Description
Remoissenet Père et Fils, Grand Cru Charmes-Chambertin
Even a highly trained eye wouldn’t know that Remoissenet’s Grand Cru Charmes-Chambertin is one of the rarest wines in Burgundy. To discover why this is such a gobsmacking rarity, one would need a direct line to Remoissenet’s owner, and his two-word intel would be “Pinot Fin.”
This ancient and nearly extinct strain of Pinot Noir produces incredibly tiny and compact clusters with excruciatingly low yields. As a result, these finicky vines have proven both difficult and expensive to manage which is why only a few can lay claim to possessing any. One such producer is Arnoux-Lachaux, whose own Pinot Fin bottling might just be the most expensive Bourgogne Rouge on the planet—I can’t even bring myself to tell you the price. Another producer is Remoissenet, who owns and biodynamically farms two extremely old Pinot Fin parcels in the finest section of Grand Cru Charmes-Chambertin. The few treasured clusters they’re able to harvest are bursting with concentration, and Remosisenet further dials up the aromas and intensity by way of natural fermentation and brand-new, high-quality French oak. Bottom line: This is an elusive, hedonistic, treasure-hunting dream of wine. Although we’re currently the only ones offering this mindblowing 2019 release, trust me when I say it’s a steal at $325 (the previous vintage is being sold for $450). Up to three bottles per person, complimentary shipping on one.
Our point man at Remoissenet is the absurdly knowledgeable and well-connected Pierre-Antoine Rovani, who, before becoming Remoissenet’s estate manager, covered Burgundy for Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate. He’s part of a Burgundy dream team that also includes winemaker Claudie Jobard, who continues to display the deftest of touches in the cellar: she does a remarkable job of letting her many far-flung vineyard sources speak for themselves.
The considerable resources of a revived Remoissenet have been poured disproportionately into vineyards: In addition to acquiring a host of carefully selected parcels for themselves—like today’s, which makes this a true-blue “domaine” bottling—they’ve also deepened their relationships with talented vine-growers throughout Burgundy, treating them as true partners rather than just “suppliers.” Whether it’s an estate or a contract vineyard, the Remoissenet team is implementing biodynamic farming practices across the board.
Out of all the villages in Burgundy, Gevrey-Chambertin is truly the Grand Cru epicenter. This commune houses nine in total, all clustered around each other. Charmes is the largest of Gevrey’s Grand Crus and is home to a who’s who of Burgundy’s best bottlings. Remoissenet owns two tiny parcels in Charmes’ créme de la créme northern section, essentially at the convergence of three other Grand Crus: Le Chambertin, Griotte, and Clos de Bèze.
As discussed earlier, Remoissenet’s two plots are planted entirely to 60+-year-old Pinot Fin vines, propagated by selection massale. Farmed biodynamic, these compact, fit-in-your-palm clusters always prove to be a massive headache for a grower—since airflow is greatly restricted, uneven ripening and mold are extremely common maladies. But when meticulously farmed and cultivated by biodynamic experts, like Remoissenet, they can yield some of the most gorgeous, concentrated Pinot fruit imaginable. In the dry, hot, and fantastic 2019 vintage, their low-yielding crop was hand-harvested and sorted multiple times before entering the cellar. Fermentation was carried out naturally in open-top oak vats and the resulting wine matured in mostly new French barrels. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
This is a wine for Pinot hedonists. Big, lush, concentrated, and powerful, Remoissenet’s 2019 Grand Cru Charmes-Chambertin explodes with dense and deep berries followed by disarming aromatics of oak spice, iron, turned earth, and red tea. It’s full-bodied and intoxicating, a Pinot Noir built like a luxurious tank with serious aging capability. Still, you’ll be handsomely rewarded if you pull the cork next year, around its fifth birthday. If you are planning on that, I urge you to buy more than one bottle because this promises to be a jaw-dropping masterwork come 2027 and beyond.
