2020 Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Beaune Rouge Les Champlains, Domaine Decelle & Fils

This Domaine began in 2008, in a restored 1880 winery with underground cellars in Nuits-Saint-Georges. It was the brain-child of passionate winemaker Olivier Decelle (of Domaine Mas-Amiel and Saint-Emilion’s Château Jean-Faure), who employed Jean Lupatelli to manage day-to-day running of the property. Jean brought 15 years of Burgundian winemaking experience to the adventure. Increasing the Domaine`s vineyard holdings and organic conversion have been key to progress here. 85% of the wines now come from the Domaine`s own vineyards, which cover 8 hectares, mainly in the northern Côte de Beaune. We have championed winemaker Jean Lupatelli’s work, since discovering the wines with the 2014 vintage. He now has a new post at Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé (from the 2021 harvest), but his philosophy continues to guide the style at Decelle & Fils, where he was responsible until Spring 2021. “harvest with our own team; be very careful on the picking dates; retain whole berries where possible; intervene at a minimum; be delicate with extractions. Our aim is to avoid masking fruitiness with new oak aromas, while renewing our barrel-stocks over 3-4 years. We let the wines run by gravity into barrels – where there may be 50% new oak, for a famous appellation, and 20-30%, or less, for others. All picking is by hand, and only native yeasts are used.” Thomas Emin, a local of Nuits-Saint-Georges, was employed as head winemaker in 2022. Working with Sylvain Grenier in the vineyard, they continue to strive to produce wines of great resonance that respect both Burgundian tradition and the environment.