2020 Gevrey Chambertin Les Champeaux Vieilles Vignes

Aromas of dark fruits, baking chocolate and forest floor, partially obscured by a discreet touch of youthful reduction, introduce Dugat-Py's 2020 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Champeaux, a medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated wine that's framed by powdery tannins and lively acids. The 2020 is another brilliant vintage for a domaine that has been on one of the hottest hot streaks in contemporary Burgundy in recent years. Vibrant flavors, beautifully refined tannins, striking concentration and moderate alcohols are the order of the day, and these young wines seem to unite the charm of 2019 and the seriousness of 2018 (at least at this address, which produced some of the wines of the vintage) with supplemental reserves of energy that mark them out as very special indeed. Clearly, the domaine's innovative viticulture, emphasizing high, unhedged canopies and biodynamic preparations, with soils cultivated to encourage deep rooting, meant the vines were better equipped to resist the heat and drought in 2020 than many of their neighbors (something a walk through Gevrey a few days before harvest 2020 enabled me to see for myself). (WK) 92-94