The Wine Raconteur and The Wine Raconteur, Jr. were both at the Fine Wine Source doing a special wine tasting.  I was totally intrigued watching him make his quality notes into his iPhone and I am barely able to make phone calls on mine, though I am kind of getting better at using it as a camera.  I was watching my man just typing his notes quicker than I can type on a real keyboard, but it is second nature to the younger generation.  Hell, when I went to school, most boys did not take Typing or Home Economics, just like most girls did not take Wood or Metal Shop, way back in the old days, when they still taught Penmanship, Civics and English.  We had just tasted two different bottles of Gamay wine and the third wine was a name that is famous in Burgundy, and as a side note, there was a famous restaurant in my youth called The Chambertin.

Delving into Burgundy (Bourgogne) is a bit more daunting compared to Bordeaux.  Gevrey-Chambertin is a perfect example of just looking at the tip of the iceberg, as the old saying goes. The village was originally known as Gevrey, but in 1847 the local parish allowed the village to append their most famous, even back then “Le Chambertin” and the village became Gevrey-Chambertin; almost immediately, some of the other villages followed suit and appended their local famous vineyard, and that explains why so many of the villages are hyphenated. Gevrey-Chambertin, which is located in the Cotes de Nuit district, is home to nine Grand Cru vineyards and eight of them have appended “Chambertin” to their name, and the village has the most Grand Crus of any village in Burgundy. Then once you have learned the nine Grand Crus, you then have to realize that there are twenty-six Premier Crus, and one can occasionally witness arguments among some of the more passionate, that some Premier Crus should be elevated to Grand Cru status.  I usually just sit back, sip my wine and observe and listen, and do not attempt to add my two cents. There are about four-hundred-fifty hectares in Gevrey-Chambertin, fifty-five hectares are Grand Cru, eighty-four hectares are Premier Cru and the balance are listed as “village wines.”  Even the village wines get to glow and bask in the sunshine for being part of the “King of Burgundy.”

Claude Dugat Gevrey-Chambertin 2018 is one of the seven wines, all produced using Pinot Noir from this producer. The Domaine was founded in 1955, when Maurice Dugat purchased the Grange de Dimes, a 13^th Century structure that had been used to store agricultural tithes for the church, and he converted it to a winery and cellar.  He renamed it the Cellier des Dimes and it is the background on his wine label. I also took the liberty and found a photo on the web of the building. The Domaine is small, as he owns half of its holdings and leases the rest. Claude Dugat runs the Domaine with his family, and his three children run a small negociant business La Gibryotte.  This Domaine should not be confused with his cousin Bernard Dugat who is well regarded and owns Domaine Dugat-Py. The initial process for all his wines begins with complete destemming and fermentation begins relatively quickly.  The cap is punched down twice a day with very little to no pumping during this process. The “village wine” is aged in a mix of new and one-year-old casks. As for the taste, I had forgotten how special and wonderful a classic Burgundy can be.  I have been drinking so many special New World Pinot Noir wines that I was just in awe of this wine, it has been far too long since I had a wine like this and all I could think while I was tasting this, was that I might not be worthy to try his three Grand Cru and two Premier Cru wines, but if I had a chance, I definitely would.