Tasted with Antonin Pillot in Chassagne-Montrachet, 11 October 2023.
Domaine Jean-Marc Pillot
Le Haut des Champs
21190 Chassagne-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 39 95
jeanmarc-pillot.com
More reports for Domaine Jean-Marc Pillot.
Antonin on 2023:
“Lovely white grapes – the reds were beginning to turn borderline with some rot and shrivelled grapes – yet not too much alcohol. So it was heterogenous in the reds – we triaged quite a lot – around 15% – but the volume of grapes this year allowed that whilst still retaining a good volume. The heat of early September really added degrees very quickly. One week later a lot in the Côte de Nuits were about 14°, we had 13 and were happy with that level.”
Antonin on 2022:
“We started harvesting 25 August, so like all vintages with this timing they have some extra richness but the balance remains very good – better than we could have hoped. An average of a bit more than 40 hl/ha for the whites – the reds a little less – but that’s a nice improvement versus 2021! Some of our older chardonnays were closer to 30 hl/ha but that’s still a good volume. Some wines are still in barrel but most have already been assembled into to tank for their second winter. The wines we are looking at, both colours, are all samples – there’s been no bottling yet. As for the bottling, maybe the regionals will be done in January but for the rest we are looking at April for bottling.”
The wines…
Reds and whites – a super showing from the domaine in 2022 – a few wines worth searching for too !!
And seals? “DIAM for some – Côte Chalonnaise and the Bourgognes – the rest is cork. Sometimes some of the villages also get the last of the DIAMs but hardly 5% of the total. We pay a lot more these days for the best corks and a little thicker too – 25mm wide, 49mm long.”
2022 Bourgogne Chardonnay Les Hautes de Champs
Not a wide nose but one with a pretty yellow citrus. Supple wine – wide, with plenty of material – starting with a little fat but melting with fresh flavour over the palate. Mouth-watering in the finish – lots of flavour interest here – this is a very good Bourgogne.
2022 Puligny-Montrachet Les Noyers Bret
Hmm – extra aromatic freshness with plenty of depth – this is lovely. Yes! Flighty, open, energetic – not the extra fat of the Bourgogne – this is a fine villages – still showing its oak a little today but by the time it’s bottled it will be much less. The finish is a strong one here – a little sweet today but so impressively flavourful. Lovely wine!
2022 Chassgne-Montrachet
6 parcels combined into this.
A wider nose, a hint of nut and minerality. More saline and an extra complexity and energy combined. Another wine with impressive finishing intensity – lovely finishing and less sweet than the Puligny – it’s finer – this is excellent.
2022 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Macherelles
This was the first test plot that was put in organic by Antonin – the results were so good – the rest of the domaine is now in conversion.
Again there’s aromatic width but here there’s more weight to the aroma. Vibrant – I love this energy – there’s concentration and weight to this flavour but impeccably balanced. Also vibrant finishing with citrus skin complexity – I love this energy a lovely wine.
2022 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er La Maltroie
A more complete nose with fine high tones to augment the width. Beautifully silky and with fine intensity – there’s indeed another step in class for this wine – simply excellent – knocking on the door of being a great 1er – lovely finishing!
Narrower but also deeper – here with a floral extra in the aroma. Ooh – extra mineral – direct and mouth-watering. Fading – at least narrowing – faster than some of the previous wines but then tenaciously holding onto a fine finish – delicious wine – I think a great one!
2022 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Champs-Gain
More breadth again this time with emphasis on the largely yellow citrus aromatics. Structurally more shapely and even with a rub of tannin showing – the citrus bitters are more evident here. A subtle austerity vs the last which bodes well for the future.
2022 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Morgeot Fairendes
Less aromatic volume but still a fine and with a tiny hint of reduction too. Hmm – a wine that wells up with flavour – discrete to start and then broad and mouth-watering in the middle and finish. Some oak sweetness is visible today but that will lessen. Broad, impressively holding in the finish. That’s going to be a beauty!
2022 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Chenevottes
A nose that’s wide and mineral – here’s an invitation! Yes! – I love this in the mouth – mineral, muscular but it’s lithe, athletic, muscle. A small chalky finishing texture too – I love it!
2022 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Vergers
‘Only 2 metres away but such a difference…’ Planted after the war – so about 70 years old.
Here the aromas are more white flowers than citrus. Wide, mineral again – already more relaxed starting than the Chenevottes – silky in the middle with fine flavour density. Wide finishing waves of flavour – again with a subtle finishing texture – slightly tannic. I love again!
6 barrels in 2022 after only one in 2021.
A nose with the freshness and accents of classic Caillerets – it’s a beauty. Wonderful – a waterfall of juicy flavour – structured but not a bit austere. Broad in the finish. A wine that you should wait for but with great anticipation – classic Caillerets – bravo!
From vines within Vergers that were planted in 1910 – 40 ouvrées, actually the climat is Pitangeret. On lees since the harvest.
A great nose, almost subty reductive and mineral – yes! So fluid – melting, accommodating but still with intensity and interest – the best so far – bravo – what a wine!
Les Reds:
A mix of Santenay and Chassagne and about 10% from the Côte de Nuits
Plenty of colour. A jaminess of fruit but with freshness – not a hint over-ripe. Fresh, great attack, a subtle tannin but it’s a drag on the texture not a grain. Wait 12 months – super delicious, great Bourgogne!
2022 Santenay Champs Claude
The parcel touches Chassagne, Claude Muzard and Pierre-Yves Colin also have vines here.
More subdued but these are still wider aromas. More composed and concentrated – there’s lovely depth to this flavour – very faintly grained and with a fine mouth-watering finish. A lovely wine which I’d also wait for to allow its arms of flavour to unfold and show more.
Usually from about 2.5 hectares of vines in three parcels, parcels mainly planted by father and grandfather so vines of at least 45 years average age. In this vintage there’s only about 1 hectare worth!
Dark berries on this nose – finely presented. Mouth-filling but not fat – framed with a suggestion of tannin but juicily finish – that’s a super wine – more than excellent villages – Bravo!
2022 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Macherelles
The domaine has a little white here too – but there’s more red.
More depth and ripeness but with no excess – also with a suggestion of licorice – super. Here the architecture is more overt – but the juicy complexity too – I love it! Keep it 5 years and then enjoy – assuming it remains open.
2022 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Morgeot Fairendes
A deeper nose with a hint of extra roast fruit complexity. Hmm – this has fine, sweeping, flavours. Darker fruit also juicy – perhaps an extra class across the palate too.
2022 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos St.Jean
Like the Fairendes there’s just a hint of extra-ripe to the depth of this fruit but nicely airy style above. Mouth-filling and simply beautiful over the palate – refreshing, fine energy, a wine to refresh your hear – just a nose short of greatness today!