1999 Vincent Girardin, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. Grand Cru, Red Burgundy, France.
The powerful, dark garnet hued and very old school 1999 Grand Cru Chambertin-Clos de Bèze by Vincent Girardin is seriously tight and reductive to start, but opens up nicely with time in the glass with a layers of black cherry, briar laced raspberry, Mission fig, red currant and tart blueberry fruits, along with flinty/smokey notes, tea spice, coffee grounds, wilted roses and truffle like earthiness. I’ve been following and a buyer of these Vincent Girardin wines since this Chambertin-Clos de Bèze was originally released, so it was fantastic to taste this after nearly 25 years later and it really showed a huge generational difference in style. I’m grateful to my friend Alex Lallos who found this bottle in his cellar and blind tasted on me and a few other wine professionals, I close, but no cigar, in figuring it out, with me thinking it was a Pommard at first and a Gerry-Chambertin, like Maume, later. This vintage was known for firm structures and that certainly was the case here with this Girardin Chambertin-Clos de Bèze showcasing that gripping nature. This wine, which would have been better with maybe an hour of decanting, really needs food to show off its pedigree and charm, it reminded me of when ages ago I had a 1993 La Tâche that took about three hours to open up. Typically Girardin nowadays, makes the top wines with biodynamic grapes and with respect to the lunar cycles in the vineyard and the cellar, with most Grand Cru wines seeing 18 months in barrel and just about 20% new oak, to promote transparency.
One of the seven elite Crus of the Côte de Nuits’ historic Chambertin, the Grand Cru Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, according to records dates back to around 630 A.D., is a special 37 acre site, one of the greatest Pinot Noir vineyards and Napoleon’s absolutely favorite wine, continues to be one of the world’s most sought after vineyards. Set on a medium slope and with classic clay and limestone soils, Clos de Bèze makes for powerfully structured wines, as seen here. It is also noted that Chambertin and Clos de Beze were officially united in 1702, with the AOC being created in 1937. The Maison Vincent Girardin was founded in 1980, by Vincent Girardin when he was only 19 yes old, he was well connected and was able to build strong relationships with growers in some prime Burgundy terroirs, which led to some remarkable wines over the years. Vincent, the son of a family of winegrowers based in Santenay since the 17th century led his label to a huge success and the wines have been well received by critics, collectors and sommeliers around the world. Girardin sold his shares in the company in 2012 to one of his original partners, Jean-Pierre Nié, who has continued produce a star studded collection of Burgundies. Over the years I’ve bought a bunch of this Vincent Girardin wines, from Rully Blanc to Grand Cru Batard-Montrachet, as well as a range of the reds, all for personal enjoyment. I don’t see the Clos de Bèze in their most recent releases, though they do have an old vines Chames-Chambertin, which I’m sure is an outstanding effort. There’s a ton options here at Girardin, but I usually focus my attention to their lesser known village wines, which are often great bargains in the quality to price ratio, especially the village whites.
($300 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive