Domaine Ghislaine Barthod Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru ‘Les Cras’ 2023

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

About Domaine Ghislaine Barthod

Ghislaine Barthod’s domaine originates back to the 1920s when it was owned by Marcel Noëllat. His daughter married Gaston Barthod, a soldier stationed in Dijon who visited the winery to buy some wine and consequently fell in love with the girl who sold it to him.

Gaston gave up military life for a new life amongst the vineyards in 1960. His daughter, Ghislaine, and her partner Louis Boillot bought their current premises overlooking Premier Cru Les Feusselottes in 1986. Though they share the team who work the vineyards for both, the vinification and commercial aspects of each business is kept completely separate. Ghislaine’s father Gaston died in 1999, yet effectively Ghislaine had been making his wine for a decade prior to his passing.

Since 1999, the high quality produced by Ghislaine Barthod has ensured a powerful following amongst Burgundy enthusiasts in the know. The style is unashamedly intense, with both the perfume and sensuality that has made Chambolle such an iconic commune but also the density and structure to age (an attribute that Ghislaine strives for).

Ghislaine Barthod’s wines balance the natural elegance of Chambolle with sensual depth, structure and longevity. Many, if not all the wines at this address manage to blur the hierarchy.

The overall effect of tasting at the domaine is to come away with a palate coated in sensual Chambolle fruit. Ghislaine Barthod’s wines are always supremely elegant and harmonious and display admirable concentration and length. The best examples can age gracefully for up to 20 years.

Anyone who doubts the reality of terroir need only taste their way through the range of Ghislaine Barthod wines each year to be converted. While the Domaine is small with just under six hectares of vineyards (one of the reasons it flies under the radar) it includes a remarkable nine Chambolle-Musigny Premier Crus. These are all made exactly the same way, and yet, they all have very different personalities from each other: personalities that express themselves year in and year out, irrespective of the climatic conditions. That said, these Burgundies are not simply subjects for terroir voyeurism—they are just far too delicious for that. To quote Terry Theise, “…that would be like ignoring the rainbow so you can balance your chequebook.”

Ghislaine’s son, Clément Boillot is now heavily involved in the running of the Domaine, along with his father’s Domaine Louis Boillot and their operations in Beaujolais, Louis Boillot-Barthod. They say the apple never falls far from the tree, and from what we have seen—even by this Domaine’s lofty standards—the quality of Clément’s first releases has been astonishing. In the cellar, Clément is running trials with amphora and foudre and is in the early stages of introducing biodynamic viticulture. We know from discussions with Clément (and from what his mother has told us about him) that he is likely to be a wonderful manager of this Domaine in the future. He has the drive of the true vigneron: emphasising the vineyard over the cellar. What a legacy he is inheriting!

I have now tasted more wines from Clement, and it seems like there are two tendencies. Firstly, the style has been lightened a bit … not much … but enough to increase the delicacy and the transparency of the wines. In times of increasing global warming its always welcome to make lighter and more transparent wine.

The second tendency is that the Boillot wines are slowly but surely getting integrated into Clement’s style of wine, hence also the Ghislaine Barthod style. Actually, there is not really a big difference anymore… and I think it’s safe to say you should consider to buy some Louis Boillot wines also …

Winehog

In the Vineyard

The estate is made up of just under 6 hectares (15 acres) of vineyards. Over half of this is split between eight well-sited plots in Chambolle-Musigny premier cru vineyards, with the remaining land in Villages-level and AOC Bourgogne parcels.

In the Winery

Restricted crop and meticulous attention to élevage are the ‘simple’ keys to Ghislaine’s success. Her straightforward, no-nonsense approach helped introduce a sorting table to discard any grapes that were not up to scratch. Along with this; a gentle cool pre-maceration before fermentation is used to extract all the fruit’s freshness and flavours; only natural yeasts are used; the grapes are destemmed, allowed a brief cool soak before being fermented naturally in open-top wooden cuvees with more punching down than pumping over. The wines are then matured in barriques (roughly a quarter of which are new). The wines are usually bottled after 18 months, after one racking.

The 2023 Vintage at Domaine Ghislaine Barthod

“We did a lot of green harvest,” he told me. “We cut between 30% and 50% of the bunches in July depending on the vineyard so that we averaged around 40 hl/ha, a little lower in Gevrey at 35 hl/ha. Harvest began on September 9, though as usual, we picked the Volnay Les Angles earlier, on September 6. Everything is destemmed and the wines matured in 15% to 20% new oak. We have introduced more 600-liter barrels, so I had to buy some new ones [to start the barrel rotation of new and used oak]. The reds were racked 15 days earlier and the samples represent the final blend. I am surprised by the freshness and energy from such a warm vintage. The fruit is exuberant. There is just a little more ripeness in the Gevrey’s [under Louis Boillot] where the maximum alcohol is 13.8%. The Beaujolais wines underwent a 14-to-18-day cuvaison. Here, I am doing less extraction and using more vats.”

Neal Martin, Vinous

I met with Ghislaine Barthod and her son Clément, who is slowly taking over both his mother’s domaine as well as that of his father, who is Louis Boillot (see below as well as in En Plus for the Boillot Beaujolais wines). While his parents remain very much involved, it’s clear that he is the future. The younger Boillot, commenting for both domaines, noted that 2023 “visited a growing season on us that was relatively easy to manage as there wasn’t much disease pressure or climatic incidences of any import. To be sure, there were certain challenges, including the need to do not one but two green harvests. Still, all things considered, it’s highly preferable to reduce the size of the crop than when it’s the reverse situation, because then you literally have no options as you can’t tell the vine to grow more fruit! We picked from the 7th of September and yields were relatively generous everywhere though a bit lower in Gevrey. This is to say that we brought on average, across everything including the Bourgogne, a yield of 42 hl/ha. Maturities were good, in fact very good as potential alcohols ranged from 12.4 to 13.8%. By contrast, acidities were on the low side and I chose to acidify a few wines as the pHs were in the 3.6 area and that’s just too high in my opinion for the wines to be balanced and refreshing, which is what we want them to be. As to the wines, they’re certainly ripe but they retain good vibrancy and transparency; indeed I think that they’re really well-balanced and as a result, should age well.” As long-time readers know, the Barthod wines are almost always first-rate and the family has again produced excellent examples in 2023.

Allen Meadows, Burghound

Where in the World is Domaine Ghislaine Barthod?

Domaine Ghislaine Barthod is based in Chambolle-Musigny, Côte-de-Nuits, Burgundy, France

The film below explores the geology and geography of Chambolle-Musigny