Tasted in Préhy with Laurent Ternynck and Stéphane Sallet, 10 January 2019.
Domaine de Mauperthuis
3, Grande rue de Chablis
89800 Préhy
Tel: +33 3 86 41 42 70
www.domaine-marronniers.com
Laurent and Stéphane on 2018:
“2018 brought quantity and quality – all is natural yeasts here, and when you look at the analytics, it’s pretty much exactly as you would wish – but it’s too early to say if the wines will be fruity or mineral! Reds and whites with degrees that we’ve never seen – some places could easily have done 15°. It was a vintage that didn’t start particularly impressively but then the dryness was perfect for keeping the maladies at bay. The amount of juice was clearly a surprise in the whites.”
Laurent and Stéphane on 2017:
“We have delayed selling the last of the 2015s and prolonged a little the elevage of the 2016s as that vintage is short, 16 hl/ha average here in 2016. We have something closer to a normal yield in 2017, it was the frost in Beines (Maupertuis) that was the biggest hit. Fortunately we pruned late so that limited some of the damage. Although 2017 was a bit better than in 2016 both vintages together are almost a normal single vintage so it was a much inferior volume versus 2018.”
The wines…
The team didn’t let me down here – always something new – an off-the-wall idea (or three!) that just happens to work. Always wines of character, sometimes great wines too! I love the Maupertuis Irancy Palotte – 2017 was a great year for the césar – when it’s ripe it’s special, and so this year it’s special.
First some reds, all of which – bar one – have been bottled:
2017 Maupertuis, Bourgogne Les Brûlis
No pigeage, a couple of remontages per day but not long.
Ooh that’s a big, perfumed nose, in-built with a little caramel. Bright, fresh, open – a little rigour – but, layered and tasty. Holds tastily in the finish.
2017 Maupertuis, Bourgogne Pinot Noir Grand Reserve
The only wine not yet bottled, all barrel, plenty new and with multiple coopers – ‘More looking to the Loire than St.Romain for the barrels – both say yes when I say what I want, but only one of them does it!’
Deeper coloured, very perfumed, not obviously pinot today – to me – but that’s the barrels speaking, though it’s still very inviting. Round, supple, lovely concentration – a brightness of fruit, coated with plenty of oak – but to very tasty effect. A super finish. Excellent wine.
2017 Maupertuis, Irancy
Multiple parcels blended here. ‘No frost fur us – it’s really the bottom of the slopes in the village that get hit.’ Same elevage as the PN Grand Reserve. About 5% césar.
Modest colour. Fresher nose – some spice complexity and faint herb. Nice shape in the mouth, a little spiced for sure, layered, tasty wine. A fine grain of tannin in the finish. Delicious, not overtly a wine of Irancy for me but again the barrels are speaking loudly at this stage. Another delicious finish.
2017 Maupertuis, Irancy Mazelots
All Pinot, south-facing
A little more colour – not much – 15% months of elevage with 15% new oak. A fresher nose – some rather attractive herb complexity too. There is structure here, energy too. The flavour is lean but muscled – attractively tasty. This is excellent but needs just a bit of patience.
Lots more colour – that’s the césar. 12 months of elevage in barrel but none new.
Bright fresh, a certain aromatic phenolic. Hmm, fine texture, complex, darker fruited. A base of very fine tannin but not astringent – like a wine from a different vintage – long! Bravo!
2017 Maupertuis, Bourgogne Pinot Noir Cuvée Amphore
Made in amphore – 12 months on skins then vertical press into old (10 years) barrels before decanting. From hillside in Côte d’Auxerre – direction Beines – in aoc since 1989, not filtering, no sulfur.
Lesser colour. Hmm – a nice width, nicely textured, darker red fruit. Ooh that surprises in the mouth with its volume, framed by some tannin but only modestly with astringency. Big finishing, deliciously finishing. Long. This is excellent.
Grapes of césar that have been macerated in pinot noir and semi-carbonic fermented – about 50-50 pinot-cesar.
No surprise – a little more colour. A more complex nose – some rhubarb leaf maybe but also a mélange of dried fruit – this is still inviting. In the mouth much fuller, plenty of tannin again – indeed more but less astringent. I’m minded to swallow this – it’s more than lovely. Bravo – another wine that showcases how good the césar was in 2017!
Les blancs…
Some of the whites are sealed with DIAM here – and almost all of those DIAM-sealed wines have an aromatic tightness and suggestion of aromatic reduction – a little too much sulfur at bottling perhaps? It won’t be a problem once the wines are a year old, but aromatically they are less interesting at this stage.
2017 Maupertuis, Bourgogne Chardonnay Les Truffièrre
Hmm, round, ripe-fruited, oaked, but silky and fine. Quite fresh in the mouth vs the nose. Long, ripe fruited, tasty wine – but individual.
2017 Maupertuis, Bourgogne Chardonnay Renouel
Because Irancy blanc isn’t allowed! Above Paradis – 64 year-old vines – all old barrel elevage. Bottled 3 weeks.
Deep, also round, ripe fruit. Nice volume, more freshness, sweet, seemingly lots of oak in the background. Nice line, lovely flavour – always a little round because of the oak. An interesting lick of tannin in the finish.
2017 Maupertuis, Bourgogne Chardonnay La Grande Reserve
12 months in barrel.
More bright freshness to this nose. Also in the mouth there’s more line and more clarity to the wine – plenty of finishing complexity – even a little salinity. This is lovely – almost lime-fruited in the finish.
Now Domaine des Marronniers:
2017 Marronniers, Petit Chablis
A 5 hectare parcel called Temps Perdu. Youngest plantation of the domaine – about 15 years old – behind the buildings of JM Brocard. With DIAM.
A tiny reduction, some herb – not a hyper-attractive invitation. Hmm – this is lovely in the mouth, fine textured, mobile, not overly energetic but really delicious.
2017 Marronniers, Chablis
Courgis and Prehy some Beines too – 90% Courgis – about 10 hectares worth, all tank elevage, on lees without sulfur. Also DIAM.
A little saline, a nose that’s little more open than the PC – a little. More volume more clarity – almost a tannin at the base, freshly mobile flavour – quite ripe fruit impression. A Chablis that’s more fruit than mineral. Very tasty and good length too.
2017 Marronniers, Chablis Les Malantes Vieilles-Vignes
A parcel near the Brocard winery. Elevage in foudres – the oldest vines of Marronniers planted in 1976. Cork, bottled about November.
A wider nose, more vibrant – speaking of minerality. Lots of energy here – open, delicious this is excellent Chablis.
2017 Marronniers, Chablis 1er Côte de Jouan
Elevage and fermentation in barrel. They say that this needs more time to open than the Montmains.
A family nose – this has a ripe core of fruit surrounded by freshness. Ooh – ! This is super in the mouth – energy, complexity, you would hardly know that there was oak – intensity too. Delicious. A golden-fruited wine but such an excellent wine!
2017 Marronniers, Chablis 1er Montmains
2.5 ha but all in Butteaux. All tank elevage.
Hmm, a bit of swirling is required, but here is a vibrant nose, mineral – such an invitation. Direct, almost a little rigour to this wine – ripe fruit but very fresh, here with some power for sure. Give me this nose and the palate of the last wine for greatness, but this is still more than very good!
2017 Marronniers, Chablis Valmur
Bought grapes – in the middle of Valmur on the east side toward Clos. Fermentation and elevage in larger barrels but none new.
A little more weight of aroma – ripe fruit – the golden style of fruit of many/most wines here. Lots of volume, slowly melting with flavour – there is a lot here – I’m just looking for a little more structure to tie everything together today – all is tasty/delicious but I’m looking for the extra. The finish is without doubt great!