Domaine Jean Marc & Hugues Pavelot Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru ‘Aux Guettes’ HALF 2020

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

“Pavelot has been one of my go-to names in Savigny-lès-Beaune for several years now. They have consistently produced excellent Savignys despite the misfortune that the appellation has suffered in recent years.”

Neal Martin, Vinous

About Domaine Pavelot

The Domaine Pavelot, Savigny-Lès-Beaune, has been passed from father to son for many generations allowing the preservation of its quality and excellence. Jean-Marc really put the Domaine on the map in the 1980s and, assisted by his son Hugues, has been quietly producing excellent wines ever since, including six Premier Crus.

The wisdom such continuous ownership and experience with the land, vines and wines yields is often the difference between good and great!

Savigny-Lès-Beaune along with its neighboring villages Pernard-Vergelesses and Alox Corton have risen in prominence over the last couple of decades. We’ve seen heavy hitters from the Côte-de-Nuits acquiring vineyard holdings in the villages.

The Domaine consists of 13 hectares, with most of the vineyards in Savigny and small parcels in Aloxe Corton and Beaune. Their multiple parcels of vineyard in the Savigny Village Appellation offer varied terroirs, with different soils and exposures, adding complexity to the final wine. The Premier Cru sites are home to old vines of 85 years.

In the Vineyard

Domaine Pavelot take an adaptive approach to vineyard management, keeping a close eye on the vineyards throughout the year and responding to seasonal changes as they occur. Jean-Marc and Hugues embrace perennial agriculture to ensure their fruit is of the highest quality, including practices like sowing cover crops for green fertiliser, disbudding and restrictive pruning for yield control, and lutte raisonnée for pest management. Harvest is done manually once the fruit achieves good maturity, with an initial triage taking place in the vineyard.

In the Winery

Following harvest, the grapes are destemmed entirely for the Village appellation, as well as the vast majority of the premiers crus; depending on the vintage, grapes are partially destemmed for the 1er cru Dominode.

The fruit is transferred to vats and cooled to 12°C for a cold pre-fermentation maceration of 3 days. When the must returns to an ambient temperature, encouraging the gradual onset of fermentation. The wine completes its fermentation under temperature control and with regular punching down; this lasts an average of 15 days for the Savigny Village and 15 to 19 days for the 1er crus.

After settling for 24 to 48 hours, the new wine is transferred to barrels. It then spends 12 months in wood, without racking, and with little reliance on new oak – one-third for the Dominode but otherwise between 15 and 25% for the village and 1er cru wines. Hugues has not sought to change much of his father’s successful regimen, but if anything, there is a move towards a slightly longer but gentler treatment of the wine during fermentation.

The 2020 Vintage at Domaine Pavelot

Hugues Pavelot told me that the domaine had several upcoming changes in that it is converting all its vineyards to organic farming and that it would be adding 3 ha of vines as of the 2021 vintage, which will bring the total to 17 ha. He noted that 2020, much like 2019, “gave us excellent raw materials that were ripe, clean and with good acidities. We picked from the 21st of August with the Peuillets as it’s always the first to arrive at full maturity but then started seriously on the 25th. While we could pick quickly because the fruit was so clean, we unfortunately could also pick quickly because there wasn’t very much fruit as the average yields were only 20 to 25 hl/ha, which is even less than the 30 hl/ha we realized in 2019. Potential alcohols were strong, especially for Savigny, as they ranged from 13.5 to 14%. I vinified very softly over a period of 14 to 18 days and in general, had no trouble with the vinifications though a few of them took their time finishing. As to the wines, they are clearly ripe but really quite fresh and energetic plus the terroir is much more evident than one might think given how warm the growing season was. I would compare them stylistically to a fresher 2018.” As is often the case, I found the quality of the Pavelot 2020s to be very good to excellent and these are wines to consider and particularly so as they generally offer very fine price/value.

Allen Meadows, Burghound

Where in the World is Domaine Pavelot

Domaine Pavelot is located in Savigny-Lès-Beaune in the Cote de Beaune. The Domaine consists of 13 hectares, with most of the vineyards in Savigny and small parcels in Aloxe Corton and Beaune.