Seventh generation Gevrey-Chambertin estate and one of the largest holders of Chambertin.

Jean-Louis Trapet is one of the great names in Gevrey-Chambertin. He is fashioning wines of purity, finesse and elegance. He is creating the soil-driven and absolutely pure wines of his father and grandfather’s era. While the estate is best known for its three grand crus, the quality at Domaine Trapet is outstanding up and down the hierarchy of their vineyard holdings and deserves its place among the very top names of the appellation.

A passion for Biodynamic viticulture

Jean-Louis Trapet is a visionary frontrunner of biodynamic viticulture and one of the most dedicated biodynamic winemakers in Burgundy. The vineyards have been fully farmed under biodynamic principles since 1996 and have been certified biodynamic since 2009. Among the pioneers of natural viticulture in the region and they continue to lead the way in biodynamic farming.

Grape

100% Pinot Noir

Vineyard & Vinification Note

Chapelle-Chambertin: 60 acres, 1 parcelle – oldest vine planted in 1945

In the old days it was called Grande Chapelle or Haute Chapelle. One of the little Gevrey vintages, it is also one of the greatest in complexity and refinement

From this warm, shallow, well-drained soil, composed of fine clays and blocks of limestone below, fine, rich and expressive wines are born.

When the harvest comes in, having already been sorted in the vineyard, it is hand-sorted once more then and de-stemmed to a degree, dependent on the vintage.

Cold maceration of between 5 and 7 days  encouraging greater depth of colour and more intense aromatics, without extracting too harsh tannins. Lightly crushed, there is then a long cuvaison, for more gentle extraction. Fermentation is carried out in open top vats, with natural yeasts.

The wines are aged for 15 to 18 months in barrel, the proportion of new wood depending on the wine. The purpose of the oak, in the Trapets’ view, is to facilitate controlled oxidation of the young wines. The wines remain in cask for between 12 and 18 months before bottling. The wines are essentially neither fined nor filtered but this depends on the vintage. At any rate no more that 10% would ever be filtered.

Vegan.

The Wine Advocate Tasting Note

The 2013 Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru has an austere bouquet that wants to be taken seriously. You feel like disturbing someone reading a classic novel. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin that envelop a core of very pure dark cherry and cassis fruit that belie the structure underneath. Again, there is superb focus and energy within, completing what is a very impressive Chapelle-Chambertin. 92-94 Points – Neal Martin, December 2014 

Allen Meadows’ Burghound Tasting Note

Here too the fruit is masked by reduction though it does appear ripe. There is that attractive quality of inner mouth perfume to the very floral and refined medium weight plus flavours that display a subtle minerality on the extract-rich, balanced and utterly delicious finale. I like the balance and this is very Chapelle in basic character which is to say a wine of power and grace.

92-94 Points. January 2015

Food Pairing

A great partner of guinea fowl, chicken, duck, rack of lamb or a simple steak (no heavy sauces. Also good partner with cheeses (not pungent)