Tasted with Pierre Meurgey at the Château de Bligny, 07 December 2015.
Maison Pierre Meurgey-Croses
Château de Bligny
14 Grande rue
21200 Bligny-lès-Beaune
You may remember Pierre as previously being the head of Maison Champy in Beaune, and also having some connections to Domaine de Clos de la Chapelle in Volnay.
The Château de Bligny was the home of a project called ‘Evening Land Vineyards’ – wines that were exported to the US. With the closure of the French part of the Evening Lands project, the local assets and winery (and Château!) were bought up by Pierre and Dominique Lafon – this is the planned home of their ‘custom crush’ operation. Dominique Lafon has his own project here and Pierre is growing a range of wines from the Mâcon, using this as a base too.
The name Croses comes from Pierre’s mother’s maiden-name, who was from the Mâcon. In 2013 there was just 1 wine, so Pierre describes 2014 as really his first vintage ‘with a range of wines.’
Pierre: “This is really a project of Mâcon, not a Mâcon project from Beaune. All vinifications are in Davayé at the foot of the Rock Solutré. The wines are also bottled there before storing here in Beaune. I’m looking for precision in the wines, about 900 mg CO2 when bottled, but really trying to avoid reduction.”
Pierre on 2015:
In 2015 it was harder to get precision. Ripeness was easy and we had great looking grapes, I had 13-13.2° at picking. All the malolactic fermentations were made, but that was certainly an open question in 2015!
And the current market for these wines? “The market is a blank page, mainly, at the moment. There are already sales in Canada, the Netherlands and the USA, plus a little in Hong-Kong and Taiwan. For the 2013s, they were only to be found in Mâcon!”
The wines…
There are about 50,000 bottles of these uniformly excellent 2014s. I believe them worth a search.
2014 Macon-Uchizy
All in tank, bottled in June.
A deep, ripe Macon nose – ripe lemons. Mouth-filling, equally mouth-watering. A richness of fruit that’s easily cut by its acidity and even some minerality. Nice salty kick right in the finish. Very tasty wine!
A friend of Pierre’s mother – they were at school together – is a proprietor so this comes from him. Lieu dit Le Monts near Peronne/Quintaine. Old vines, more than 60 years. 20 % wood, 450-500 litres none new. Biggest cuvée 26,000 bottles.
Narrower, more mineral still with a ripe, macerating lemon core. Wide, super-silky, super-mineral but with a sweetness that avoids austerity. This is simply excellent!
2014 Saint-Veran Le Clos de la Maison
10% vinified in barrel, none new.
Wide, very faintly spicy. After the rather tight nose, here is a super-silky wine with growing intensity and good structure. Some mineral aspects and a fine mid-palate intensity – very nice. Big in the finish. Fine and long. Very lovely wine…
60-85 year-old vines, all in the village of Pouilly. 5 parcels that are a mix of higher and lower altitude. 100% in barrel fermentation, 20% new.
A ‘wow’ nose, deep and ripe not a hint fat despite the richness. Opulent fruit but perfectly balanced acidity and fainter minerality – beautiful texture – bravo! Layers and waves of fine flavour.