180 Cases for the World
2006 & 2007 Bachelet
Charmes-Chambertin
This is one of the GREAT bottles of Gevrey - right there next to Rousseau's Beze or Fourrier's Griotte.
In fact, Rousseau and Fourrier's wines feel to us like a better context for the monumental Charmes of Bachelet than the other great Charmes.
Unlike the more polished Charmes-masterpieces of, say, Dugat-Py or Roty (to name probably the two most famous practitioners), for us, Bachelet's rendition has more transparency more detail, more soul.
This is one of the great reds of Burgundy - it shows everything, always - soil, stone, flower, fruit, meat, yet remains... balanced, elegant. When this wine is in its zone, it has few peers. It is a bottle we are obsessed with, one we look for all the time.
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Yet, with a 180-case production, we don't find it all that often. Bachelet, a one-man band quietly making his wine, sources the fruit for his Charmes from a tiny .44ha-plot of 100-year-old vines.
Today, we focus on two vintages of Charmes that have been overlooked and, importantly in the new world we find ourselves in, where release pricing for Bachelet's Charmes comes close to and sometimes exceeds $400/btl, they remain drastically undervalued.
Both vintages of Charmes today clock in well under $200 a bottle; both of these wines are actually turning the corner into proper form, yet both will also cellar for a decade or more.
The 2006 Charmes continues to grow in stature; Bachelet himself considers 2006 to be very classic vintage, like 2001 but with a bit more acidity. Still, this is a plush, textural wine with great purity and phenomenal depth. Unlike some of the sturdier vintages (2005, 2008), this is already beginning to find its style. See the Burghound review below.
2007 is the more feminine bottling and one that we've only grown more fond of over the years with an inspiring array of dark fruit, an intense violet florality... this is awesome and just a ridiculous value. States Mr. Burghound: "The big-bodied, round and delicious flavors seem more forward than they really are... the superbly well balanced finish both stains and coats the palate on the finale."
Both vintages show the depth of complexity, the detail, the muscle, the purity and honesty that make this not only an elite bottle, but also a soulful bottle.
It's probably best to stop there, because in total we don't have much more than a few cases of both vintages. The fact that pricing is the best around will only fuel the fire.
To order, please email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Ian McFadden
Director, Fine & Rare
Crush Wine & Spirits