2023 Gevrey Chambertin Les Champonnets

The 2023 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champonnet 1er Cru includes 80% whole bunch with around 25% new oak. It shows some reduction on the nose but that cannot disguise the intensity of fruit here. The palate is medium-bodied with a healthy dose of black pepper on the finish. This is bold with a firm structure, shaped by the stems at the moment, but they will be absorbed with time. It's masculine in style and a bit austere, so give this time in bottle. If you like Dujac or Bize, you'll like this. Heresztyn-Mazzini is an estate that I have visited regularly for a decade now. They might not be one of Gevrey’s “superstars,” but they have been producing excellent wine for several years. Underlying their success is a cluster of choice holdings, biodynamic vineyard husbandry and an attention to detail in the winery, where I find assiduous use of whole clusters. Their 2023s may well be the finest set of releases so far, perhaps better than the 2022s. “We did a green harvest in July for two weeks. There was a lot of rain that month, so we used silica when it was dry, which helped with the structure of the wine. I had never seen such a precocious vintage. Picking began on September 7 and the average yield was around 35 hl/ha.”