Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
All grown on the Puligny side, Journoblot, Houillères, Beuttes and Pierres. Fine pale yellow. A delicious nose, with a little weight to it. Excellent racy stuff, just the right reduction, this holds up well alongside the St-Aubin 1ers Crus, which is not the case everywhere. Drink from 2027-2031. Tasted Oct 2024.
Barrel Sample: 91-94 -
Vinous
A blend of three vineyards on the Puligny side of the appellation, the 2023 Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes has a slightly reductive bouquet that makes it difficult to read at the moment. The palate is well balanced with a tangy orange rind-tinged opening and lovely weight in the mouth, as lilting clementine and apricot notes mix with citrus peel toward the harmonious finish. This will be delicious.
Barrel Sample: 90-93
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 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.