Gevrey-Chambertin Under the Tree

Gevrey-Chambertin is an AOC (and a village) in Côte de Nuits (an area comprising several villages including Chambolle-Musigny, Nuits-St.Georges, Morey St.Denis or Vosne-Romanée), which is part of the Côte d'Or.

See a map here (scroll down a bit, you'll see a map in three):

The terroir of Gevrey-Chambertin reminds me of a wild animal, with lots of character which is easy to understand. Wines can be quite upfront, and many may display some sort of gamey character. When a friend asks me about Bourgogne and they want to taste a nice wine that they can understand and appreciate, I usually recommend them starting in Gevrey.

Enjoy,

s.

Only one review on CT, don't know the reviewer so not sure how reliable, but he liked it:

As Santiago says, Gevrey-Chambertin is the appellation. The Cote d'Or is the most famous subregion of Burgundy, it's commonly divided into northern half (Cote de Nuits) and southern (Cote de Beaune). Gevrey is typically earthy and a bit gamey as he also said. I'd call it a more masculine style in general than say Chambolle.

Chanson is a large negociant, not sure how their Gevrey typically stacks up, but 2005 is a very good vintage.

Totally got the terminology balled up there, didn't I. Been so many years since I seriously studied the matter I no longer know my appellations from my terroirs or domaines. I was somewhat disappointed with the wine, frankly and can well see why you'd both describe it as "gamey" compared to the delicacy that I once found so much to my delight in a particularly beautiful estate bottled Beaune that I enjoyed too many years ago to recall the particular maison. This, from Chanson I found much too rough to my tastes.

There is a distinct flavor I always look for in a pinot noir which I was hard put to bring out to my taste in this. I guess that long gone bottle from Beaune has spoiled me! However, just of late I've been greatly surprised to discover that this grape is grown in the Pfaltz region of Germany--even so far north as that! Some I suppose would find it pale, weak and watery by comparison to what comes from the Cote d'Or, but that distinctive flavor that I must have or be disappointed is there, even when it's being bought in bulk, imported by E & J Gallo (of all people) and bottled behind their Turning Leaf label for something like $6.49. I would have preferred a 5 buck Beaujolais over this pinot from Gevrey. With a name like "Montrachet" on the label, I should have been sitting there like I had rubies rolling around on my tongue, n'est ce pas?

Thanks to you both for the help!

-- Seymour

I'm not sure I get the connection between Montrachet and Gevrey Chambertin. One is in the Cote de Beaune (Montrachet) and one is in the Cote de Nuits (Gevrey) two different places. FYI, Chanson is a huge negociant owned by an even larger conglomerate owned by Bollinger.