Domaine Hudelot-Baillet Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Cras 2021

Where Les Charmes seduces, Les Cras demands. The two premier crus at Hudelot-Baillet tell the story of Chambolle-Musigny's contrasting registers, and Les Cras is unambiguously the more austere and intellectually complex of the pair. Dominique's parcel is 0.37 hectares with vines of around 25 years, aged half in new barrels and half in one-year-old barrels — a consistently more mineral-driven expression of Chambolle terroir than its stablemate Les Charmes. The domaine's estate buildings back directly onto the Les Cras vineyard itself, and Dominique has been mentored in this terroir by neighbours including Christophe Roumier and Frédéric Mugnier — company that tells you something about the seriousness with which Les Cras is regarded. New oak is kept low at around 25 to 30% for the premier crus, everything is destemmed to emphasise purity of fruit, and the winemaking style is expressive, delicate, and very true to Chambolle's origins.

Les Cras is more transparent and mineral-driven than Les Charmes, the limestone soils flooding through the aromatics and defining them — medium-bodied on the palate with crunchy red fruit and gentle grip, quite energetic with a tensile finish. The fruit seems even fresher and brighter than Les Charmes, with middleweight flavours of equally lovely texture and even more minerality suffusing a more youthfully austere and firmer finish that is beautifully balanced. Very plush, plump red fruit with a touch of leafy evolution, plenty of spice, and the fruit purity of the Hudelot-Baillet house style — a wine for those who prefer their Chambolle to whisper rather than announce itself, and who know that whispers in this appellation can be among Burgundy's most compelling things to say.