Winemaker Notes
This Puligny-Montrachet is typified by aromas and flavors of green apple and lemon and tend to be tauter and firmer on the palate compared to wines from neighboring villages. Aging in a small percentage of new French oak barrels lends accents of toast and vanilla. Structured white wines with high acid and grip, Puligny-Montrachet is destined for long aging.
Thanks to its rich texture and toasted flavors, this wine pairs well with white fish and shellfish. Its natural high acidity counterbalances cream-based sauces.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champs Gain has great transparency on the nose with flint and wet slate aromas soaring from the glass with great gusto. The palate is crisp and fresh on the entry. Even without the slight reduction, you can tell immediately there is very good energy locked into this austere Champs Gain and there is a lovely peach skin note towards the vibrant finish. This is an excellent Puligny from Alain that should yield several years of drinking pleasure, possibly more.
Range:90-92
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A source of some of the finest, juicy, silky and elegantly floral Chardonnay in the Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet lies just to the north of Chassagne-Montrachet, a village with which it shares two of its Grands Crus vineyards: Le Montrachet itself and Bâtard-Montrachet. Its other two, which it owns in their entirety, are Chevalier-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. And still, some of the finest white Burgundy wines come from the prized Premiers Crus vineyards of Puligny-Montrachet. To name a few, Les Pucelles, Le Clavoillon, Les Perrières, Les Referts and Les Combettes, as well as the rest, lie northeast and up slope from the Grands Crus.
Farther to the southeast are village level whites and the hamlet of Blagny where Pinot Noir grows best and has achieved Premier Cru status.