GEVREY CHAMBERTIN

2016 Cuvée Bertin Domaine Lignier-Michelot

EN PRIMEUR

(from Les Seuvrées and Les Murots). A much earthier and more sauvage-inflected nose exhibits nuances of underbrush and humus on the combination of red and dark currant aromas. There is once again excellent power and concentration to the medium-bodied flavors that possess a caressing mouthfeel thanks to the abundant amount of dry extract, all wrapped in a driving and slightly rustic finish. This too is excellent for its level. Drinking range: 2024 - Rating: 89-92 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Jan 2018)

* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.

(80% vendange entier; bottled the day before my visit): Good deep red. Rather subdued scents of raspberry, strawberry, smoke and underbrush. Delivers enticing sweetness but not quite the early suppleness of the Morey-Saint-Denis Vieilles Vignes. Shows sound acidity, though. The tannins are dusty and fine-grained but still obvious, as the wine shows a bit less mid-palate stuffing than the old-vines Morey. Drinking range: 2019 - 2025 Rating: 89 Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (Jan 2018)

The 2016 Gevrey Chambertin Cuvee Bertin, a blend of two vineyards, included 70% whole bunch this year. It has a tightly wound bouquet at first, then changes its mind and offers attractive rose petal and wilted violet scents. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin, slightly savory in style and meatier than its peers with a pleasant, gourmand finish. Drink over the next eight to ten years. Rating: 89-91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 2017)

A domaine of 11 hectares, 25% regionals, 50% Villages, 20% Premiers crus and 5% Grands Crus. Virgile Lignier worked at the domaine with his father Maurice from 1988, beginning to bottle some of the wine from 1992 (it had previously been sold to the négoce), taking over in 2000, which was the vintage when he first bottled all the domaine's production.

In the vineyard Virgile made significant changes, stopping the use of herbicides, and beginning to plough instead. Green harvesting to limits yields followed, along with greater attention to grape selection. The domaine works organically except in extremis.

The wines have a lovely combination of enough body and richness, combined with a lively clarity of expression. The old vines village cuvées are seriously good, and great value too. Going up the scale each site seems to speak very clearly of its source and there is a brightness and energy along with full, seamless fruit.

ORDERING VIA OUR WEBSITE:

  • We will respond as quickly as possible with confirmation of your order and your invoice.

Please note that certain wines are on very tight allocations and will first be offered to customers who buy across the range. If you have any queries, please email our primeurs team or speak to your usual L&S contact.

ORDERING VIA EMAIL:

Please feel free to email us at any time. This list can include wines listed as available on the website, as well as those marked 'To Be Advised'. We will reply as soon as possible with confirmation of what we can offer.

STORAGE OPTIONS:

Wines bought en primeur are scheduled to arrive in the UK over the course of the next eighteen months. If you do not wish to take home delivery, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our primeurs team for more information.

While helpful, we do not require a firm commitment on delivery destination to process your primeur order at this stage. Our team will be in contact with you when your wines arrive in the UK to confirm the necessary delivery details.

BURGUNDY EN PRIMEUR FAQ

OFFER: All wines are offered subject to availability and final confirmation.

PRICING: All prices are quoted IN BOND ex-VAT, by the case size stated. Please double check that the desired case size does match what is being offered as wines are variously listed in threes, sixes, dozens, halves and larger formats.

DELIVERY - TIMING: This is a primeur offer so the wines are not yet physically available for delivery. They will be shipped to the UK over the next eighteen months. Generally, wines are shipped to your nominated location once the whole order has landed in our London City Bond account. If you require wines to be delivered by a certain date, please advise us at the time of ordering.

DELIVERY - FEES: In bond delivery to an Elephant Storage account (for more information see 'Storage Options' opposite) is free of charge. Transfer of wines to any third-party bond (i.e. not Elephant Storage) will incur an administration charge of £16.50 + VAT for all orders under £1,000. Please indicate if you would like the wine duty paid and a duty & VAT invoice will be raised once all the wines on your order are available for shipment. Once the relevant duty & VAT has been settled, we will ship the wines to your nominated address as per our normal duty paid Delivery Terms.

PAYMENT: All orders will be invoiced for immediate payment by cheque, cash, debit card or cleared funds to our account. We regret that we cannot accept credit cards for primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.