Christophe Perrot-Minot

2017 Vintage

“Green harvesting was an “imperative” according to Christophe Perrot Minot “in order to have some concentration in the wines and allow terroir differentiations to be clear.” He has irrefutably achieved this. The wines show typical Perrot-Minot polish and intensity along with great transparency and character. Harvest began on the 7th September and the fruit was perfectly ripe. This allowed Christophe to continue to indulge his penchant for whole bunch fermentation, a practice he started with the 2014s, this year including up to 60% whole bunches for vinification. This may well have played a part in adding snap and zest to the wines, but it has certainly done so without bringing any rusticity with it. For these are so suave and enticing. Christophe considers 2017 to be “a very good, elegant and open vintage but as well as they show young I have no doubt these will age well.”

2018 Vintage

Picking started here on the 5th September. This was early even by recent standards, but the fruit had already reached a high degree of ripeness and Christophe Perrot-Minot did not want sugars, and therefore alcohols to rise too much and disrupt the balance of the wines. The highest potential alcohol degrees were registered in the fruit from Chambertin – 13.85 degrees, a surprisingly reasonable level give the vintage conditions. The important thing to understand with 2018, though, as with our domaines across the Côte, is that alcohol is no indication of how fresh or not the wine tastes. In fact, Perrot-Minot’s Chambertin is a case in point, not only does this have the highest degrees of alcohol, it is also one of the most mineral and energetic wines in the cellar. This is a truly stellar example of what this vintage can be. The crop was a potentially big one but after green harvesting and de-selecting out any fruit from vines that experienced hydric stress, quantities ended up being less than last year. Whole-bunch fermentation was as important here as usual; Christophe included up to 60% whole bunches to add a bit of snap and freshness to the wines. These are full-bodied but incredibly slick wines, texturally sensual and packed with fruit and mineral extract. Christophe considers these to be between 2016 and 2015 in style. The openness and freshness of the former with the power and intensity of the latter.