Winemaker Notes
A truly electric wine that balances the power and generosity that comes from the south-facing exposition, with a salty minerality that is attributed to the shallow, rocky soils.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Domaine de Montille farms a large parcel of 1.7 hectares of seventy-year-old vines in thin, rocky soils at the top of the slope. In 2021 the vineyard produced a deeply-coloured win with a beautifully expressive nose of apple, apricot, and quince with spice and marzipan notes. The texture is dense and broad, with balanced acidity and enough extract to ensure an exquisite finish. Unfortunately for wine lovers, only seven barrels were made in 2021 compared to the 44 that were produced in 2020—this is a wine that you absolutely must know.
Barrel Sample: 93 -
Jasper Morris
Down 80% for frost, in fact there was no fruit at all except for a band at the top. Clear pale colour. An austere limestone touch infuses the nose. Really very classy, has held its line with excellent length. White fruit all the way through.
Barrel Sample: 91-93
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 steep, upcountry basin (referred to as a combe in French) in the southern end of the Côte de Beaune, St. Aubin is a direct westerly neighbor to Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet. Recent years have seen a boom in white wine production so that now Chardonnay accounts for more than three quarters of area under vine here. Two thirds of St. Aubin is classified Premier Cru (30 total vineyards); most notable include Les Charmois, La Chatenière, En Remilly and Les Murgers Dents de Chie. The Premiers Crus of St. Aubin, wrapping like a ribbon upon the southeast and southwest facing slopes, produce fresh and elegant whites from Chardonnay. When young, these tout a refreshing grip and convey qualities of white flowers, citrus, pear, green almond and wet stone. Given some age, a graceful evolution occurs so that older St. Aubin whites express richer aromas of beeswax, honey, marzipan and spice.