An exceptionally fresh if decidedly restrained nose grudgingly offers up its array of sauvage and earth-inflected dark currant scents. The delicious medium-bodied flavors possess outstanding minerality and verve while exhibiting plenty of muscularity on the linear, robust and sneaky long finish. This is a terrific LSJ that should age accordingly.

Score: 92-94 Allen Meadow (AM), Bourghound (BH), January 2022

The 2020 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux Saint-Jacques 1er Cru is supremely focused on the nose,an enticing mélange of red and black fruitsu!used with minerals, though that oak will takea while to be fully assimilated. The palate ismedium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, very freshwith black cherries, cranberry and crushed stone,hints of blood orange surfacing with aeration. Iadore the coolness of this Gevrey, and it shouldgive many years of drinking pleasure.

It was a pleasure to visit Bertrand and Lataetia Dugat at their picturesque winery in Gevrey-Chambertin after having to forego my visit last November. The silver lining was that I was able to taste their bottled 2020s instead of in barrel (bottled in mid-February to be exact.) Dugat told me that they picked from 21 August with alcohol levels between 12.5% and 12.7%, lower than many others. As usual, all these wines were fully de-stemmed. I was very impressed by the range that offers exceptional freshness and tension throughout, crowed by a superlative Chapelle-Chambertin that steals the crown from the Griotte-Chambertin. The Gevrey-Chambertin La Marie also comes highly recommended.

Score: 94 Neal Martin (NM), Vinous Media (VM), May 2022

The 2020 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux Saint-Jacques is superb, wafting from the glass with scents of sweet cassis, pomegranate and cherries mingled with hints of warm spices, peonies and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, lively and concentrated, it´s fine boned and elegant, displaying rare intensity without weight. Built around vibrant acids and refined tannins, it concludes with a long, penetrating finish.

The 2020 vintage is a terrific success at Domaine Claude Dugat, where an early harvest and low yields delivered wines characterized by moderate alcohol, vibrant flavors and striking intensity. More tightly wound and a touch less sensual than the singularly seductive 2019s, the 2020s are of very high quality and have the balance and energy to age with real grace. My visit to this domaine is invariably a highlight of my fall tastings, and this year was no exception. These wines couldn´t come more warmly recommended. 

As I´ve written before, a generational transition—Claude having handed the reins over to son Bertrand and daughters Laetitia and Jeanne—has been discreetly realized at Domaine Claude Dugat: The family´s meticulous viticulture and enviable patrimony of old, sélection massale vines remain unchanged, but there have been subtle stylistic evolutions. Picking is earlier, the wines are no longer chaptalized, and the use of new oak is a touch more restrained—but above all, simply better integrated, with François Frères supplying barrels that seem to harmonize much more discreetly with the wines raised in them than was sometimes the case in yesteryear.

Score: 94-96 William Kelley (WK), The Wine Advocate (WA), January 2022