Profile: Monthelie Douhairet Porcheret

26.12.2018billn

Tasted in Monthelie with Cataldina Lippo, 14 November 2018.

Domaine Monthelie Douhairet Porcheret
1 Rue Cadette
21190 Monthelie
Tel: +33 6 26 05 33 65
www.domainemontheliedouhairet.com

I first tasted these wines during the Grands Jours de Bourgogne earlier this year – they were the most impressive set of wines that I tasted from any new name, so, of-course, I had to visit!

It’s a 6.5 ha domaine making 13 different appellations, about 70% by volume being red wine. Red and white. Cataldina Lippo and her husband Vincent Monfort have been responsible here since 2014 – Cataldina is André Porcheret’s grand-daughter, she’s started working here with her grand-father in 2004. Ii’s now part of the folk-lore of this domaine that in 1989, Mademoiselle Douhairet asked the renowned winemaker of the Hospices de Beaune and Domaine Leroy, André Porcheret, to take charge of the winemaking, and they liked the results so much that they added his name to the domaine!

In the vines, Cataldina says that “We choose no particular label for our approach, except the well-know Haut Valeur Environmental.” The domaine has lots of professional and private clients in France, but the export is growing – currently it’s approaching 60%.

Cataldina on 2018:
2018 was a perfect year – such a lot of rain at the start of the year so it wasn’t easy to treat and prune during that time of the year but afterwards it was very easy, right up to the harvest. We work all our souls. In the end, it was the harvest date that was hardest thing to choose – we began 1st September vs 3rd September in 2017 – we have lots of old vines here, and they suffered less in the the drought.

Cataldina on 2017:
2017 – a vintage that came after a terrible run – such black vintages – were here in the heart of the hail, the frost and the storms. This vintage brought back some happiness. After that it was important not to fall into excess so we did some green harvesting – high yields wouldn’t be pardoned.

The wines…

Wines as I remember them, delicate and elegant yet with no lack of interest or depth – an address that you should know!

The red bottling will probably begin in mid-December. We have the space so are not rushed, there are no rules, it’s really based on how the wines are tasting – to compare, our 2013s were bottled just before harvest – but after 2 years! We were waiting for the tannins to soften – but 15-18 months would be a rough average.

2017 Monthelie ‘Miss Armande’
Armande Duhairet was an early owner of the domaine. There is also for white with the same name. All destemmed. Vines in a combe, a colder place here
Plenty of colour. Silk, some depth, dark red fruit. Round – beautiful depth, with a fine texture. Real concentration of flavour in the middle. Faint bitters, long – a great start.

2017 Monthelie Monopole Clos Meix Garnier
A 1.5 ha clos. ‘Normally a more structured wine’
Brighter, a more precise nose – very attractive. Sleek, a little floral, more energy – such a great villages wine – bravo! Mouth-watering.

2017 Monthelie 1er le Meix Bataille
On the volnay side near clos des Chenes
Fresh and energetic nose – nice. Supple – more width and depth over the palate – a small increase in the structure and tannin – but remains almost without grain. A wide panorama of flavour, mouth-watering in the finish and long with a little salinity and bitters. Excellent – though I have a slight preference for the delicacy Clos Meix Garnier.

2017 Volnay 1er Champans
One parcel but long rows from the bottom to the top – about 300m – in the middle, the neighbours are Hospices de Beaune, one of the Bouzereau and d’Angerville
Hmm – fresh, pure, and with a certain presence. Hmm, here is both depth and growing concentration of very fine flavour. Touched by faint tannin at the end of the palate, this is an absolutely delicious wine. Beautifully crafted and slowly lingering – bravo!

2017 Pommard 1er Les Chanlins
On the Volnay side, a ‘softer’ Pommard vs the Beaune side. ‘The core of Pommard but with the elegance of Volnay’
Deeper, very faint reduction, trying to offer some faint floral notes. Fresh and wide, yes a slight touch of reduction but this is open and very accommodating wine with a very pure style – delicious clarity here. Excellent. Just a touch of tannin in the finish.

A couple of bottled 2016s:

2016 Monthelie ‘Miss Armande’
Not a big nose but one that’s round and has a little spice. Good presence and very fine texture, framed with a suggestion of, but no grain of, tannin. Darker fruit on entry and long and open armed in the finish – flavour carried with aplomb and a faint salinity – very long. Very nice…

2016 Monthelie Monopole Clos Meix Garnier
A little higher toned and a touch more freshness, slowly opening out with some attractive floral parts. Bright, fresh, great energy – a wine with lots of scale and mouth-watering flavour. Not a wine of impact today – less than the Armand – but very many small precisions. Elegant and very pretty…

Les blancs:
DIAM for the Bourgogne all the rest use cork.

2017 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Bought grapes – from Mâcon – “We lack an ‘entry wine’ here At the domaine but I like the aromatic profile of the wines from here.”
A saline, ripe and inviting nose. Modest volume but nicely mineral and with a good energy. Tasty in the middle and with a nice shape – mouth-watering in the same style as the domaine’s other wines excellent.

2017 Givry Blanc
Also from bought grapes
A bigger nose, plenty of freshness with a core of riper white-fleshed fruit, slowly becoming quite perfumed in the glass. The entry is fresh and with good impact, nicely sinuous – maybe the Monthelie yeasts have helped this, I find it really rather excellent. A great finish too, almost touched with tannin. Excellent white, great Givry white!
2017 Monthelie Blanc ‘Miss Armande’
An old-vine cuvée
Directly more purity and a sweet, mineral depth – yes! Mmm – melting over the palate, pure, lithe but with more than enough freshness – this is completely delicious. Layered tasty flavour in the finish. Great wine!

2017 Monthelie 1er Les Duresses
Planted in red and white here – red not tasted.
A little toast here ‘yes the elevage is always more marked on this cuvée/terroir – but it’s exactly the same as for the other wines’ – but deep and with a herby, mineral base – very pure again. Directly a mineral style – a wine with width and fine, mobile, complexity – always changing. Toasty depth of flavour too – for that reason I’d hold off drinking this for a time and take the directly delicious ‘Miss Armand’ – such a lovely finish here though with a modest floral element!

2017 Meursault Le Pre de Manche
Very classic and nicely fresh Meursault nose. A wine more of a width than depth that plays nicely over the palate – mineral, a little saline – contemplative despite its freshness. Modest depth but very tasty wine and certainly Meursault – Lovely…

2017 Meursault 1er Santenots
Hmm – not full power but a nice aromatic energy here – good freshness. Hmm (again), nice depth of concentration here – definitely another level, depth of fine texture and a lithe slightly (lean) muscled impression – delicious finishing complexity. Lovely again – and with a super finish.

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