2012 Chambolle Musigny Les Baudes

Bacon fat and sausage on the nose, plus really pure black fruit. Chambolle disguised as Hermitage. Fine, chalky tannins. Delicious, if perhaps not immediately identifiable as burgundy. (RH)

Bright dark red. Blueberry, menthol and minerals on the nose, plus a dusty violet quality. Juicy, dense and rather powerful, showing good energy and pronounced torrefaction notes of chocolate, mocha and coffee. There's nothing hard about this wine's tannins.

The 2012 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Baudes comes from a single 0.31-hectare parcel that was planted in 1980. It has a deep purple color. The nose is very intense with blackberry, cassis and spice aromas – quite a feisty, precocious bouquet here. Conversely, the palate is firm, masculine and structured. It is quite introspective at the moment with an austere finish: a Chambolle worth tucking away for 5-6 years. Christian Serafin’s “cozy” winery and abode lies just behind the Chateau de Gevrey opposite a rather spooky statue of a hooded monk, who clearly should have prayed a little harder during the growing seasons of 2012 and 2013. Here I met Christian himself, taciturn and wary of meeting strangers at first, but then soon warming up once you start discussing the matter most close to his heart. Accompanied by his daughter Karine (who incidentally has the bluest eyes I have ever seen) we tasted the 2012s in their kitchen, Christian going back and forth to the cellar to extract samples. The harvest commenced here on 22 September and it is the same old story: crops depleted by approximately 30% thanks to millerandage and coulure. Still, the benevolent latter half of the season meant that the premier crus came in between 13.3% and 13.5%, a little higher for the grand cru. The wines are usually allowed to rest on the lees during their elevage and there has been no fining of filtration since 1990. Generally, you might describe Serafin’s wines as more modern-styled expressions of Gevrey-Chambertin, not that dissimilar from say Claude Dugat nearby, with more new oak here than you will find at other addresses. However, there is sufficient fruit here to absorb that wood and it never seemed excessive, although the premier and grand crus always need 6-8 years in the cellar before they reach their drinking plateaus. Importer: Peter Weygandt, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800 and Goedhuis & Co (UK)