Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
Displays slightly exotic aromas of nectarine and melon, along with notes of clove and ginger spice. The texture is creamy and dense but not heavy – the exuberant note is likely from a patch of young vines (six ares of a 0.6ha parcel) that have just rejoined the blend; the remaining are 50 years old. The wine is ageing in cask (one-third new), and the edges should smooth out within two or three years in the bottle.
Barrel Sample: 94 -
Jasper Morris
Champlots was the most impacted by the hail, where the syndicat lowered permitted yields. Pale lemon in colour, with a vivid fruit concentration, even some plum notes. More flesh, possibly less finesse, back to the orchard fruit on the palate, some flesh to finish alongside correct acidity. Drink from 2027-2030. Tasted Oct 2024.
Barrel Sample: 88-91
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 steep, upcountry basin (referred to as a combe in French) in the southern end of the Côte de Beaune, St. Aubin is a direct westerly neighbor to Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet. Recent years have seen a boom in white wine production so that now Chardonnay accounts for more than three quarters of area under vine here. Two thirds of St. Aubin is classified Premier Cru (30 total vineyards); most notable include Les Charmois, La Chatenière, En Remilly and Les Murgers Dents de Chie. The Premiers Crus of St. Aubin, wrapping like a ribbon upon the southeast and southwest facing slopes, produce fresh and elegant whites from Chardonnay. When young, these tout a refreshing grip and convey qualities of white flowers, citrus, pear, green almond and wet stone. Given some age, a graceful evolution occurs so that older St. Aubin whites express richer aromas of beeswax, honey, marzipan and spice.