2012 Mazis Chambertin

The 2012 Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru comes from a small 0.15-hectare parcel on red soils planted between 1949 and 1959 that produced just two barrels this year. Like many wines from this grand cru, it has a vivacious, captivating bouquet with violet-tinged black and red fruit, hints of forest floor and iodine that makes it compelling. The palate is very pure, blackcurrant pastille-infused entry, but this is more about its satin-like texture and harmony. It simply glides across the mouth with a seamless finish that carries the 100% new oak with style. I made a brief visit to Domaine Frederic Esmonin in Gevrey-Chambertin where I met Frederic and father Andre Esmonin, who had kindly organized a tasting in their office, where a heater allowed me to thaw out temporarily until 20 minutes later when I was back down the cellars of Frederic’s cousin Sylvie. Until 1988 the wines were sold in bulk to no less than Leroy and Louis Jadot, but over the last two decades they have quietly gone about their way producing high quality Gevrey-focused wines from their 3.60-hectare of holdings. It’s the same old story: 50% overall reduction due to poor flowering. Here, all bunches are de-stemmed and matured in oak sourced from three cooperages: CaVin, Seguin-Moreau and Radoux. The domaine has a reputation for bottling relatively early and these 2012 had been bottled end-October. My experience of mature bottles suggests that it does not compromise these wines that have an unerring ability to age and what is more, can often be found at reasonable prices. These are beautifully crafted 2012s that are composed, poised and cautiously intense. Importer: Atherton Wine Imports (www.awiwine.com) in California and Howard Ripley (UK)