2023 Chambolle Musigny Les Fuees

The 2023 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuées (Domaine Louis Jadot) offers up aromas of raspberries, orange zest, spices and petals, followed by a medium to full-bodied, pure and mineral palate that's penetrating and saline. Winemaker Frédéric Barnier and his team have once again delivered a strong portfolio chez Jadot. Barnier stressed the importance of sorting and of vigilance during élevage, in particular where acid rot made an appearance, and he didn't hesitate to perform a saignée for cuvées where yields where high. As I've written before, in the cellar, foudres and 500-liter barrels now complement classic 228-liter pièces, a further evolution adapting to warmer, riper vintages. What's more, barrels are now used four rather than three times, meaning the percentage of new oak overall has fallen. A cold room also helps chill down any fruit that's too warm when it enters the winery, something especially important during the warm 2023 harvest. This vintage also marks the third vintage of organic conversion for the Domaine Louis Jadot and the Domaine Gagey.

Fermented in open vats and aged 18–20 months in barrel. Cask sample. Lovely fragrance of pure, dark-red fruits. Both floral and lightly peppery. One of the first of the Jadot wines to have proper depth on the mid palate, allied to super-fine tannins that enhance the freshness. Gently chewy finish.

The 2023 Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuées 1er Cru possesses much more intensity than the Les Baudes, with more vibrant red fruit and mineralité underscored by light autumn bonfire scents. The palate is medium-bodied and well balanced with fine tannins. This is not a powerful or voluptuous Chambolle yet I appreciate the deft spiciness on the finish. Drink over the next ten to twelve years. As tradition dictates, I undertook a comprehensive tasting of around 100 wines from Louis Jadot at the winery in Beaune, divided into two sessions for the white and red. Readers should note that I interviewed head winemaker Frédéric Barnier. "The wines are 0.5% higher in alcohol in 2023 than 2022, but with exactly the same level of acidity," he adds, after I had filmed the video. "Everything from our own vineyards was around 13.5% while some fruit that we bought was over 14%. Many of the vines resisted excessive sugar accumulation. We introduced foudres so there is less oxygen whilst using the same level of SO2. The challenge was the purity of both the reds and the whites. The fermentation was not so easy for the latter, and we stopped the malolactic a little earlier. There is 0.8gm/L malic acid on 2022 and 1.1gm/L in 2023. There is 0.5% more alcohol but with the same acidity as the 2022."