Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Spelt with an 'A' at Colin-Morey, but with an 'E' elsewhere, Les Ancégnières is a small but very well located premier cru just below Bâtard-Montrachet. The parcel that supplies this deliciously balanced wine covers 0.25ha and combines fruit from 45 and 80-year-old parcels. Crisp, focussed and mouthwateringly fresh and long, it has some of the presence and weight of its neighbouring grand cru.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Ancegnières—which, like the higher appellations, had been racked and returned to barrel when I tasted it—is showing very well, wafting from the glass with aromas of pear, fresh peach, nutmeg and mandarin oil. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, fleshy and textural, with good depth and weight at the core, tangy balancing acids and a mouthwatering finish. It's an attractively complete Chassagne from a parcel Colin owns that's located below Bâtard-Montrachet.
Barrel Sample: 90-92 -
Wine Spectator
A creamy texture envelops the peach, floral, fresh thyme and baking spice flavors in this harmonious white. Lively, staying focused on the long, lemon- and spice-tinged aftertaste. Best from 2021 through 2028. 20 cases imported.
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 Côte de Beaune village of Burgundy most famous for its beautifully textured and powerful whites, Chassagne-Montrachet reaches farthest south in the Côte d’Or, save for the village of Santenay. It has three Grands Crus vineyards: Le Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet and Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet. Le Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet overlap with and are (confusingly) shared with the village of Puligny-Montrachet. But Chassagne-Montrachet bears sole ownership of the Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru.
The beauty doesn’t stop there as the village has a great many outstanding Premiers Crus wines and village level wines. Most famous Premiers Crus vineyards include Les Chenevottes, Clos de la Maltroie, En Cailleret and Les Ruchottes. Also, village level wines offer many lovely examples of what Chassagne-Montrachet has to offer, but at more approachable price points and perhaps less demand of waiting.
The best sites in Chassagne-Montrachet have complex soils of sedimentary rock and limestone (with less marl). Whites, which are by law composed of 100% Chardonnay (as in all classified white Burgundy from Côte d’Or), have steely power, bright and concentrated citrus, stone or tropical fruit characteristics and attractive textures ranging from plush to tactile, grippy and mineral-driven.
There is some fine Pinot Noir produced from the village. These wines tend to be high-toned and earthy, with wild herb aromas and suave tannins.