Domaine Denis Mortet : Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru "Les Champeaux" 2021

Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Les Champeaux" 2021 Domaine Denis Mortet

Tasting

Color

This wine shows a fairly deep ruby color, though somewhat less saturated than in sun-drenched vintages.

Nose

The nose is complex, layering black and red berries, rose, raspberry, orange zest, sweet spices, a saline note, and a touch of grilled game.

Palate

The palate is rich and structured, with powdery tannins framed by a pronounced acidic and mineral backbone, carrying through to a notably long finish.

Serving and cellaring

This Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Les Champeaux" 2021 is built for aging, with a potential of about a decade or more according to the estate's technical sheet, and an estimated peak between eight and ten years, a window also echoed in critics' tasting notes for this vintage.

Other characteristics

Production from this climat remains limited to roughly 2,100 bottles per vintage, reflecting the scarcity of this particular Gevrey-Chambertin premier cru within the Domaine Denis Mortet range.

Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Champeaux 2021: A Structured, Mineral Pinot Noir from Burgundy's Côte de Nuits

The Estate

Domaine Denis Mortet was formally established in 1991 as SCEA Domaine Denis Mortet, in Gevrey-Chambertin, in the heart of Burgundy's Côte de Nuits. Its roots trace back to 1956, when Charles Mortet acquired the family's first vineyard parcel in the village. Today the estate is owned by Laurence and Arnaud Mortet, with Arnaud serving as winemaker and his sister Clémence also active in the vineyards and sales. The property now spans sixteen hectares across nearly a hundred plots.

The Vineyard

This Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Les Champeaux" 2021 comes from a 0.45-hectare plot set high on the slope near the Combe Lavaux, within the Gevrey-Chambertin appellation. This old, wild climat still carries its dry-stone walls, stone huts known as cabottes, and terraced rows of vines. The soil is shallow, red, and very stony, only 20 to 30 centimeters deep, sitting close to a bedrock streaked with violet veining that forces roots to dig deep for nourishment. The vines here average seventy years of age, in part descended from old plantings made by Charles Mortet that still serve today as the source for the estate's massal selections. Trained in simple Guyot and farmed without chemical fertilizers or herbicides, the plot is worked with a horse-drawn plow and amended only with organic matter.

The Vintage

The 2021 growing season proved more demanding than Burgundy's recent sun-drenched years, bringing cooler, more variable weather. These more complex conditions called for particularly careful sorting at the winery to address uneven ripening, and they also account for a color less saturated than in warmer vintages, reflecting more measured extraction rather than any lack of ripeness.

Winemaking and aging

This Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Les Champeaux" 2021 is hand-harvested into small crates and sorted on a vibrating table before fermenting with indigenous yeasts. Roughly 30 to 40 percent of the blend was vinified as whole clusters, a technique favored for old-vine fruit whose uneven berry sizes resist clean destemming. Cuvaison lasts about 18 to 20 days, with punch-downs kept to five or six per cycle to avoid over-extraction, and sulfur use is notably reduced compared with earlier generations at the estate. The wine is then aged for around 18 months in oak barrels, with new oak for this vintage limited to approximately 20 percent.

Grape Varieties

This wine is made from 100% pinot noir, the sole grape variety planted on the Les Champeaux plot.