the money, as noted above with the Gevrey-Chambertin, as well as the Chambolle-Musigny, but for something extra special the Grand Crus are very tempting.
($350-450 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive

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