2012 Domaine Serafin Père & Fils Gevrey-Chambertin

Dark red and black fruit, smoke, tobacco and cloves all meld together in the 2012 Gevrey-Chambertin. A big, full-bodied wine within the context of village-level Gevrey, Serafin's 2012 boasts impressive depth and density. It will be interesting to see how the 2012 drinks from bottle. Today, it is quite promising.

The 2012 Gevrey-Chambertin Village comes from several parcels around the village. It offers natural blackberry and raspberry scents on the nose that has an impressive density to it. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannins on the entry. The fruit veers towards dark berry, boysenberry and blackcurrant with pleasant tertiary scents towards the finish. This is very fine for a village cru. 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)