2012 Gevrey Chambertin Les Corbeaux

Good bright red. Red berries, coffee, mocha, game and sweet oak on the nose. Dense and oaky, showing a serious tannic structure and excellent density but a bit less fruit sweetness than the old-vines village wine. Just this side of heavy. The crop level here was healthy in 2012, noted Serafin.

The 2012 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Corbeaux is one of the wilder wines in this range. My sense is that a racking is probably in order here. There is plenty of intensity and persistence in the dark fruit, but the aromatics lack their customary focus, while the overall impression is of a wine that is not yet fully formed.

The 2012 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Corbeaux comes from 0.45-hectares of vines planted in 1968 by Christian’s father adjacent to Mazis-Chambertin. It has a precocious bouquet compared to the Vieilles Vignes, with scents of mulberry, dark plum and luscious black fruit that are tightly controlled. The palate is medium-bodied with a slightly grainy entry. This is showing the oak a little more than the Vieilles Vignes at the moment, but there is sufficient concentration to absorb that with time. The linear finish, crisp and taut, bodes well for the future. Christian Serafin’s “cozy” winery and abode lies just behind the Chateau de Gevrey opposite a rather spooky statue of a hooded monk, who clearly should have prayed a little harder during the growing seasons of 2012 and 2013. Here I met Christian himself, taciturn and wary of meeting strangers at first, but then soon warming up once you start discussing the matter most close to his heart. Accompanied by his daughter Karine (who incidentally has the bluest eyes I have ever seen) we tasted the 2012s in their kitchen, Christian going back and forth to the cellar to extract samples. The harvest commenced here on 22 September and it is the same old story: crops depleted by approximately 30% thanks to millerandage and coulure. Still, the benevolent latter half of the season meant that the premier crus came in between 13.3% and 13.5%, a little higher for the grand cru. The wines are usually allowed to rest on the lees during their elevage and there has been no fining of filtration since 1990. Generally, you might describe Serafin’s wines as more modern-styled expressions of Gevrey-Chambertin, not that dissimilar from say Claude Dugat nearby, with more new oak here than you will find at other addresses. However, there is sufficient fruit here to absorb that wood and it never seemed excessive, although the premier and grand crus always need 6-8 years in the cellar before they reach their drinking plateaus. Importer: Peter Weygandt, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800 and Goedhuis & Co (UK)