Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaut Saint-Jacques
2011
The Confuron-Cotétidot name began in 1964 with the union of legendary winemaker Jean-Jacques "Jacky" Confuron to Bernadette Cotétidot. Jacky has since relinquished day-to-day operation of the Domaine to his two very capable oenologist sons, Yves and Jean-Pierre. With old vines spread over four villages in the Côte de Nuits, this is a very impressive array of Village, Premier and Grand Cru sites. The Confuron sons, in addition to handling the vines and wines of this property, hold other...
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The vineyards have never been treated with synthetic herbicides or pesticides, and yields are tightly controlled through pruning and green harvesting.
Barrel-aging for up to two years in mainly old French oak, with new French oak-aging upwards of 20%.
The Confurons have one parcel of Lavaut (sic) in the upper part of the Premier Cru close to Les Veroilles only chalky soils. This is another impressive wine, made in the late-picked, like-it-or-lump-it 100% whole bunch style. Made to age, with smoky, peaty notes and lots of pepper spice, it has grip, density and chalky freshness.
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The terroir really sings here and the voice of the winemaker (in the shape of 100% stems) can be heard too. Minerally, smoky, refreshing and cool, the wines from Lavaux/Lavaut are some of my favourites in 2011.
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Here too there is enough reduction and wood influence to overshadow the underlying fruit. There is superb intensity and mid-palate density to the overtly muscular, detailed
and powerful broad-shouldered flavors that brim with both dry extract and minerality before delivering outstanding length and depth on the balanced if markedly austere and backward finish. This is terrific but I underscore that it would be largely pointless to open a bottle of this beauty young.
As one would reasonably expect given the position of the vineyard, this is exceptionally cool yet the nose of dark berries, floral and wet stone aromas is clearly quite ripe. There is outstanding intensity to the precise and beautifully well-detailed middle weight flavors that brim with a fine minerality before concluding in an impressively well-balanced, persistent and harmonious finish. Note however that here too patience will be required as this will need 12 to 15 years to realize its full development potential.
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