I get e-mails from people asking me for advance disclosures of my reviews on Ghislaine Barthod’s wines. All I can say as that this is one estate where the wines are always good and you can buy blind without concern.
In 2017, there are two new premier cru bottlings, Noirots and Sentiers. Both are from vines that are 65-70 years old and available only in tiny quantities. Previously, the grapes had gone into the village Chambolle-Musigny bottling.
After excellent regional and village wines, one then works one’s way through eleven premiers crus Chambolle-Musignys, starting at very good premier cru quality and gradually passing to grand cru quality. Not a step has been missed.
2017 Bourgogne Les Bons Bâtons Pinot Noir
The Bourgogne has fresh blueberry aromas and flavors with purity and good concentration. The name of the vineyard, “Bons Bâtons,” may not appear on the label in all markets. (89-91)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny
The village Chambolle has fresh red cherry, red currant, and strawberry fruit, and the wine is precise, pure and elegant. (91-93)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Aux Combottes
Moving to the premiers crus, the Chambolle-Combottes features layered dark fruits with crunchiness, freshness, purity, and precision. (92-94)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Châtelots
Barthod’s Chambolle-Châtelots is lacy and pure with red currant and red cherry fruit, energy, and freshness. (92-95)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Sentiers
This new entrant in Barthod’s line up provides a location just downslope from Bonnes-Mares. The wine is crystalline, pure, and racy with strawberry fruit and good energy and tension. (93-95)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Noirots
The Chambolle-Noirots is fruity and floral in the nose. The mouth shows clear, pure rd and dark fruits with some crystallinity and good tannins. The wine has some fleshiness and also good freshness. (93-95)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Aux Beaux Bruns
The Chambolle-Beaux Bruns has good body and purity with a slight sappiness to its red fruits. (92-95)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Charmes
With the Chambolle-Charmes we have violet aromas. The mouth is pure and focused with red cherries, salinity, and good tannins. The wine floats on the tongue with excellent concentration and density. (93-96)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Gruenchers
The nose of the Chambolle-Gruenchers is floral. The mouth displays finesse and purity to go with pinpoint red and dark fruits that are underscored by salinity in the wine. (93-96)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Baudes
Barthod’s Chambolle-Baudes displays more power with good concentration and length to its crystalline red fruits. The wine has tremendous purity. (94-96)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuées
Not to be outdone, the Chambolle-Fuées has a complex combination of blackberry and cherry fruit with salinity, depth, precision, and finesse. (94-96)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Véroilles
From just above Bonnes-Mares, this premier cru monopole is very intense, focused, and pure with dark fruits, salinity, minerality, and finesse. (94-96)
2017 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Cras
Last, the Chambolle-Cras is mineral, pure, focused, and intense with deep, penetrating red and dark fruits and outstanding energy. (94-97)