Domaine Koji et Jae Hwa Gevrey-Chambertin Aux Corvées 2023 750ml

A tenth of a hectare of leased vines and, by one drinker's count, 604 bottles: Aux Corvées is the Gevrey-Chambertin that Koji Nakada farms but does not own.

Aux Corvées is a village lieu-dit south of Gevrey-Chambertin, below the premier cru slope rather than on the Brochon side as our earlier text had it. Domaine les Astrelles, which works a parcel there, gives 265 metres of altitude, loams over limestone scree and an east to south-east exposure; Berry Bros. & Rudd describes Henri Rebourseau's holding in the same climat as old vines on deep clay. Nakada's two plots, according to his Japanese importer Nouvelles Sélections, came under fermage contracts in 2018 and 2021 and add up to 0.1 hectare, with vines averaging about fifteen years. One plot received Bureau Veritas organic certification in 2021, the other was scheduled for 2024.

The 2023 sheet lists a yield of 45 hl/ha, the highest among the domaine's reds that year, where the Bourgogne and Marsannay came in at 30 and La Brunelle at 25. Thirty percent of the fruit was destemmed, fermentation ran on indigenous yeast with part of it inside the barrel, and the wine spent 18 months in Chassin Grand Fin casks, all new, the regime Nakada otherwise reserves for La Brunelle, the clos behind his house. It was bottled without fining or filtration. Jasper Morris calls 2023 the hottest year on record, with record Pinot Noir crops and a Côte de Nuits harvest split between late-August heat and the storm of 12 September.

The appellation settles the grape: Gevrey-Chambertin is a red-only AOC whose rules name Pinot Noir as the principal variety, with accessory grapes allowed only as mixed plantings up to fifteen percent of a parcel. Nakada and Jae Hwa Park have worked from a cellar in Gevrey since August 2008; the leased Corvées vines came later, in a domaine built up plot by plot after 2012.

In the glass

The one published note on this bottle is from the Instagram account Mowine, which counted 604 bottles and found pan-seared sesame, ember, sour cherry, pomegranate, rose water and sage, with savoury minerality, an airy mouthfeel and laser-like acidity; it reads the wine as lean and light-footed, fitting for a village cuvée. For the cellar-mate raised the same way, Greg Sherwood MW gave the 2023 La Brunelle 93 to 95 points in May 2025. Morris finds 2023 Côte de Nuits reds juicy and refined, mostly 12.5 to 13.5 percent.

When to open

Mowine expects the wine to put on weight over the next five years; Kinokuniya suggests 15 to 17 °C. Our suggestion: hold until 2027, then drink to about 2038.

At the table

Our suggestion: pigeon or duck with cherries, grilled quail, or a sesame-dressed Japanese dish.

Quick facts

Provenance

Sourced from the Japanese importer.

Sources: Nouvelles Sélections (Japanese importer); producer label; AOC Gevrey-Chambertin cahier des charges (décret 2009-1270); Domaine les Astrelles (cru-parcellaire); Berry Bros. & Rudd; Kinokuniya Liquors; Mowine (Instagram); Greg Sherwood MW (gregsherwoodmw.com, May 2025); Jasper Morris MW (Inside Burgundy, 2023 vintage overview); 88 Bamboo