Tasted with Stéphanie Colinot in Villy, 11 May 2021.
Domaine Stéphanie Colinot
1 Rue St.Etienne
89800 Villy
Tel: +33 6 81 27 08 32
www.stephanie-colinot.fr
Stéphanie comes from a family domaine in Irancy where she helped to make the wine for 16 years with her parents. She decided to set up her own operation in 2017 after the relationships there became more complicated.
She has started with 3.2 hectares of family vines – now up to 3.7 – as the basis for this new adventure with more plantations in the planning. This was no easy start as all the equipment for her first vinifications needed to be purchased – but here she is and her first wines come from the 2018 vintage.
She has a new cuvérie in the Chablisienne village of Villy – which comes as no surprise as it’s the home to her husband’s domaine – Jean-Paul Durup – and it’s clear that she’s happy to bring a little red wine into this Chablis village!
Stéphanie has a negociant licence to make some ‘fruity’ wines – “Irancy is my locomotive but I’ve also a range of reds from Auxerre such as Epineuil, Coulanges and Bourgogne Côte d’Auxerre as contracts.” Today, we will concentrate on her range of Irancy. All are hand-picked and destemmed. In 2021 about half a hectare will have almost nothing to pick but the rest was less affected than the chardonnays of Chablis.
France is the main market – cavistes – but there are an increasing number of export markets too.
The wines…
The 2020s here hold a glossy style, if unfinished. The 2018s are delicious and serious in impressively equal measure. The 2019s just hit the sweetspot – energy, freshness but sophisticated despite their concentration. They are beauties!
We started with a tour of the tanks for Stéphanie’s 2020 vintage which will be bottled between July and the end of August. “It’s a grandiose vintage,” says Stéphanie. “We saw some slower malos this vintage but I think it will be very great. It was a sunny vintage, similar to 2018, but more concentrated as there was less volume of fruit to pick:”
2020 Irancy La Comme
From the bottom of the Mazelots hill, and further below Comme is Paradis. It’s mainly young vines but a large parcel with a little césar in the mix.
Plenty of colour – lots of aromatic freshness too. There’s some pyrazine style to this but also a growing floral perfume. Supple, concentrated with plenty of sweetness but an acid energy too – juicy but with plenty of structure. Lots of finishing energy and real depth to the flavour.
2020 Irancy Cailles
From the Vincelottes side of the border, white, stony soil, not a lot of césar here. ‘Not frosted this year – a miracle.’
Wow – colour! Here’s a nose that’s not yet finished as there are still some hints of the malo. Really mouth-filling and stylish wine though.
2020 Irancy Côte du Moutier
Some tanks from here came in with 14.5° natural in this vintage but also with only 23 hl/ha. Here is the hill that faces Mazelots, overlooking the village, this vineyard has about 6% césar in the plantation.
A vibrant nose, mineral and pyrazine here – like the first wine slowly growing with a floral perfume – the nose slightly more ready than the last. Concentrated but with freshness, plenty of sweetness – succulent flavour – that’s really impressive – such potential…
2020 Irancy La cerise sur le coteau
The assembly cuvée here, again malo not quite done
This is more sweeping with lots of direct energy but still deep and complex too – that’s a completely delicious finish. Super wine.
The 2019s:
These were bottled in July 2020 – that’s normal for here – though 2018 is still the main commercial vintage. “2019 was a bizarre year from the perspective of weather – average – not the strong maturity of the vintages on either side. More a red fruit vintage than the darker fruits in 2018 and 2020.”
2019 Irancy La Comme
All tank elevage.
Lots of colour. Hmm – that’s a deliciously inviting nose – a little dark cherry acidity and sweetness is the impression. Very silky, depth of flavour. A lick of tannin but hardly any grain – that’s completely excellent and completely delicious too.
2019 Irancy Cailles
Ooh – that’s nice – rounder and nicely complex – growing with a lovely perfume. Mouth-filling – complex, subtly structured – the structure is a little more present in the finish – complex and I like very much the clarity of flavour here. Again, completely excellent wine.
2019 Irancy Côte du Moutier
Lots of depth to this nose – a little tighter higher up – but it slowly opens more with air. Wide – more mineral, lovely freshness, succulent again I love this!
A look at the 2018s from half bottles…
2018 Irancy La Comme
A big, broad, nose. Complex, lots of dried fruit – raisin de Corinth – slowly mouth-watering. That’s an excellent wine.
2018 Irancy Cailles
Extra freshness – dark fruit again – complex again. A very silky start, growing a more vibrant and fresh from a more structural depth. Slowly, slowly lingering flavour.
2018 Irancy Côte du Moutier
Fresher again – a deeper nose here. Supple, yet with such concentration. Tannic, mineral but the last flavours leach from the structure with a purity that holds the attention. A long slow diminuendo – love that subtly excellent finish…