drink-now2017 Chambolle-Musigny, Aux Beaux Bruns, 1er Cru, Domaine Ghislaine Barthod

This was the first of Ghislaine’s vineyards to be harvested this year, sitting a bit lower on the slope. It’s a more opulent style, generous, but still with a good backbone of tannin, taking this element from its proximity to Morey. Drink 2022-2028.

Ghislaine Barthod’s domaine originated in the 1920s with Marcel Noëllat whose daughter married Gaston Barthod, a soldier stationed in Dijon who came to buy some wine and got the girl as well. He gave up military life for the vineyards in 1960. His daughter, Ghislaine, and her partner Louis Boillot bought their current premises overlooking Premier Cru Les Feusselottes in 1986. Though they share the team who work the vineyards, the vinification and commercial aspects of their businesses are kept completely separate. The domaine has an incomparable range of ChambolleMusigny terroirs, with eight separate Premier Cru bottlings.

Given the carnage here last year, one could have been concerned that yields might have been high, but these worries were needless. Although there was a certain amount of green harvesting on the younger vines, the old vines (of which there are lots here), if properly pruned and with excess buds eliminated, regulated themselves to reasonable yields well below 50hl/ha. The harvest started on 3rd September and was completed in eight days, with everything beautifully healthy. For Ghislaine, 2016 was about energy; 2017 is about purity.