A Rising Star in Chambolle-Musigny - Michael Digoia

5/7/11 -

(Photo: Michel Digoia in a room full of Chambolle)

My visit to Michel Digioia was, along with my visit to Cecile Tremblay, one of my favorites of this last trip. At the domaine, we first passed through a very small courtyard with enough room to park a couple of cars and maybe a step van, then ducked down beneath the limestone lintel (watch your head!) to find ourselves in what must be one of the most minuscule cellars that actually produces wine. It looked more like a cellar that housed a collection than one of a working vigneron. Michel Digioia's tiny cellar holds just his Chambolle-Musigny wines; there were perhaps 30 barrels stacked two barrels high and spread over two tiny rooms. Michel makes a Bourgogne Blanc, a Bourgogne Passetoutgrains (from 50 year old vines), a Bourgogne Rouge, and an Haut-Cote-de-Nuits, all of which rest in a separate cellar. This was a cellar of pure Chambolle. And once Michel’s wine thief came out, what magnificent and pure Chambolle it turned out to be!

Michel Digioia is a meticulous vigneron and his work in the vineyards enables him to make very expressive Chambolle-Musigny. He uses very little new wood, 20% new on his "Fremieres" for example. He makes four different wines; his village bottling is from vines averaging sixty years old, his “Fremieres” is from 80-year-old vines, his “Gruenchers” from 25-year-old vines, and his very rare Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru “Groseilles” from 70-year-old vines. (“Groseilles” means “red currants;” “Gruenchers” refers to small walnuts with incredibly hard shells. Ah the magic of Burgundy.) These wines are precise, transparent, and light on their feet; each was incredibly lovely when sampled in March. We tasted 2010, 2009 & 2008. -jbt