Tasted in Chassagne-Montrachet, with Sabine Mollard, 03 June 2016.

Domaine Marc Morey Fils
3 Rue Charles Paquelin
21190 Chassagne-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 30 11
http://domaine.marc-morey.over-blog.com/

Domaine Marc Morey is a family operation begun in Chassagne-Montrachet by Fernand Morey in 1919. Marc Morey was the son of Fernand, who began to work at the domaine in 1944. Today the domaine exploits about 9 hectares, almost exclusively in the commune of Chassagne-Montrachet – this 9 hectares includes a little aligoté and 1 hectare of pinot noir. Sabine Mollard is the family member responsible today.

Sabine: “Marc Morey was my grandfather and the domaine came through to me on the maternal side. I’m the 4th generation of the family at the domaine, my first vintage was 2003 – actually just in time for the 2003 harvest.” – Sabine tells me that she prefers the wines after 3-4 years of aging, and really loves vintages like 2002 and 2010.

I asked about her 2016 so-far, “We have lost about 70% of the harvest to the frost this year. The flowering is not yet underway so it looks like a late September harvest for the un-frosted parts – perhaps 2-3 weeks later for the second growth – though only if it has the chance to mature.” The team here do the harvest in about 5 days – all lodged at the domaine.

The particularity of this domaine is that they, in effect, have the monopoly of the Chassagne 1er Cru En Virondot. This is the highest altitude of the Chassagne 1ers, almost in the woods above the town. After phylloxera some parts hadn’t been replanted, so Sabine’s father, Bernard Mollard, bought up the remaining parcels and replanted them. I say a monopoly ‘in effect’ because the domaine owns only 2 of the 2.1 hectares of the climat. There is a small parcel, right in the middle of the climat with another owner who doesn’t want to sell – and he’s been asked 100s of times! BUT this domaine does all the work and bottles all the wine, buying the grapes from the 0.1 hectare part, so you won’t find another label. “It’s a wine that needs longer aging than the others” says Sabine.

The wine…

I found the lower appellation wines here ‘okay’ but the 1er Crus were sometimes really excellent!

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Virondot
Bright, aromatically green-fruited. Big, round and powerful. Long too. I’d like more acidity, but this is far from a wine to avoid.

2014 Bourgogne
From 3 parcels, 2 in the commune of Chassagne, one in the Hautes Côtes that is bought.
Big, direct nose. Big in the mouth too. Intense, really rich, but tasty wine.

2014 Aligoté
More herby, green-fruit aromas too. Actually this tastes pretty good – more-so than the nose suggests. A nicer shape and freshness if not concentration vs the Bourgogne.

2014 St.Aubin 1er Le Charmois
Fresh, lots of aromatic concentration, a little herby note too. A nice intensity, silky texture, like the others, there’s good intensity here. Quite good…

2014 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er En Virondot
Quite a pretty nose, some citrus. More mineral in the mouth, some oak flavour too, but this is fresh and with very fine acidity. A super finish. A bit less fun at the start, but as noted, super in the finish.

2012 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Morgeot (Rouge)
Wide, brambly, with a growing, beautifully floral-inflected fruit – a super nose. Round but fresh, growing fresh intensity too that makes this nicely mouth-watering. Just a little dryness of tannin. Quite good overall – but it smells absolutely super though…