Tasted in Sampigny-lès-Maranges with Talloulah Mathurin, 18 July 2023

Domaine de Cassiopée
3 Rue de la Mairie
71150 Sampigny-lès-Maranges

Such a young domaine – created in only 2020 – yet, despite having no website of their own, already with a formidable online presence if a simple Google search is anything to go by.

Talloulah and Hugo Mathurin run their 5-hectare domaine from their house in the centre of Sampigny-Les-Maranges. This couple have, between them, previously worked at a number of storied domaines – such as Marie-Thérèse Chappaz, Benjamin Leroux, Clos de Tart, JF Mugnier and JM Roulot, and their focus is organic and biodynamic viticulture. It’s just Talloulah and Hugo who do the work together a little seasonal help for pruning and again for harvesting.

Talloulah explains “We had the possibility of a project in Hautes Côtes but it was going to be very expensive – here was advertised as a nice house with 0.6 hectares of vines – not enough to live from but it started some discussions – suddenly 5 hectares was possible due to ill health of the proprietor. Almost all the vines are within 600 metres of the house. It all went so quickly and now we have over 15 parcels! We immediately started to work organically but it wasn’t worked like that before. All the parcels have/will be their own cuvee!”

No sulfur is used now, except before the bottling. Once the wines are bottled, about 30-35% are sold in France, with the largest exports to the US and the UK – “There’s more and more heading east these days too.”

Taloullah on 2021 and 2022:
“We lost 60% of our planned production in 2021 but we have enough grapes in 2022. Allocations were so small for the 2021s that we will have some early bottlings of the 2022s – we will already start in August!”

The Wines…

In this first visit I found some lovely wines – really a label worth following – and their 2022 Maranges Les Plantes is a wine worth a special search…

2022 Bourgogne Aligoté Mitancherie
0.5 ha of 25-year-old vines in Sampigny with a little altitude and breeze, this once considered too cold a place to make wine. ‘We happily harvest here at 11.5-12° we like to have some acidity.’
Not just a nice breadth but also depth of aroma. Supple, silky, generous but still with energy – beautifully textured – growing with intensity and finishing width. Faintly accented with a small tannic rasp. A beauty!

2022 Bourgogne Aligote
This sample from a jar – to be blended with the previous – the end cuvée about 80% barrel and 20% this…
Broad again, this faintly reductive. A little more fluid and subtly mineral. ‘We like the sensation of some tannin but not with skin maceration.”

2022 Bourgogne Aligoté En Gerlieus
Gerlieus is the largest (1.3 ha) parcel of the domaine, planted with 40-100 year-old aligote vines and 0.9 ha of 50-70-year-old pinot in Chassey-le-Camp – ‘with only the forest as a neighbour.’ This wine made in a mix of jars (pictured above) and barrels. This got a little hail this year. In this case and with 6 months longer elevage. Again one part in jar but the sugars are not yet finished there.
Ooh – more depth, a wine that pulls you in. Hmm – more structural and mineral very broad finishing flavour – a great aligoté – bravo! Hopefully just as great when the jar part of this blend is ready!

2022 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Blanc Les Côtés
These 50-year-old vines on a more granitic soil. They have increased the height of the trellising here as in 2020 a lot of the grapes were grilled and they now seem to have not just avoided that, they also like the wine more!
Quite a large scaled nose. Structured but not with rigour, broadening finishing fkavour – I’d compare this more to an aligoté than a Beaujolais Blanc.

2022 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Blanc Les Côtés
From the same lieu-dit but 5-year-old vines planted in a cleared wood with deep clay soil over a limestone base – here I’m tasting an assembly of old barrels and a jar.
A more typical chardonnay nose, ripe with a little pineapple, faintly accented with barrel but not too much. Generous but still fresh, it’s a supple, cushioned, expression with a nice line of flavour in the finish – slightly exotic fruit despite only 12-12.5° but not overly so. Yum!

2022 Maranges Blanc Les Plantes
Both the lieu dit and young vines too – 0.26 ha but there was only 25 kg of grapes from here in 2020, then the frost of 2021 meant only 100 litres of wine – in 2022 they have 5 barrels – hurrah !!
A breadth of creaminess – there’s no new oak – 3 yo barrels – but the effect is still apparent. Nicely structured, generous of course, wait two years for this – certainly not the exotic style for this wine. This will age well !

Les Reds:
All were destemmed in 2020 and 2021 ‘but a lot of the stems looked perfect in 2022 so for the following wekept about 40% of them:’

2022 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Les Paizets
Limestone soils for this
A large-scale nose, red fruit, it needs a hint of sulfur at this stage of elevage but it’s impressive all the same. In the mouth, clean, broad and fresh – this is super, I love the shape and delinition of this wine. Super Bourgogne finishing with class!

2022 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Rouge Les Côtés
Once more the granitic soils but here with pinot noir, this all destemmed and a small yield – small concentrated grapes..
Ooh thats inviting a width of velour fruit. Fresh, mineral and quite a structural wine too. I’d consider leaving this in the cellar for 2-3 years but another wine of great definition and certainly a more mineral style. The finish sticks around impressively.

2022 Bourgogne Rouge En Gerlieus
0.9 ha in Chassey-le-Camp. Old vines of 50-70-years-old in the same area as their aligoté – about 15% wc from the first vintage with this to help bring freshness to the concentration
Lots of colour- A vibrant nose – that’s an impressive aromatic for a Bourgogne. Cool, starting with great shape, then melting flavour over the palate. Broad and delicious and holding, then a burst of finishing flavour. Impressive wine a little easy in the middle but starting and finishing great – a super Bourgogne!

2022 Maranges Les Saugeot
Had this parcel since 2021. ‘A cold, late-ripening area that brought only 10.5° in 2021 but was easily harvested at 12° in 2022.’
Hmm, thats a super aromatic starting with a broad fruit and then opening with a fine floral perfume as the air works its magic. Direct, cool style, framed with a small grain of tannin. Strict in a good way. The last flavours are fluid and of acidulated delicious fruit.

2022 Maranges Le Bas du Clos
90-year-old vines near the house – this to be racked in a few days…
An easier red fruit – open and red – adding a faint spice with air but this is all destemmed. Hmm, the perfume also suggests to me some wc though there is none – a finer, more sophisticated texture than the last, coupled with juicy fruit, but not yet as delicious as that wine. The minerality is king in this today – a faint creaminess too. Super wine just give it 3-5 years!