Maume Gevrey-Chambertin En Pallud 2019

“The 2019 Gevrey-Chambertin En Pallud is the largest cru of the domaine, from 0.64 hectares of vine located just below Mazis-Chambertin. It is raised in used barrels apart from one (I tasted from new Francois Freres and used). The precise bouquet presents red cherries, raspberry, crushed stone and wilted rose petals, beautifully focused. The palate is very finessed with silky tannins and pure red fruit. As Pinoté as Pinot Noir can be. I absolutely love this. Drinking window: 2022-2038. 92-94 points

Back in the day, Maume was the bastion of “traditional Burgundy”. When perceived wisdom was towards lacquering new oak on sensitive Pinot Noir and producers dogmatically adopted Henri Jayer’s principles of complete de-stemming, Maume was one of a handful that stuck to their principles of using whole bunches. The wines were inconsistent as testified by a memorable vertical of Mazis-Chambertin in London a few years ago, but for every wine that they got wrong and tasted vegetal, when they got it right and given requisite bottle age, the wines could be profound. In many ways Maume was ahead of their time, as nowadays numerous producers now proselytize the same tenets. The original holdings were almost entirely bought out by Canadian entrepreneur Murray Tawse to create Domaine Tawse, whose wines can be found in this report.

Contractually, Maume retained a few morsels of vine and to be honest, since then I have not paid them much attention. However, I did return on this trip, back to their rather dishevelled winery on the RN74. Bertrand’s Maume’s father, Bernard, answered the door. Don’t be deceived by his advancing years. Maume Senior is as sharp as a pin. He spoke eloquently about the terroir of Gevrey and had lost none of his faculties that served him during an illustrious career as a professor at the University of Dijon. Bertrand has had more than his fair share of demons. Despite life’s battle scars when we met, I could not help recall some of the amazing bottles he helped create, as well as observing the bond between father and son. Tasting their 2019s that were picked from 14 September from barrel, it was patently clear that Maume never lost the knack of producing what you might call “fermented wonderment”. I tasted few Village Crus as spellbinding as their 2019 Gevrey-Chambertin En Pallud or a generic red as fine as their 2019 Bourgogne Rouge from the lieu-dit of Les Vignes Blanches, grown on white limestone soils as its name implies. Maume retained a cult following, especially here in the UK, evidenced by the pallets ready to be picked by their transporter. Tasting these 2018s and 2019s I can understand why they continue to have a loyal following.”

Neal Martin, Vinous (12/20)