The OG of Chambertin Rivals Rousseau & Leroy

Gevrey-Chambertin would not be the wine-mecca it is today if it were not for the Trapets.

Domaine Louis Trapet saved Gevrey-Chambertin and perhaps Burgundy as a whole. Yet today, the wines of Trapet are still overlooked, under-appreciated, and undervalued.

The Trapet family have been vignerons in Gevrey-Chambertin since 1870 and began amassing a collection of only the finest vineyards. By the 1920s, the Trapets were one of the most important land owners in all of Burgundy, controlling the largest parcels of Chambertin, Chapelle-Chambertin and Latricieres-Chambertin. However, if it were not for the daring moves by founder Louis Trapet from 1875-1885 all would have been lost. Phylloxera had arrived in Burgundy and began devastating the vineyards of the region. Gevrey-Chambertin was hit very hard, yet Louis was able to save his vineyards by breaking the law. In the nights, Louis would graft over his vines to American rootstock which proved to be resistant to the louse. This meant Trapet was just one of a few who were able to provide wine to the famed Hospices de Beaune and negociants. The income allowed Trapet to further his expansion of the domaine, building it into the most important and significant landowner by the 1920s. For the next forty years, Trapet would provide the likes of Maison Leroy and Maison Joseph Drouhin their Chambertin needs. In the 1960s the Trapet family began to estate-bottle, laying the foundation for today. In 1993, this magnificent domaine split into two: Domaine Rossignol-Trapet and Domaine Trapet Pere et Fils.

Domaine Trapet today is guided by the humble and gracious Jean-Louis Trapet. One of Burgundy’s most thoughtful and forward thinking vignerons, Jean-Louis is easily producing the finest wines in the domaine's history. It was Jean-Louis in the early 1990s that took the domaine biodynamic, leading the way in Gevrey becoming DEMETER certified in 2009. In the early 2000s Jean-Louis also began scaling back the use of new oak, looking to make the wines more transparent, refined and elegant. Today, the wines of Trapet are at the forefront of the region once again, consistently the top examples of their vineyards year after year. These are wines that go toe-to-toe with the likes of Amand Rousseau and Domanie Leroy. They are Trapet, they are Chambertin, they are the most elegant and refined examples of the region.

Yet, however, Domaine Trapet still does not have the ravenous pool of collectors that it should. Eric Asimov of the New York Times last summer named 12 estates that he called “Top-Tier (but Undervalued)”. Domaine Trapet was a featured estate!? Solidifying that Trapet is a great estate, yet one that is still accessible. It is this accessibility that allows us to be able to offer solid cases on five of Trapet’s core cuvees, including the elusive Chambertin.

These are some of my absolute favorites of the 2017 vintage and I am puzzled yet excited that we are able to extend this offer. While this is an extremely rare opportunity to secure original cases of the Grand Cru, I highly recommend that you grab some of the village Gevrey, especially the Ostrea.

The Ostrea is an old-vine cuvee with vines dating back to 1919. Based on four village parcels that are fossil rich soils loaded with ancient oyster shells, the Ostrea highlights the purity and beauty of Pinot Noir across the famed white limestone rich soils of Burgundy. This is a wine of contrast, full of intensity and vibrancy. The village-level Gevrey is about as textbook of an example one can find, and well worth the money considering the track record of ageability these wines have proven. The Premier Cru and Grand Cru are simply as good as it gets.

Domaine Trapet is the heart and soul of Gevrey-Chambertin, past, present and future.

Cheers,

Jeremy