Winemaker Notes
This Chardonnay draws a finesse and elegance from it while retaining an incomparable minerality. The Pernand-Vergelesses Sous Fretille Premier Cru is a wine for laying down, its power will only be tamed after two years. However, the most patient will rediscover the aromas of grilled almonds and gunflint after five to seven years of aging.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of pear, citrus oil, crushed chalk and white flowers introduce the 2019 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Sous Frétille, a medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated wine with incisive acids and fine depth at the core. As ever, it's the insider's choice chez Rapet, punching above its weight in terms of aging potential and incipient complexity.
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.
Occupying the most northerly combe (the French term for a valley that cuts through a hillside) of the Côte de Beaune, Pernand-Vergelles sits to the west of and behind the hill of Corton. The most sought after whites of the village come from the slope of Pernand on the side of Corton where Pernand-Vergelles shares the Grand Cru Corton-Charlemagne with Aloxe-Corton. The best red producing Cru is Les Vergelles, which overlaps into Savigny-les-Beaune. Reds here are fleshy, seductive and structured while whites are both lively and age worthy.