93-Points by Jasper Morris - Inside Burgundy.
Highly Allocated!
Certified Organic & Biodynamic.
Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Corbeaux from the estate benefits from the flow of fresh air from the Lavaux combe which brings balance, finesse and a more airy side. The wine always expresses itself with a beautiful fruit of dark cherry, violet, crushed flowers and lavender and a lot of precision in the tannic framework. The vibrant finish is quite attractive.
 
Gevrey-Chambertin
This small village is home to the nine Grands Crus in the farthest northerly stretches of Côte de Nuits and is famous for some of the deepest and firmest Burgundian Pinot Noir.
Les Corbeaux is a Premier Cru climat within the Gevrey-Chambertin appellation just south of Dijon. The vineyard is at the very northern end of the Gevrey-Chambertin Grand Cru hill, next to the Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru climat. The wines made here, based on Pinot Noir, are medium bodied with red fruit characters and soft tannins, but lack the concentration of the Gevrey-Chambertin Grand Cru wines.
Les Corbeaux, meaning "crows" in French (the vineyard was reportedly once a medieval cemetery), has a similar soil makeup to Mazis-Chambertin, with a high proportion of limestone and clay. This has proved very useful viticulturally, as it stores water as well as draining excess, forcing vines to work hard for hydration. Vigor and yield is reduced as a result, leading to the production of high-quality berries.
The vineyard’s position on the edge of the Grand Cru climats means that its wines demand some high prices, despite not being one of the best terroirs in Gevrey-Chambertin.
Domaine Bruno Clavelier Description
Reserved, private and soft-spoken, Bruno Clavelier prefers to let his wines speak for him. And they do, telling a story of great elegance, purity, and depth. A gifted fifth-generation vigneron, Bruno's delicate touch produces some of the best, most refined wines in Burgundy.
Bruno succeeded his grandfather at the family's 6.5-hectare domaine in the heart of Vosne-Romanée. The wines were sold to negoçiants until 1988, when Bruno decided to estate bottle their wines. Some 95% of the vineyards are planted to traditional Pinot Noir Fin, using an old practice of hand-selecting cuttings from the very best vineyards, and yields are naturally low. The vines were mostly planted in the 1930s and 1940s, earning the designation of Vieilles Vignes for most of the wines.
The wines are produced with minimal intervention and the utmost respect for the vineyards' terroir. Fermentation takes place in oak open-top fermenters with up to 30% whole cluster. Indigenous yeast allows for fermentations to start naturally and with manual punch downs. After a gentle pneumatic pressing, the wine is aged in oak barrels (Tronçais, Allier) for 16-18 months (30% new for 1er Cru and Grand Cru, and less for village level). The wines are bottled without fining or filtration, and the bottling happens under a neutral gas so that the amount of SO2 can be as low as possible.