Domaine Hudelot-Baillet 2022 - a little known gem & personal recommendation from Chambolle
This is a small but perfectly formed domaine in the heart of Chambolle Musigny. For those who know the village, the estate is opposite the restaurant Le Chambolle and backs onto the 1er Cru of Les Cras. Dominique Le Guen runs the show, having left the French airforce to join his father-in-law at the domaine in 1998. His son, Tanguy, is taking an increasingly central role and is clearly set to take the reins in the future.
The winemaking style is expressive, delicate and very true to Hudelot-Baillet’s Chambolle origins. Everything is de-stemmed, to emphasise the purity of fruit, and new oak is kept on the low side – about 25-30% for the 1er Crus. From a standing start in winemaking Dominique befriended neighbours, including Christophe Roumier and Frederic Mugnier, who have helped and mentored him over the years.
Since about 2006 we have watched Dominque build his estate into something quite special, whilst never quite hitting the headlines – which has kept prices sober for such a sought-after village.
We have a small allocation and have taken some in magnum. Please let us know if you would like to order any.
Chambolle Musigny Vieilles Vignes 2022
8 cases (1×6) OC @ £265 per case en primeur
5 cases magnums (1×3) OC @ £290/cs EP
Red and dark berry fruit. Has a greater degree of focus and tension than the Cotes de Nuits tasted just beforehand. Just 20% new oak. Very fine, silky tannins. Sweet berries on the finish, very pure. Touch mineral dryness on the back.
90-92pts – Matthew Hemming MW
The 2022 Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes comes from six parcels from around the appellation. There is a touch of reduction on the nose, dark berry fruit mixed with iris flower and a touch of pencil box. A little introspective at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with a candied entry, quite sweet with a lot of sucrosity. Maybe that detracts from its complexity towards the finish, which tapers when you want it to fan out. It’s not bad, but it needs to gain some flesh in the coming months.
89-91pts – Neal Martin / vinous.com
Ripe aromas are composed of plum, spice, dark currant and freshly turned earth nuances. The appealingly energetic yet exceptionally rich middleweight flavors exude noticeable minerality on the caressing and sappy finale. This is a surprisingly powerful effort for a Chambolle villages that should repay up to a decade of keeping.
89-91pts – outstanding – Allen Meadows / burghound.com
Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes 2022
2 cases (1×6) OC @ £395/cs EP
1 case magnums (1×3) OC @ £425/cs EP
From the domaine’s oldest vines – circa 80yo. 30% new oak. All de-stemmed but this has a distinct aroma of roses. Gorgeous, fine and detailed texture – more precise than other recent vintages for Charmes. Sweet spice and beautifully sculpted, silky tannin.
93-95pts – Matthew Hemming MW
The 2022 Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes 1er Cru comes from two barrels and is aged in 25% new oak. This is much more complex and nuanced on the nose than the Vieilles Vignes: very focused with ebullient red fruit laced with violet. The palate is medium-bodied with good density on the entry. It’s quite structured for a Chambolle with some firm tannins on the finish, but sufficient fruit keeps it balanced and poised.
91-93pts – Neal Martin
A moderately toasty and menthol-suffused nose displays cool aromas of mostly dark berries and pretty floral wisps. The medium-bodied, rich and punchy flavors possess a gorgeous mouthfeel while flashing evident minerality on the balanced, youthfully austere and sneaky long finale. This is also sufficiently structured to easily repay up to a decade of cellaring.
90-93pts – outstanding – Allen Meadows
Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Cras 2022
2 cases (1×6) OC @ £425/cs EP
1 case magnums (1×3) OC @ £450/cs EP
Moving on from the Charmes, this tightens up the focus and also the tension. This has more spice, mineral cut and energy. Something tendre about the mid-palate, preserving the Chambolle signature, but the fruit profile is much more brisk and compact. Really lingers and persists. Qualitatively similar but gets my personal nod.
93-95pts – Matthew Hemming MW
The 2022 Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras 1er Cru is more transparent and mineral-driven than the Charmes, the limestone soils flooding through the aromatics, defining them. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy red fruit and gentle grip. It’s quite energetic with a tensile finish. Once this fills out during the remainder of its barrel maturation, this will be a great Chambolle.
93-95pts – Neal Martin
This is aromatically quite similar to the Charmes though the fruit seems even fresher and brighter. Otherwise, the middleweight flavors possess an equally lovely texture with even more minerality suffusing the more youthfully austere and firmer finish that is beautifully balanced. Lovely and very Les Cras as this is a wine built on its minerality.
90-93pts – outstanding – Allen Meadows
Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Borniques 2022
2 cases (1×6) OC @ £550/cs EP
A hint of wood on the nose, although it’s just 30%, but this is our first sample straight from barrel as opposed to pre-prepared. Pristine, pure fruit with some insistent pepper and spice at the very core. Significant depth and a tongue-tingling line of acid. Maybe hte most convincing Borniques I’ve tasted here. The finish reverberates and persists, wiht great energy and drive.
94-96pts – Matthew Hemming MW
The 2022 Chambolle-Musigny Les Borniques 1er Cru, one of the “up and coming” Premiers of Chambolle, has a minerally, open nose – more black than red fruit, touches of incense emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins. It’s more understated and less minerally than Les Charmes, with a succulent blueberry and cassis-tinged finish. Perhaps the most seductive of their 2022s this vintage.
91-93pts – Neal Martin
This is the first wine to possess any significant amount of reduction and here it’s enough to mask the underlying fruit. There is by contrast excellent verve and freshness to the bigger-bodied flavors that exhibit focused power on the youthfully austere, dusty and stony built-to-age finale. This is a textbook Borniques.
91-93pts – outstanding – Allen Meadows
Bonnes Mares Grand Cru 2022
6 cases (1×3) OC @ £875/cs EP
Tremendous depth, piling black fruit and a sleekly-muscled structure. The tannins are fine, almost powdered, but then the mineral drive kicks in and you start to see the framework beneath the fruit. Saline, fresh and crunchy; seemingly transcending the solar aspects of 2022. Finish is savoury but lifted.
94-96pts – Matthew Hemming MW
The 2022 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru comprises two barrels, one new and one a year old. It has quite a backward nose, more tertiary in style, quite flinty, in fact. Blind, I would not guess this to be from this vineyard at all. The palate is medium-bodied with fleshy ripe black cherry and boysenberry fruit, fine mineralité and backbone. This is much more open, fanning out with style towards the finish that has just the right amount of edge. It’s very fine but will require bottle age to unlock the aromatics.
93-95pts – Neal Martin
This is also quite firmly reduced and unreadable at present save for a dollop of wood toast. More interesting are the dense and velvet-textured broad-shouldered flavors that possess an abundance of mouthcoating sap that buffers the firm tannic spine shaping the powerful and equally well-balanced finale. Patience strongly advised.
92-94pts – Allen Meadows
Offered en primeur and may be subject to allocation. Offered expires 1st March 2024.
