When I think of Chambolle-Musigny, I think of the silkiest, most seductively aromatic expressions of Pinot Noir in Burgundy (and therefore the world). Add to that a few extra layers of gloss courtesy of century-old vines and you’ve got today’s outrageously delicious Premier Cru red from Frédéric Magnien.
Many SommSelect subscribers will recognize Magnien as perhaps the most dynamic micro-négociant in Burgundy—a producer who doesn’t merely purchase fruit from growers but collaborates closely with them throughout the growing season, implementing sustainability protocols and sending his own teams into the vineyards at harvest. Having grown up riding his bike through the vineyards of Morey-Saint-Denis, and having learned his craft from his father, Michel (Domaine Michel Magnien), “Fred” Magnien has assembled one of Burgundy’s most enviable collections of prime vineyard sources, including a parcel in Chambolle-Musigny’s “Les Charmes” with some seriously old vines—some of them dating to 1904. In a vintage characterized as one of the hottest and driest in Burgundy in the last 30 years, this majestic parcel of vieilles vignes produced the most opulent, layered, engrossing red Burgundy I’ve encountered in recent memory. It is resolutely “Chambolle” in character yet blessed with another gear (or two) in this vintage, a showstopper worthy of major fanfare whenever you choose to open it. There’s Grand Cru dimension and drama here, at a price that not only pales in comparison to Grand Cru but bests most of its Premier Cru competition. It’s not often I refer to a three-figure bottle of wine as a “steal,” but this more than qualifies!
Magnien’s main preoccupation is viticulture—all the vineyards he works with are either Certified Organic or in the process of conversion—but his quest for purity and authenticity extends to the cellar as well. Starting with the 2015 vintage, Fred began aging some of his wines—including today’s—in a roughly 50%-50% mixture of used oak barrels and terra cotta amphorae, or jarres, explaining that “[the] mix of the two wine agings unveil the brightness and clarity of wine thanks to the jar, while keeping its complexity and length thanks to the traditional cask.” Something that jumped out at all of us when we tasted his ’18 Charmes was the vivid intensity of the fruit aromas and flavors, which truly run the full gamut of the Pinot Noir spectrum, from red to blue to black.
Within Chambolle-Musigny, “Les Charmes” ranks as perhaps the most sought-after Premier Cru alongside its mid-slope neighbor, “Les Amoureuses,” with both sites boasting east-southeast aspects that put them right in the path of the morning sun. Average age of the vines in Magnien’s parcel of “Charmes” is 50-70 years, but there are some vines that are much older, all of them burrowing into a slope with very thin topsoil; the limestone “mother rock” is just a few inches below the surface.
Today’s 2018 was hand-harvested by Magnien’s proprietary team and only partially de-stemmed before fermentation. The inclusion of some ‘whole clusters’ helped mitigate the intensity of the hot-vintage fruit, lending earthiness and spice while helping to preserve freshness as well. In the glass, this opulent red is a lustrous deep ruby with hints of pink and magenta at the rim, with saturated aromas of muddled red and black berries, juicy Bing cherries, spiced plum, violets, wild herbs, warm spice, and a touch of dark chocolate (despite the absence of any new oak). It is medium-plus bodied, even full-bodied by Chambolle-Musigny standards, with such a luscious texture it’ll be hard to refrain from drinking some now: Decant it for 30-45 minutes before serving in Burgundy stems at 60-65 degrees and let the Pinot Noir reverie begin! That said, I have a hunch that this wine has the stuffing for extended aging, and that it will actually “firm up” in a few years’ time en route to a more glorious and complex adulthood 5-7 years down the line. Pair this with beef bourguignon, duck confit, or some beautiful lamb loin chops for what promises to be your most decadent dinner of the season. This will cure the Winter blues for sure. Cheers!
