Burgundy 2012 Day 2: Visit to Jean-Michel Giboulot
Savigny-lès-Beaune
Tasted Monday, October 22, 2012 by Paul S with 633 views
Introduction
While a large part of the trip this year was spent meeting up with familar producers and catching up with old friends, one other focus was to explore lesser-known winemakers, especially those specialising in less heralded appelations, such as Savigny, Pernand, St. Aubin, Fixin and Marsannay etc partly in hope of finding the rarest of things - a reasonably priced Burgundy for everyday drinking. The first of such visits was to Jean-Michel Giboulot, a maker that came recommended by one of our group.
All things considered, I thought this was a decent visit. I would not jump up to bring in his wines, but there are one or two things that I liked. The whites, which we tasted after the reds, were pretty decent and represent good value - I was especially impressed by the Savigny village blanc, which I found very enjoyable across both the vintages that we tasted. The missus liked the reds, as did one or two of the others in the group, but the rest of us found them merely okay. I think they reflect good vineyard practice in the way the fruit in each vintage retained a freshness and purity, a nice clarity in the wines, but the extraction on the tannins seemed a bit old-school, so that many of the reds ended up with a noticeable toughness at the end. I have no doubt these are wines that will age well, but at this price-range and given the appelations (at the lower end of the scale), these are really wines that could afford to be friendlier in their youth. All in all though, this was a decent visit to a decent address.
2010 Domaine Jean-Michel Giboulot Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Rouge 87 Points
France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune
A simple, easy-drinking wine. A fresh nose gave out pleasant notes of red cherries touched with bits of bramble and a seashelly mineral. On the palate, fresh, bright acid swirled around light, elegant flavours of sour cherries sprinled with a nit of spice and just a little hint of umami. Rather elegant, certainly refreshing and well-balanced. While a very simple, rather light wine, this is not a bad, easy-drinking summer thirst quencher.
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2010 Domaine Jean-Michel Giboulot Savigny-lès-Beaune Aux Grands Liards 89 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune
A very sound Savigny village. The nose showed nice scents of strawberries and cherries backed up with some meatiness and floaty floral notes - classic SLB character. Pretty consistent across the palate too, where fresh, lively 2010 acid and fine tannins wrapped around bright flavours of strawberries, some gummy cherries and then, in a slightly tighter, leaner finish, some earthy, meaty nuances. Pretty good, better at the moment than some of the rather righter 1er Crus in fact, but it too needs a couple of years to mellow and loosen up.
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2010 Domaine Jean-Michel Giboulot Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Gravains 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru
Decent, but no great shakes. I actually did not find much more to like here than on the village lieu-dit Aux Liards that preceded it - perhaps because the first wine was a lot more approachable in its youth. This was tight both across the palate and the nose, where it showed cool, slightly lifted scents of cherries, shades of red berries and a little touch of bramble. It was even tighter on the palate after that, with more cool, subtle notes of cherries touched with a bit of meat and then some earth and bramble nuances. I liked theclean, clear feel on the wine. It was also nicely balanced by high acidity and finely structured up to a point, but it did get noticeably harder, especially as the tannins marched ahead of the fruit into the finish. This needs plenty of time yet. It should be pretty decent, but I doubt it will grow much beyond that. Try drinking from 2017 onwards.
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2010 Domaine Jean-Michel Giboulot Beaune 1er Cru Clos du Roi 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru
Probably the best of the young reds in the line-up but, even then, this was decently good rather than great. I did like the nose here, which was rather more welcoming than the preceding wines, with gentle aromas of sweet cherries and strawberries wed to notes of flower and some spice. Quite pretty. Like the other reds in the stable, the palate had a clean, clear feel to it, with fresh flavours of cherries and raspberries showing a nice purity to them. After that though, the other family characteristic - firmish tannins pulling into a firmish finish - showed up with gusto, with a certain hardness underlying subtle notes of fresh cut flowers alongside spicy, bramble accents and a cherry pip note. There is some quality to the fruit in this wine, but it is also very firmly structured - I would give this a good 8-10 years before it hits peak.
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2010 Domaine Jean-Michel Giboulot Pommard En Brescul 87 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard
I found this wine quite difficult. It was an old-school Pommard for sure - tough and nails and quite unapproachable when young. The nose was decent enough, with more meaty, earthy masculine notes than say the Beaune and Savigny wines, along with deeper, darker scents of prunes and plums mixed in with some floral hints. The palate was tough though, dominated by hard, firm tannins that conspired to overshadow otherwise pretty simple, but pleasant shades of dark cherries with a touch of cola at the backend. The finish, especially, was underscored by the tannins structure. Difficult - this needs a whole lot of time yet, say 10 years, maybe more. At the moment, not a bottle I would reach for unless I have a tough, bloody piece of meat that needs some tannins to run through - even than, a Cote Rotie may be a better choice.
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2009 Domaine Jean-Michel Giboulot Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Serpentières 89 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru
Yet another wine that I would label "decently good" if a bit unexicting. The nose showed darker notes than the 2010 Savigny wines that we tasted before, with black fruited notes of dark cherries, blackberries, maybe plums, on a bed of musky earth and spice aromas and a whiff of slightly saline seashell mineral at the sides. I enjoyed the fact that the palate had a firm sense of structrue and good freshness for a 2009, but it was also rather tight, with simple notes of dark berries and cherries shading into brighter strawberry tones on the attack, and then a bit of bramble and spice drifting into the finish. All in all, rather decent, but even with the extra fruit and flesh of the vintage, there was still a suggestion of hardness right at the very end. While this is one of the few reds that I found to be more approachable in its youth, this too will need at least a few years in the bottle to really start showing.
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2006 Domaine Jean-Michel Giboulot Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Peuillets 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru
Perhaps the readiest of the red wines, this was not half bad. It had a nice nose, with notes of meat and undergrowth wafting out of the glass beneath higher toned scents of strawberries strewn with flowers and spice. Nice. The palate had that same meaty, earthy undertone, with cherries and strawberries riding above them. As with the rest of the portolio, this was nicely balanced with a little ring of purity to it. Past the midpalate, the fruit fleshed out a bit, showing the friendly 2006 character in sweet, sunny strawberry tones lined with fine but still rather teeth-staining tannins. Still young then, but pretty good. It finished in tandem with the nose, with bits of spices and bramble pulling in amidst the fruit. Still very young, but pretty good. This should do nicely with another 4-5 years in the bottle and will probably last a lot longer than that.
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2000 Domaine Jean-Michel Giboulot Savigny-lès-Beaune Aux Grands Liards 89 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune
I liked the quality on this, but it must surely be one of the hardest, most stubborn 2000 red I have come across. For a vintage where Grand Crus are starting to drink very nicely, this village was still as tough as nails. The lovely nose really flattered to deceive, with a complex panoply of meat and cheese and earth aromas forming a savoury base for sweeter scents of plums and dried strawberries with a flowery overtone. I thought the palate had really good depth and shape for a village wine, with plenty of snappy acidity for the vintage in its fresh, lively flavours of strawberries and flowers, but it actually came across as far more primary than the nose, especially towards the brambly finish that was still in the grip of fine but very firm tannins. This was really calling out for some food to tame it. It easily needs another 5 years more in the bottle, better yet with 10 - at the moment, it shows like a classy village with perhaps a bit too much muscle and grip for its own good.
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