On this fine Sunday leading into a week of feasting with family and friends, we are focusing on a small but excellent Burgundian domaine that has somehow been overlooked in all the hype that has descended upon the Côte de Nuits in the past couple of decades. We’re talking about the estate of Jérôme Chezeaux, nestled in the oft-neglected village of Prémeaux-Prissy just outside of Nuits-Saint-Georges. For three decades Jérôme (now joined by his daughter Lyse) has quietly produced transparent, terroir driven Burgundies that are “hands-off” traditional and also squeaky clean and crystalline in their purity. His “humble” Bourgogne Pinot Noir is a perfect introduction to the estate–brimming with silky red and black fruit, hints of spice and earth, and a sappy, come-back-for-more texture–and it offers 100% real deal Nuits character for a fraction of what you will usually pay in this village. Pinot lovers, do not delay, these wines are limited!
Jérome’s estate has its roots in the century-old domaine started by Julien Missery. He took over following his father’s untimely death in 1993, and immediately began working to bottle more and more of their production (as opposed to selling it to the local negociants). Overall, the family farms 12 hectares of vineyards across several villages, including their home base of Prémeaux, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Vougeot and Vosne Romanée, employing the ‘lutte raisonnée’ (“reasoned fight”) approach—organic practices are followed except in dire emergencies. Chezeaux’s red wines are fermented on indigenous yeasts and aged 18-24 months in French oak barriques of various ages (all used for the Bourgogne Pinot Noir) a relatively long élevage that lends a sense of well-knit ‘completeness’ to his new releases.
Today he is very ably assisted by his daughter, Lyse, who is fresh off a series of international internships. She has begun to bottle more of their sites as individual lieu-dits, bringing even more focus to the hyper local, and beguilingly subtle differences of their varied terroirs. As the estate has evolved (and very recently begun to get a tiny bit of much deserved critical acclaim) Jérôme’s characteristic humility and focus has been a constant, as have his exceptionally reasonable prices—which haven’t moved much in recent years, despite a string of successful vintages.
The Bourgogne Pinot is sourced from a series of small vineyard plots that surround their home village of Prémeaux Prissy as well as a couple prized parcels in the heart of Nuits-Saint-Georges. As with all their wines the pristine, perfectly ripe fruit is fully de-stemmed, fermented with native yeasts, and aged for 18-24 months in oak barrels–all neutral in this case. The result is richly textured yet well structured and elegantly built Pinot that pours a vibrant garnet with hints of pink at the rim. Serve cool, after a brief decant, and you’ll be treated to a blast of sweet cherries, black raspberries, currants, kirsch, rose petals, baking spice, and damp earth. Pour this into a big Burgundy bowl and serve it like the top tier (and much more expensive) wines it closely resembles–you will not be disappointed!
