Burgundy 2012 Day 4: Visit to Domaine Guy Amiot

Day 4 begin with a visit to another good friend, Fabrice Amiot, and his family in the eponymous Domaine Amiot. Fabrice is a regular visitor with our little group in Singapore, and it was very good to see him again. While we were expected at his home for more causal dinner in the evening, the morning was all about the wines of the domaine, and in particular a range of 2010s that we stated.

I have always thought quite highly of Domaine Amiot. They produce very consistently good, honest Chassagnes across a whole range of 1er Crus, with Le Montrachet being the pick of the bunch. I have always felt that these were wines that needed a bit of age to show their. However, the 2010s whites really thrilled me. These were easily the best range of wines I have tasted from the domaine over a few vintages, with a clarity and litheness that set them apart from other years. The one word that came to mind was finesse, with the wines showing an unusual polish that made them a delight to drink even when young without losing any of the structure and depth that would allow them to age beautifully. Given the overall stellar quality of 2010 for whites, I do hope this is not a one-off. If this does mark the direction the domaine is moving in, it will be yet another one to watch out for in the coming years.

The two reds we tasted were perhaps a little less impressive, showing a touch austere and maybe just a bit more rustic than the whites in their youth. However, this were still very nice wines, well-made wines, with a lot of quality to them. They do need some age to show however.

• 2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet

  This is a very accomplished village. It had a very pretty nose, with sweet peach and apricot aromas, a bit of cream, some white flower and a very Chassagne note of honeysuckle streak with a little minerally highlight. I liked the palate too. It was very forward and drinking really well, with ripe peaches and apricots flavours backed up with bight grapefruity acidity that pulled the wine into an impressively full finish, where the wine was touched with honey and spice and nice underscore of mineral. Nice stuff, and quite lovely to drink in its youth.

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• 2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Macherelles 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  A nicely made wine that was perhaps just a shade better than the impressive Chassagne village that preceded it. This showed yet another attractive nose, with sweet honey notes, stone-fruit accents and shades of ripe apples and pineapple notes, with a drizzle of saline mineral at the side - a very expressive, generous bouquet. The palate was just a bit tighter. Again, there was a nice honeyed tone to its, with notes pineapple floating above lots of slatey, slightly saline mineral. This was very full in the mouth, yet had good sense of tension and delineation, with superb minerality underlining the palate all the way into a persistent finish with a touch of spice. There was great sense of extract and grip there. This needs a bit of time yet, I would visit again in 2 or 3 years, but there is already quite a bit to enjoy.

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• 2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos St. Jean 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  Good, but given the terroir, this was aptly the most tightly wound of the flight. The nose was concentrated, but slightly unyielding, with a deep, but tightly coiled together bouquet of sweet honey and ripe yellow fruit, some flowers, and then tons of slatey mineral notes. Expressive again, but not quite as pretty as some of its stablemates. The palate reflected the minerality on the nose, with a stoney, slatey backdrop to its riper notes of pear on the attack, leading into a very honeyed midpalate and a touch of toasted nuts on the finish. A very concentrated, muscular wine I thought, but while this had no lack of balance and focus, it was probably my least favourite of the very fine series of Chassagne 1er Crus that we tasted. Nevertheless, there is good raw material here, and the wine does need quite a bit of time yet. Try starting 2015-2016.

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• 2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champs-Gain 92 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  This wine charmed my socks off. The earliest drinking of the Chassagne 1ers, it had such an inviting nose, with honeyed tones and musky floral accents hanging around white peach and sweet apple aromas - very pretty - and all underpinned by a stony mineral undertone reminiscent of crushed rocks. The palate was quite lovely too. It was very elegant, very giving, with delicious flavours of sweet apples, more tropical green mango notes, and enchanting swirls of white flowers. Beautifully balanced and so friendly to drink, yet make no mistake - there was lots of tension underlying the wine's deceptively easy feel, with flinty minerality and juicy acidity wed to stretching the it into a nice finish with a twist of ginger away tingling at the end. This may not be the longest-ager in the pack, but with something so delicious young, that really is no issue. Even then though, it does have the balance and structure to see it drink nicely throughout its first decade.

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• 2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  An absolutely smashing 1er Cru. As often the case, the Caillerets was the pick of the bunch, although it is also the wine that will probably need the most time in the bottle to hit its stride. The nose was noticeably more deeply coiled than on any of the other wines, with subtle shades of honey and musk, sweet apple and a nice stoney accent. The palate was really impressive though. It was full, almost rich on the attack, with obvious power wed to a lovely purity of flavours, from fresh apple shading into sweeter pineapple notes on the midpalate with a touch of flowers trailing behind. Past that, the wine was a lovely stream of tensile energy and stoney minerality pushing into a creamy, full, broad-shouldered finish, where sweet tangerine notes mingled with a streak of stony mineral. Very tight still I thought, but already superbly integrated and brilliantly balanced. A wine of great promise, but also one I would leave aside for 5 to 6 years before popping.

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• 2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chaumées 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  Pretty good stuff. This was probably one of the simpler wines on the day, but it was really delicious. It had a nice little nose, with sweet layers of honey, pineapples and mango. I found the palate really integrated, with smoky mineral notes floating around lemons and limes on a very full attack, before the wine opened up into midpalate full of delicious ripe pineapples notes lined with clean acidity. Lovely long finish too, very silkily textured as the glided away with slightly smokey mineral and spice notes. Simpler maybe, but yummy nonetheless. A good wine, very welcoming even at this stage in its development.

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• 2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Maltroie 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  This was really lovely. While maybe not packing quite as much in reserve as the excellent Caillerets, it was by some distance the wine that was showing the best on the day. It had a beautifully lush nose, full of perfumed flowers, ripe stone fruit and some subtle tropical nuances. Really pretty. The palate was perfectly balanced, with brighter, more citrussy notes of lemons and green apples shading into sweeter tropical shades, with pineapple on midpalate. This had such a round, luscious mouthfeel, with perfectly integrated acidity wrapped around its fleshy fruit. And yet it had good underlying structure of extract leading into a long finish with bits of exotic spice - ginger and cloves - I thought. Quite a delight, and this should drink well from now and over the next decade or more.

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• 2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Maltroie Rouge 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  A pretty good wine. The nose whoed sour cherry and darker berry aromas with some flowers and a a touch of rubbery notes. Decent enough, but a bit reticent. I thought the palate was better, with a bright, clear expression of dark cherries and cherries - very transparent, almost like a beam of light shining through the wine's ruby flavours. Beneath that, sme gamy meat and syony, earthy nuances pulled away into slightly chewy, rather firm finish flecked with powedery tannins. A bit on the well-structured, almist austere side at the back-end at the moment, but this was overall a well-constructed wine that should age well over the next decade.

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• 2010 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos St. Jean Rouge 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru

  A pretty good wine, this was a small, but noticeable step-up from the 2010 1er Cru Maltroie that preceded it. The nose here was similar tight, but even then, there were more interesting notes of dark flowers and exotic spice floating around a deep core of black cherries and game meat aromas. As with the nose, the palate was a good representation of the terroir - powerful, muscular, gamy with a dark fruited depth on the attack, this was every bit the brooding, young Chassagne rouge. On to the midpalate though, the fruit was relieved by clear, soaring acidity running through brighter cherries giving the wine a nice transparent feel. It was still very tightly coiled into slightly herby, brambley finish, but this was obviously a very well-made wine that will age very nicely indeed. It needs lots of time though - I would lay this aside and forget about it for the next 8 to 10 years.

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