Chambolle-Musigny
1er Cru Les Charmes 2016
The wines of Chambolle-Musigny, located in the Côte de Nuits, are unique red wines that symbolize finesse and elegance…
Origin
This appellation is one of the smallest and most parcelled out of the Côte with only 97 ha of Village appellation vines, 50 ha of Premiers Crus and 25 ha of Grands Crus. The terroirs of Chambolle-Musigny are rather homogenous and enjoy eastern exposure. The delicate silkiness of its wines stems directly from the soil type.
This term 'Charmes' is used in Burgundy to designate poor vegetation plateaux, uncultivated or fallow land.Formerly there were many plots not worked by their owner because they were very stony and difficult to cultivate.
Viticulture
Grape variety: pinot noir
Soils: very stony and very thin limestone soil.
Orientation: East
Surface area under vine: 0.3477 ha
Pruning: Guyot system
Yield: 32 hL/ha
Average age of the vines: 50 years old.
Vinification
Harvest date: September the 25th 2016.
The grapes were handpicked and collected in 20-kg perforated crates.
At the winery: 50% of grapes were destemmed but not crushed (they were left whole) and were gravity-fed into tanks. Maceration lasted a total of 23 days including one week of cold maceration (12°C). Fermentation used indigenous yeasts only (no additives such as enzymes or tannins were used). Infrequent punching of the cap (8 maximum).
Ageing
Maturation: aged on the lees for 16 months with no racking using a proportion of 35% new French oak barrels.
Barrels: French oak barrels that had been toasted at low temperatures for a long time for very delicate oaking.
Bottling
Bottling: the wine was not fined but was very gently filtered before being bottled using gravity in February 2018.
Number of bottles: 900.
Vintage
2016 , small is beautiful!
Small volumes, but lovely fruit overall. This is expected to be a great vintage, confirmed by the first tastings in spring. Vintage 2016 offers fine surprises with wines of potentially high quality. White wines have fine fruit aromas, with good body and will be ready to drink while young whereas the red wines are powerful, tender, concentrated and will be ideal for ageing. The harvest was one-third down on average because of the frost that struck the region on 28 April, causing a lot of irreversible damage. This was all the more frustrating as the summer was very hot and sunny, resulting in very dense berries with thick skins, promising concentration and intense wines, but with low yields.
Ageing potential: 10 years and more.
Tasting notes
The bright color is dark red with ruby highlights. The very floral nose with notes of violet on the first nose. Then aromas of fruit like cherry and blueberries with smoky notes develop. The palate, both chiseled and concentrated, reveals supple and silky tannins. There are aromas of red fruit on the palate.
