Domaine Chofflet Givry Rouge 1er Cru – Clos Jus

Domaine Chofflet-Valdenaire’s Givry 1er Cru Clos Jus comes from an east-facing hillside looking out to Chalon-sur-Saône. This ideal, sloping vineyard, with stony, red clay and limestone soil, was recognized as the finest hillside site in Givry before phylloxera. The entire slope was then abandoned, and only replanted in 1990. Yields are naturally low and the grapes are always small (due to millerandage), making for very concentrated fruit. The altitude is 245-280 meters. At harvest, the grapes are 100% de-stemmed and given 5 days of cold maceration before the start of fermentation at controlled temperature, not exceeding 28C. Light foot-treading to crush the grapes and pumping of the juice over the cap of skins once daily. 100% of the cuvée is aged in 228 litre oak casks with 20% new and 40% each one and two year old. The Givry 1er Cru Clos Jus is assembled after 14 months of aging and bottled one month later. About 400 cases are produced annually.

This cuvée offers pronounced black-fruit taste, typical of the Côte de Nuits which caused the owners of the replanted vineyard to wonder about the Givry-ness of the Clos Jus after their first harvests. No living person ever having tasted a Clos Jus wine before. They have since learned to cherish the uniqueness of this site; indeed, in a recent comment on the Clos de Lambrays Grand Cru, the Revue du Vin de France remarks on how the Grand Cru’s “complex bouquet” recalls that of the “young and surprising Clos Jus of Givry.”