Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Montrachet Grand Cru amounts to a demi-muid and two barrels this year, which might not sound like much, but it's a damn lot more than the 170 kilograms eked from the 2016 vintage and due to be blended with five other equally bereft growers. This vintage has a very engaging nose: honeysuckle and jasmine, flint and a distant scent of pralines all veiled in a pleasant reduction (which seems to be Dominique Lafon's intention in recent vintages). Naturally, the palate is extremely well balanced and there is a fine bead of acidity. Its core of citrus fruit is complemented by brioche and praline, and dovetails into a light tropical vein towards the weighty (but not heavy) finish. Whilst it will doubtless be a long-term proposition, unlike the 2014 I can envisage this being broached with just 2-3 years in bottle.
Barrel Sample: 93-95
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.