All of Domaine Aurélien Verdet’s vineyards are organically farmed and manually harvested. In fact, Aurélien’s father was an early proponent and frontrunner in the organic movement within Burgundy back in the early 70’s. According to Jancis Robinson, “One wouldn’t imagine that fruit coming from such varied sources would find such uniform themes of expression. But that is the case, evidence that this young winemaker knows what he is doing in the field and in the cellar. Aurélien says nothing is done by rote. Everything is done by feel, by taste, by intuition, by the phases of the moon and as the wines from each parcel and from each vintage demand.” As a result, his wines boast a clean expression of every vineyard site that are spot on examples of their appellations, and this wine is no exception. Utilizing indigenous yeasts, Verdet vinifies slowly and gently for thirty days with up to ten days of cold maceration. The wines are aged in very specific French oak the the Tronçais and Vosges forests with a maximum of 33% new oak to allow the character of the varietal and its terroir to truly shine; the oak is barely detectable, as it should be. This particular parcel of Chambolle Musigny is named “Les Condemennes,” a vineyard which was planted in 1970. This village Liut-Dit (named location) borders the famous premier Cru vineyard “Les Charmes” to the east and just north-east of Les Amoureuses. Considering its status as a village level wine, it performs above its classification.

The 2010 Verdet Chambolle Musigny “Les Condemennes” has a vibrant ruby red core with garnet and light orange reflection on the rim. The nose offers perfumed and floral aromas we all expect from great examples of Pinot Noir in Chambolle. Aromas of dried black cherry, strawberry, wet roses, forest floor and black mushroom exist in perfect harmony with a touch of baking spices in the background. The palate is soft and velvet like presenting dark strawberry, black cherry, fennel and wild herbs that is intertwined with trademark minerality, wet forest floor and a slight truffle flavor. This wine has a lot of body, beautiful texture, seamless tannins and a finish that is pure, yet a touch more structured on the finish than most Chambolles. This wine needs air so please do not rush it. Ideally open the wine and leave it in a cool spot for a few hours before pouring at around 55-65 degrees in large Burgundy stems. If the wine is showing tight, then decant it. This wine is still young and can handle another decade or more in the cellar without effort. I anticipate most likely peaking over the next 5-10 years, but if kept well I this could hit its peak much later as many village wines from great 1985 vintage are currently incredible at the moment if they were stored well.