Wine Advisor
Jean Grivot, Richebourg Grand Cru 2005
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: David Schildknecht
The 2005 Richebourg displays a fascinating and alluring bouquet of black raspberry, nutmeg, ginger, sandalwood, and marrow. It offers an incredibly spicy, intensely black-fruited, old vines impression in the mouth, coating the palate with silken folds of fruit yet gliding elegantly into a finish of dark berries, spice, raw meat, wet stone, and mineral salts. Like spading fertile earth, one turns up new, dark secrets with each sip. For all of its textural richness and ripeness of fruit, this superb Pinot preserves a certain “cool” restraint, with no superficial sweetness. It would be a shame to cellar this for fewer than 10-12 years. Etienne Grivot aimed this year for gentle extraction (essentially without pigeage), then watchful preservation of the freshness, subtleties and refinement inherent in near-perfect raw material. He performed some very light chaptalization to extend the fermentations. Given the health and natural concentration of his vinous raw material, he felt no need to sulfur or rack the wines until shortly prior to bottling (without filtration), which was the stage at which I tasted. Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400.
About the Producer
Domaine Jean Grivot is among the great names in Burgundian wine. Étienne Grivot and his wife Marielle (Patrick Bize's sister) took over from Étienne’s father Jean Grivot in 1987. The Grivot family believes in generational change and in 2017, Étienne and Marielle’s daughter, Mathilde, took over for her parents. Mathilde brings a fresh approach while maintaining the longtime traditions of the Grivot family. The recently renovated winery and cellar is in Vosne-Romanée where most of the Grivot vineyards are located. The domaine has been assembled over several generations to its current size of 15.5 hectares and includes holdings in three grand crus: Clos de Vougeot, Echézeaux, and Richebourg. Mathilde believes in getting quality first thanks to meticulous vineyard work throughout the year. The result of this hard work is healthy, ripe (both phenolic and sugar levels) and depth of concentration and flavor of the fruit. Today, the vineyards are densely planted and farmed organically “sans certification,” while the aim in the cellar is for balance and clear expression of terroir. The grapes are entirely destemmed and maceration à froid usually lasts just a day or two. The fermentation starts naturally, with a little punching down before this fermentation begins. There is no more pigeage after fermentation begins, “I don’t like to mix the physical (punching down) with the spiritual (fermentation),” said Étienne. After fermentation, the wines are pumped over once a day before aging in barrel for 15 months. Depending on the vintage, the proportion of new oak is around 25% for the villages appellations, 30-40% for the premier crus and 40-45% percent for the grands crus.
