Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
The 2019 production consists of one normal 228l barrel and one of 285 litres neither, brand new. There are some toasty notes from the wood while the detailed elements of fruit remain covered by the intensity. This wine is sitting back on its haunches, really promising. There is a huge sweetness of fruit through the middle, a very proper toastiness, a fine acidity. This massive Montrachet still retains enough lightness on its feet despite the majesty of the vineyard. Long too. Of course!
Barrel Sample: 96-99 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Montrachet Grand Cru is also very promising, unwinding in the glass with a reserved nose of orchard fruit, nutmeg, freshly baked bread, orange oil and spices. Full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, it's layered and concentrated, with real texture and intensity. This is still on the lees in barrel, so it's not so advanced in its élevage as the other wines in the cellar, but it's full of promise.
Barrel Sample: 94-96
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.