GEVREY CHAMBERTIN

2019 Vigne Belle Domaine Thierry Mortet

EN PRIMEUR

Obviously riper and richer than the straight Gevrey, this has peps and fully-formed aromatics - even a bit of spice. Lovely wine. Thierry notes that so far this is the only one of his 2019s to be so aromatically complete. Drinking range: 2023 - 2033L&S (Oct 2020)

* 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.

Vigne Belle is situated below Petite Chapelle, on similar terroir though giving a wine of less structure. Replanted in 1987, so the vines are now mature. Fresh purple, a little more weight of fruit, slightly more floral here. Some tannins here to give the tension, the quality of the fruit creeps up behind, ever more floral. Very persistent indeed. Tasted: March 2021 **** Rating: 92 Jasper Morris - Inside Burgundy  (Oct 2021)

The 2019 Gevrey-Chambertin Vigne Belle has a strict and rather lean bouquet where I found myself asking for more fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with a silky texture that disguises the fact that this Gevrey does not possess a great deal of depth. Yet, it is well balanced and pure, very approachable thanks to the lithe tannins on the finish. Enjoy over the next decade. Drinking range: 2022 - 2031 Rating: 89-91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jan 2021)

With a little more grunt and mid-palate depth, this is a lovely wine and it has more of the tannin and grip which I would associate with this label and also this vintage. Rating: 17.5+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Jan 2021)

The domaine dates back to 1992, when Domaine Charles Mortet was split between Thierry and his brother Denis, and Thierry set up on his own with just 4 hectares of vines. Today he has 7.3 ha, of which 6 are red and 1.3 white. Only 4.36 hectares are Gevrey or Chambolle, the rest being a small parcel of Marsannay Blanc and regionals - Bourgogne Rouge and Blanc, Aligoté and Passetoutgrain.

Thierry continues to be praised in the French press without ever quite seeming to crack the influential American journalists. It may be simply because he is a bit short of fancy appellations - one little cuvée of Grand Cru would no doubt do his reputation a lot of good - but might also put his prices up, and these remain very modest.

In the vineyard, Thierry has been certified organic since 2007, but really this was just an official stamp on what had been the practices of the domaine since the beginning, and he is working towards biodynamic certification. In the cellar, the grapes are entirely de-stemmed, and given four or five days of cold maceration are followed by the fermentation, with just a touch of cooling to keep the temperature around 31-33C (below 35, at least), and two pigeages a day. The total time in vat can be as little as 17 days. The wines then go into barrel, all second use or older for the Bourgogne, with 30% new wood on the Gevrey, and 50% on the Clos Prieur, for a period of around sixteen months.

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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.

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