Jean-Luc & Eric Burguet - Gevrey-Chambertin Symphonie 2019

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Jean-Luc & Eric Burguet Description

Alain was born in 1950 to Yvon Burguet, a tâcheron for Domaine Tortochot who also worked his own vines in Gevrey. He was a tough father, and Alain and his brother, Gilles, were expected to work in the vines at a young age on their days off from school. Alain remembers being ten years old and carrying a bucket of grapes at harvest that must have weighed as much as he did. By age 14, the boys were deemed finished with school and they began to work full-time in the vines of Gevrey under their father’s strict direction. After military service, Alain returned to Gevrey and decided to start his own domaine, working exclusively with rented vines until 1974 when the opportunity arose to buy his first 2.10 ha of vines in the village. He bottled his own production from the start, and began to earn a reputation for himself, which was boosted around 1982 when Becky picked up Alain’s wines. She brought Jean Troigros to taste, who was utterly impressed with the Gevrey Vieilles Vignes and promptly added them to his restaurant’s list. Alain continued to expand his domaine, acquiring 1er Cru Les Champeaux in 1985, inheriting some of his father’s 3.5 hectares in 1991, while still working rented vineyards. As Clive Coates explains, “Alain Burguet is an example of how it is still possible to build up a domaine from scratch, without ample resources and without having to make a ‘sensible’ marriage, even with today’s high prices of land.” Having established his estate entirely on his own, Alain began looking forward to the future of the domaine, after his retirement. To the relief of Burguet fans, after a smooth transition his two sons are carrying on the family tradition. Jean-Luc first started working at the domaine in 1997 and Eric followed in 1999, working with their father in the vines and the cellar, doing everything from preparing orders to discussing the date for harvest with Alain. Jean-Luc did a ‘BAC Pro’ focusing on viticulture, then a BPREA (a professional degree for managing agricultural operations). During his studies he worked at several neighboring wineries in Gevrey-Chambertin including Domaine Bachelet, and also worked in Bandol. With the goal of broadening his knowledge abroad, he then worked in California with Jim Clendenen at Au Bon Climat in Santa Barbara. Eric completed a ‘BAC’ and a BTS that included both winemaking and commercialization of wine and spirits. Like his brother, he interned in production, at Domaine Henri Gouges in Nuits-Saint-Georges, and also had stages in the wine trade. The 2011 vintage was the first with Jean-Luc and Eric at the helm as Alain officially retired.

A View from the Cellar: 90 Points

By John Gilman
Jan/Feb 2022, Issue #97, The 2019 Vintage In Burgundy Another Bold, Ripe and Stylistically Varied Year90+ points

(Gevrey-Chambertin “Cuvée Symphonie”- Domaine Alain Burguet et Fils) The 2019 Cuvée Symphonie from the Burguet brothers is a fine young bottle of Gevrey. The bouquet is ripe and nicely black fruity in profile in this vintage, delivering a blend of black cherries, plums, grilled meats, dark chocolate, a lovely base of soil, woodsmoke and a deft framing of new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, complex and already nicely velvety on the attack, with a plush core of fruit, suave, buried tannins and a long, complex and very well balanced finish. This is excellent and already fairly approachable out of the blocks. (Drink between 2022-2040)

Vinous: 89-91 Points

The 2019 Gevrey-Chambertin "Symphonie," a blend of several parcels that lie on limestone and rocky soils, has a lovely bouquet of black cherries, raspberry and light iris aromas. The medium-bodied palate presents succulent ripe black cherry and raspberry fruit and pleasant salinity. Finely tuned with just a touch of piquancy on the finish. Fine, but I suspect more for early drinking. (Drink between 2022-2028)