Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet, Fixin 2019 - Magnum

Vineyards: From four parcels, 2.6 hectares in total: Au Près, Fixey, Clos du Villages, and Sorgentière. Clay-limestone soils with vines planted in 1947, 1961, 1963, 1972, and 1984

Winemaking: Fully destemmed. Cold maceration and fermentation is completed in cement with 20 per cent of the stems added for freshness. The wine is then aged for 12 months in barrel (no new oak). 

Amélie Berthaut is already receiving a lot of attention. She is indisputably charming, but more importantly, she is hard-working, thoughtful, and talented. Her prevailing quality, however, is humility. For example, she turned down Daniel Johnnes’ invitation to the 2018 Paulée in San Francisco because “I’m not ready,” even though we all thought she was. Bien faire vax miev que dir.

Amélie has received an impressive array of vineyards from her mother and father who owned and managed separate family domaines. The newly-baptized Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet includes all the vineyards of Domaine Denis Berthaut and parts of the vineyards of Domaine François Gerbet, totaling 16 hectares located in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, in the villages of Fixin, Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, and Vosne-Romanée.

There are small plots of wine collector catnip in Cazetiers, Lavaut, and Petits-Monts, but the heart of the domaine, physically and emotionally, is in Fixin. It was Amélie’s Fixins that most piqued our interest when we first heard about her. Why? Because with all due respect, a really good Vosne or Gevrey, great examples of those are not uncommon, whereas great examples of Fixin were thought to be extinct.