Tasted with Pierre Meurgey at the Château de Bligny, 15 May 2023.
Maison Pierre Meurgey-Croses
Château de Bligny
14 Grande rue
21200 Bligny-lès-Beaune
Tel. +33 98 18 32 9 04
www.pierremeurgey.com
More reports on Meurgey-Croses.
Pierre on 2021:
“2021 was a very small harvest – often one-third of the normal volume of grapes – but on some occasions we got more than usual as there wasn’t enough for multiple buyers. No whites from Côte d’Or, not just because of the low volumes but I also wasn’t prepared to buy wine in must as I had no influence on what would be coming into the cellar. I finished harvesting the 29th September in the Hautes Côtes. I would say that the wines have a traditional style with maturities that are less extreme than some of the other recent vintages – the terroirs are very visible and I see a transparency to these aromas – the grapes were in good shape with very little botrytis – only the stems lacked some maturity so I decided to destem everything. There was a little oïdium but after triage it was pretty much absent – we triaged both the reds and whites before the press.”
The wines…
Mainly it was the reds that were left at the domaine – but a few whites could also be tasted. A very good result of clean wines with zippy flavours – in particular, the Volnay is a beauty – yum!
All the bottlings have been done – the whites in December and the reds in March:
2021 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits
From near Arcenant/Chevannes – not much soil here – it was totally dry in 2020.
Rather perfumed red fruit. Supple, quite generous and like the nose the flavours are very perfumed – that’s a simply excellent Bourgogne – and of concentration too. Very fine finishing too!
2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Balliards
Organically certified (AB) grapes. From the bottom of Savigny.
An extra freshness here – more red fruit, less perfume. I like the structure here – more incisive, not a bit herbed – give it 12 months and then enjoy…
Next to Carelles in central Volnay on some deep soil – near Famines. Old vines with small grapes – harvested by Pierre’s team. Almost no damage here from the frost – more volume than in the dryness of 2020.
Lovely: pure, very attractive floral-accented red fruit – a beautiful Volnay. Direct, sweet and refreshing. A hint of finishing structure but that’s a beautiful wine – delicious and with some proper structure – simply excellent – almost great villages!
2021 Pommard 1er Grands Epenots
All destemmed in this case.
Deep, less width but with more aromatic silk – lovely. Hmm – mobile delicious energy, so mouth-watering. There’s plenty of depth to this flavour too. Broad waves of finishing flavour. Proper 1er cru and very lovely!
2021 Côte de Nuits Villages, Aux Montagne
Also certified organic grapes. Hillside vines on a very draining soil. Kept some of the whole clusters – always an early harvesting place.
A tiny reduction darkens the fruit a little. Visible in the flavours too – so carafe in the medium-term – but this has some joy to the flavours that adhere to the palate – always with a fine mouth-watering style – lots of attractive darker-fruit character here – yum!
2021 Nuits St.Georges Les Chaillots
Below Les St Georges – second vintage here – from vines over 50 years old.
Very attractive again – faintly spiced – similar to the CDNV, the oak spice perhaps. Extra breadth to this flavour perspective – a faint support of tannin though with hardly any grain. The finish is of juicy red fruit – quite concentrated and long-lasting – an attractively fresh finishing generosity. Delicious wine!
Les Whites:
“There was some Pouilly-Fuissé – but not enough – it’s all gone…”
2021 Mâcon-Uchizy
Bottled April-22 all tank elevage
A fresh width/whiff of nicely citrus energy. In the mouth, despite some mouth-filling generosity, there’s a juicy energy. This wine is never fat, indeed it’s also very, very tasty.
2021 Viré-Clessé Vieilles-Vignes
’35 hl/ha so there was frost here – this is low for the region.’ Vinified in older large-format barrels. Bottled in June.
More depth and width to this ripe but fresh citrus fruit – quite yellow citrus in style. Another wine of generosity yet energy too – round and mouth-filling yet also vibrantly finishing with a small saline accent. I slightly prefer the shape of the previous but this is yet another delicious wine.
2021 Saint Véran
From (mainly) Leynes… ‘Less frost but hail here – there were no presents in 2021!’
Yellow citrus again but more direct and mineral–accented with flashes of pretty florals too. More direct and intense – juicy again – more pineapple style to this fruit but the shape and vigour of this wine is infectious and the finish is an impressive peak of flavour too. Delicious wine – again!