Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
Pierre-Yves holdings comprise one ancient plot next to Bâtard and another, lower down, from 2009. Lovely lemon and lime colour. Remarkably stylish. Good flesh to this on the palate, excellent reductive tension, white fruit throughout, layered and very long. Drink from 2027-2032. Tasted Oct 2024.
Barrel Sample: 92-95 -
Decanter
Offers ripe pear and floral notes with a hint of oak spice. The texture is silky and rich without being heavy. Colin appreciates the substance here – he is ageing the wine in 50% new wood, just like the Chassagne premiers crus. The grapes are from 0.26ha spread over two parcels, one very old. This is a delicious wine and is among the great values in white Burgundy.
Barrel Sample: 93 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
One of the highlights of the range this year is the 2023 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Ancegnières, a medium to full-bodied, satiny and seamless wine that evokes aromas of sweet orchard fruit, peach, white flowers and toasted nuts. Suave and layered, with good energy and persistence, it's well worth seeking out.
Barrel Sample: 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 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.