2020 Côte de Nuits

Unlike some Côteaux Bourguignons which are a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir, this is 100% Gamay, from a parcel of very old vines the Grivots inherited via the Jayers, one of whom was married to Etienne’s father. When tasting, Etienne mentioned that Henri Jayer made him promise to never, ever rip out these vines. He has since kept his word, and it is now one of the wines that Etienne is most animated about in their whole cellar. It’s a more slender wine than the 2019, and is focused and vibrant with lively red fruits.

Beaux Monts is always one of the most impressive wines from this cellar. It is a beautiful vineyard in Vosne, and one of Etienne’s personal favourites. It is intense and energetic, with beautifully constructed tannins. The ageing potential is dialled up here. It is a wine of tremendous finesse already, but also one that promises much more in the years to come.

Aux Lavières is tucked just beneath 1er Cru Aux Murgers, on the Vosne side of the appellation, and it’s quite a step up on your regular village cuvée. This 2020 shows clarity, energy and density. What a wonderful wine this vintage. Excellent grip and length.

This is a blend of many small parcels across the village, resulting in a wonderfully complete and complex village wine. It has all the requisite fruit and fragrant pinot aromas in place for a good Vosne, and such silky plentiful tannins, marking it out as one of the best this year.

Clos de Vougeot might be a grand cru, but in the wrong hands it can be ungainly and heavy. In the hands of the Grivots, however, it is a finely woven, detailed and poised wine with beautiful power and length. Blood orange and violets perfume the nose, with a little tobacco spice and pepper on the palate spicing up the ripe red berry fruit. So sweetly tender, but also so powerful, with nicely detailed tannins.

This is perennially one of the most in-demand wines in Burgundy. It is truly grand cru in stature in 2020. Profound, complex, with supreme and slick length.

This wine has earned a strong following for its superb quality, and will no doubt sell out quickly on release. It is suave and intense, with an opulent and dazzling freshness, and a complex profile of blood orange, rosemary, dark berries and smoke. It finishes with a beautiful length, lingering with aromatic beauty long after you have sipped it.

This is always one of the prettiest in the Grivot cellar, and in 2020, it also has the structure and concentration to age gracefully. There is a sweet balance between the tannins and fruit, with fresh acidity and elegant body.

This is a wonderful 2020: vibrant, concentrated, and energetic. It’s extra umph might be due to the fact some rain fell in this sector of Nuits-St-Georges just before harvest, and unlocked the vines, that otherwise might have started to show some drought stress. It has an ample body, and silken tannins with just a little kick of grip at the back. The clay soils of this part of Nuits are really coming into their own with these dry summers.