Since quitting my sales job earlier this year, I’ve become much more fond of Mondays and today’s tasting with Maison Chanzy’s head of Digital Sales and Customer Experience, Nicolas Corne, reinforced this sentiment IN SPADES.
Over the course of two and a half hours, Nicolas generously gave us his time to show no less than 10 whites (2 Aligotés and 8 Chardonnays) and 7 Pinot Noirs, which included 5 Premier Crus and 3 Grand Crus, while giving us a comprehensive overview of the wines. He also gave us a potted history plus latest developments for this sizeable but quality-led producer.
Here are my notes on the ten whites tasted and when I think they’ll be best enjoyed (in the same order tasted):
2017 Bouzeron Les Trois
100% Aligoté blended from three vineyards or climats, ‘Les Clous’, ‘La Tournelle’ and ‘Les Cordères’. Lovely and bright with a pale lemon core, this is vibrant with a sherbet lemon intensity. You can also sense the limestone-clay soil both from the ‘fumé’ aroma and through the heart of this wine underpinning the floral, citrus fruit. The mouth-watering but balanced acidity is accentuated by the six months spent in stainless steel. Ideal now until 2023.
2019 Bouzeron Clos de la Fortune (Monopole)
The oldest part of this exclusively-owned vineyard was planted in 1963. The yield is therefore small but the flavours in the grapes are super-charged. Chanzy makes just three barrels of this wine in an average year which equates to around 880 bottles. One barrel is new while the other two are well used. For a wine so young, this wine is highly expressive. The youthful but complex aromas hit your nostrils long before the glass reaches your nose. There’s a gentle floral spice, green coffee bean and even a touch of caramel. It’s linear in the mouth yet textured and has great balance and freshness. The flavours linger long after swallowing. I’ve never tasted Aligoté like this and I’m not surprised to learn that this is the best-selling wine in the wine bar. Enjoy from 2023-27.
2020 Bourgogne Chardonnay Les Fortunés
Just bottled (end of May) so very young. Although the 2019 is still the current vintage, Nicolas wanted to show me Max’s latest release. The wine has a raw, natural feel from the lively aromas to the pithy texture in the mouth. There’s the scent of lemon and wet pebbles and flavours of grapefruit and slightly under ripe melon. Expressive yet elegant and should integrate nicely with another six months in bottle. Enjoy from 2022-24.
2019 Rully En Rosey
From a relatively high altitude vineyard (230m) and east facing, so gets the morning sun. The soils have a high calcium content and are very rocky. Max vinified this in stainless steel only and chose not to agitate the lees. Put all these elements together and they translate into a fairly taut wine with grippy acidity in this youthful stage, almost prickly and yet it still has a lovely roundness. I love the delicate floral scents and lemon curd-like tang on the palate. Enjoy from 2023-26.
2018 Rully Les Cailloux
This climat sits right next door to En Rosey. 2018 gave a smaller than average yield but it was a hot year and the fruit was therefore picked much earlier than usual. The acidity is noticeably softer than the En Rosey giving the wine a creamy sensation in the mouth but despite this it still has an overall leanness. The texture reminds me a little of a Chablis from a ripe vintage. There’s a touch of nuttiness on the nose too, a result of the ten months ageing in used 450 litre oak barrels. Ideal now until 2024.
2018 Mercurey Les Caraby
The wines from this village are generally weightier and richer than Rully and this has a lot to do with the marl-based soils with large limestone deposits. The Les Caraby climat lies on the south side of the village and faces south and south-east on a gentle slope. This wine is full, rich and expansive in the mouth and accurately reflects the warmth of the vintage. It finishes opulently with a touch of creaminess and spiciness too. Ideal now until 2024.
2019 Santenay Premier Cru Beaurepaire
This climat sits at the top of a hill and is slightly cooler than the more renowned Les Gravières vineyard. If you’re a fan of the fuller-bodied styles of white burgundy like me, this will be right up your street! A clear step up from the Mercurey, this is full but has a lovely saline streak that keeps it lively. Gently spiced from the ten months spent in small used barriques of 228 litres, this also lends an appealing buttery note along with undertones of hazelnut and acacia. I like this a lot. Enjoy from 2022-29.
2019 Puligny-Montrachet Les Reuchaux
This vineyard abuts the road that runs through Puligny village to Meursault. Just two barrels made which equates to around 600 bottles. This is very young and was quite closed in the glass with little aroma present. Also, quite taut in the mouth but you can see the components are all there, various white stone fruit flavours, floral hints, good acid structure and a touch of oak nuttiness on the finish. Enjoy from 2024-29+.
2019 Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru La Garenne
If you wanted a demonstration of why Premier Cru vineyards are superior to Village level vineyards, then look no further. This site is up on the hill overlooking Les Reuchaux and is made using exactly the same methods and produces two barrels only, just as the previous wine. The only way I can describe this is it’s like turning up the volume from 1 to 10. Although it’s also young, it’s far more open on the nose and has much greater volume and intensity on the palate. A very smart and impressive wine. Enjoy from 2024-34+.
2018 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
This famous Grand Cru vineyard faces south and south-east and spans two villages in the Côte de Nuits, Aloxe-Corton and Pernand-Vergelesses. It sits on a high ridge between 280-330m above sea level and the soils are calcareous marl, similar to Mercurey. As soon as the glass draws near you can smell the intensity and complexity in this multi-faceted masterpiece. There are grilled nuts, yellow fleshed stone fruits, even a touch of exotic fruits, vanilla bean and coffee too (30% of the wine is fermented and aged in new French oak). Very expansive in the mouth but with a juicy core of acidity holding it all together. The flavours linger on and on after swallowing and no, I didn’t spit any of this wine! Outstanding. Enjoy from 2023-38+.
• For more background on this progressive producer, click here
• For my notes on the reds tasted, click here
