Wine Advisor
Jean Grivot, Richebourg Grand Cru 2016
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2016 Richebourg Grand Cru was not touched at all by the frost, so there are the full five barrels this year (sometimes it can be six). It has a majestic bouquet with ample blackberry, raspberry preserve and brown spice scents, later a touch of white flowers and truffle. This is so mercurial in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannin. This is beautifully focused, tensile and brimming with energy, yet it remains linear, almost aloof right to the finish, a covert sign that it should not be broached for at least a decade like most great Richebourgs. An aristocrat.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2016 Richebourg Grand Cru is deep in colour compared to its peers. The bouquet is just stunning: laser-like focus of black cherries, bilberry, crushed stone and iris flowers that blossom with aeration, seeming to gain intensity with every passing moment. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and perhaps more black than red fruit. Extremely well delineated with wonderful salinity, this begins to fan out on the finish. Then, remembering that it is just a baby, it tapers back in to remind you that it will need 10 to 15 years in the cellar before it reaches full flight. This is a fabulous wine. Tasted blind at the 2016 Burgfest tasting.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Bright red with ruby tones. Vibrant aromas of blackberry, blueberry and dark chocolate are lifted by a violet topnote. Utterly suave on entry, conveying outstanding precision and energy to its flavors of black and blue fruits and crushed rock, with a piquant hint of bitter orange marmalade contributing to the overall impression of nobility. Suave, toothdusting tannins are totally supported by fruit and the seamless, palate-saturating finish perfumes the mouth with minerals, violet and Valrhona bitter chocolate, going on for a minute or more. As charismatic as this young Richebourg is today, it's far from the most demonstrative wine in the cellar. It will need at least a decade of bottle aging and should last for at 25 to 30 years in a cool cellar.
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.
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