Alain Voegeli is Jean-Marie Fourrier’s neighbour and a Burgundian vigneron that the world seems to have passed by. He makes just one wine – a village Gevrey Chambertin – from vines that he has owned since 1982, and that he worked prior to that on behalf of his grandmother. Now in his 60s, he continues as he has always done, making classic, old-school, delicious Gevrey. The fruit comes from two plots: the larger one in Les Clos at the centre of the village, the smaller one in Le Billard, close to his back garden.
We first tasted his wine – the 2016 vintage – in 2021 and purchased a small parcel on the spot. We have followed the wine since and have shipped every vintage since bar the 2021.
His 2022 is a return to form and is, as always, a real picture of the vintage. Honest, well-made red Burgundy: a wine that will please everybody and one that is drinking perfectly now, though will keep well for a decade).
The 2022 pulls back on the deepness in colour and richness of fruit in 2020, but it is still a mid ruby to purple in the glass, with a nose that blends red cherries and darker plum fruit. There is, as always, a savoury undertone to this wine, giving lightly cured meat and earthy forest floor notes. This follows on the palate, the fruit prominent on entry but the savoury tones building meaty, earth complexity. There is typical Gevrey grip, bolstering these tones and leaving a sense of place despite the ripe fruit at the core. Drink now, or over the coming decade.
