2012 Domaine Bruno Clair Savigny-lès-Beaune La Dominode 1er Cru

("our smallest crop ever here," due to June hail and poor flowering, which especially affected the old vines, said Bruno Clair): Good dark red. Dark berries, dark chocolate and menthol on the nose and palate. Densely packed, concentrated and solid but a bit monolithic today. Finishes youthfully tight, with a continuing chocolatey character but not the same sweetness of tannins I normally find in this wine. Is this going through a sullen stage?

One of the more immediate wines in this range, the 2012 Savigny-les-Beaune La Dominode is wonderfully juicy and explosive on the palate. Violets, dried herbs, plums and crushed rocks all jump from the glass. The exuberance of 2012 is on full display in this intense, pliant Burgundy. In 2012 there are just 12 barrels of the Dominode rather than the more customary 25.

Reduced by hail damage in mid-June and a side order of coulure, the 2012 Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode has a vibrant, energetic bouquet mixing both red and black fruit with just a hint of dark chocolate. The palate is structured and masculine, quite linear with a fine grip on the finish. This is a multi-faceted Savigny, destined to reveal hidden nuances once bottled. It was a balmy, sunny June morning when I last visited Domaine Bruno Clair to take a peek at their 2011s, but it was different arriving to taste their 2012s, the mercury struggling above zero, snow draped over vines. It was a pleasure to meet Bruno and Philippe Brun again, the “Batman and Robin” of Marsannay, Bruno sporting his favorite lumberjack jacket ready to cut down a few trees. At least he was warm. After some reminiscing about his good friend Patrick Bize, we set about the new arrivals. The 2012s were picked between 20 September and 1 October. His village crus are raised in new oak until racking in early September and then transferred into 15-hectolitre foudres to moderate the impact of the wood. Usually they de-stem the entire crop, but the ripeness of the stems meant that his top crus include 20% whole cluster this year. They both seemed enthusiastic about the vintage and rightly so – this is a domaine that shifted up a gear and vies for the village’s leading domaine (even though their Gevrey holdings make the synonymous with the village further south.) Bruno and Philippe just appear to have found the knack of creating wines with finesse and character, a more prudent approach that has fostered more terroir-driven Pinot Noirs. Their Clos Saint Jacques was once and “also ran”. Now it is up there with the likes of Fourrier and Rousseau. Importer: A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various American importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808, Fine Vines, Melrose Park, IL; tel. (708) 343-6702, The Source, San Francisco, CA; tel. (415) 621-6151. Also through Justerini & Brooks and other merchants in the UK.