Domaine Trapet Père et Fils Gevrey Chambertin ‘Cuvée 1859’ 2022

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

2019 was the first vintage of the Cuvée 1859, which comes from 50-year-old vines in the parcel of Derée Champérier in Brochon in the northern part of Gevrey. Only 250 cases produced.

About Domaine Trapet Père et Fils

Trapet Père et Fils is a seventh generation Gevrey-Chambertin estate and one of the largest holders of Chambertin (1.9 hectares). Known throughout much of its history as Domaine Louis Trapet, it was renamed in 1993 when the estate’s vineyard holdings were divided, with half of the holdings going to Domaine Rossignol-Trapet. The other half of the estate was renamed Domaine Trapet Père et Fils and is run by Jean-Louis Trapet.

Jean-Louis is regarded as one of the pioneers of natural viticulture in the region, and continues to lead the way in biodynamic farming (along with pals Frederic Lafarge, Dominique Lafon, Lalou Bize Leroy and others). As of 2009 the entire estate is demeter-certified.

The estate is known for its three great Grand Crus, though the quality at Domaine Trapet Père et Fils is simply outstanding up and down their hierarchy.

The domaine also owns parcels in three top premier crus: Clos Prieur, Les Corbeaux and Petite Chapelle. The Clos Prieur and Petite Chapelle plots were some of the the first vines purchased by the family in the late 19th century, followed by Petite Chapelle in 1877, and Clos Prieur in 1893. The Les Corbeaux parcel was purchased much more recently. Because these plots are relatively small, vintages with tiny yields are sometimes combined to make a wine named “Cuvee Capita 1er Cru”.

Trapet’s outstanding grand crus (Latricières-Chambertin, Chapelle-Chambertin and Chambertin) are crafted to really highlight their underlying terroirs. Though they may not be as ‘big’ or powerfully constructed as some of their other more flashy neighbors in Gevrey-Chambertin, they are in the top echelon in terms of aromatics, flavor complexity, expression of terroir, and aging potential.

Like the man himself, there is an elegance, grace and purity to the wines that is haunting and rare in a village where power dominates. All in all, Domaine Trapet Père et Fils is at the top of their game, with Jean-Louis crafting wines that are as stunning as any in the great history of this long-respected Gevrey superstar.

Check out Levi Dalton’s interview with Jean-Louis Trapet on the I’ll Drink To That! podcast.
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The 2022 Vintage at Domaine Trapet Père et Fils

Jean-Louis Trapet’s sons, Louis and Pierre, have now largely taken over the day-to-day operations though he attended the tasting and offered most of the commentary. The sons are slowly converting the domaine to the paisseux, or staked vine system, of trellising using the same 12,500 vine planting density they use currently. This system was used for centuries before phylloxera and it uses one tall post per vine. They have also decided to vinify the parcels of Corbeaux, Combottes and En Ergot individually while eliminating the cuvée Capita. With respect to 2022, Trapet observed that the “growing season began with a relatively cool and dry winter but March was warm so bud break was earlier than normal as we already had the first leaves showing but the first few days of April, which unfortunately coincided with a spring frost that descended to -4° C in Gevrey! Fortunately, the fact that it was dry helped limit the damage. May continued the warming trend and by early June the flowering was already finished. The end of June though saw the most dramatic event of the season where a massive storm hit Gevrey and Fixin. The wind was blowing hard, which brought the storm, but for reasons nobody understands, the wind stopped and left the storm swirling over Gevrey dropping huge quantities of water and hail. We don’t have too many vines that are on the Combe de Lavaux, which took the brunt of the damage but nonetheless, at least light damage was everywhere. Ultimately we got to the finish line and picked between the 5th and the 22nd of September.

We picked the Chambertin and Chapelle from the 8th to the 10th and then finished with Latricières on the 13th. The fruit was super-clean and even with the damage, yields were good at between 35 and 45 hl/ha with potential alcohols of 13 to 13.2%. We used basically 100% whole clusters for all he wines as the stems were also very clean and lignified. In terms of the wines, the growing season was a bit like that of 2007 but the 2022s are much more interesting with more body, concentration and I like the balance better as well.” It seems as though Trapet rarely misses these days but 2022 is especially good for the domaine and many of the wines are highly recommended

Allen Meadows, Burghound

The Trapet renaissance continues, and that’s confirmed by a fine set of 2022s at this Gevrey-Chambertin reference point. As readers will remember, there have been a host of changes at this address in recent years: in 2020, fully seven hectares of the domaine’s holdings were converted both to échalas and to higher trellising stakes and wires, depending on the steepness of the slope. Since then, changes have been rolled out in other parcels too. Given the extent of Trapet’s holdings in prime climats, that means that the walk from Morey-Saint-Denis to Gevrey-Chambertin suddenly looks rather different. In the cuverie, winemaking continues to be very classical, with important percentages of whole clusters. There are more smaller cuvées too, including a Gevrey-Chambertin 1859, from old vines in lieu-dit Champerrier, as well as separate bottlings for the domaine’s premiers crus that were formerly blended together.

William Kelley, The Wine Advocate

Where in the World is Domaine Trapet Père et Fils

Domaine Trapet Père et Fils is located in Gevrey-Chambertin, an appellation of the Cote de Nuits celebrated for its Pinot Noirs. Learn more about this impressive region with our Wine Bites article: Getting Your Head Around Burgundy Part 9.1