Bernard Moreau – 2015

7.11.2016billn

dsc01625Tasted in Chassagne-Montrachet with Alex Moreau, 02 November, 2016.

Domaine Bernard Moreau et Fils
21 Route de Santenay
21190 Chassagne-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 33 70

Alex on 2016:
“Well, my father told me that he never saw a frost like it. We lost about 65-70% of our normal volume, we had no Chenevottes and no Champs Gain cuvées – just a few cases of grapes that we tipped into the villages cuvée. The problem is that the prices are really bad for the market…”

Alex on 2015:
“I’m always worried about warm vintages as the wines always seem the same to start with, but here they are now all very different so I’m happy! I think 15 is maybe even better in white, than in red. We had the grapes but not the juice in 2015! It was actually a little stressful, because I want wines with freshness, I was so anxious that we brought the harvest forward to end of August – I’m very happy that we did that. Now we have freshness and not too much alcohol – highest degrees in Chenevottes with 13.1°. During elevage I thought the wines very balanced but there’s really a big difference between the start vs now in their elevage. I’m happy that its a good vintage, indeed a very good vintage for white and red. Blacker fruit in 15 vs 14 but that’s just a character difference, not a quality difference.”

The wines…

Two bottled so far, one white, one red.

Such a great address for 2015s; balance and massive differences between each and every wine!

2015 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
A collection of parcels from the commune, 100% fermented in barrel but 5-6 yo barrels. Rapid malo, so decided to bottle before the harvest without fining or filtration – as usual.
A vibrant and attractive nose. Some richness of texture and flavour – this is very 15 with some gas to help it along its way. Chunky black-shaded fruit, mouth-watering and with bravo concentration for the label. Despite the modest extraction done at this domaine, this is a big wine!

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles-Vignes
Assembled, now in tank, racked 2 days ago, just a little sulfur. 5 parcels here.
Tighter, deeper, spicier. Ripples of flavour spreading out. Dark flavours, spicy again, licorice, faint tannin in the end of the mid-palate. Serious but not too serious, lip-smacking flavour. A bruiser in a smart suit….

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er La Cardeuse
Racked from barrel two weeks ago.
Again a very dark nose, a suggestion of barrel and darkly spiced fruit. Really a step-up in complexity – just so much energy here – wow! A wine that you should certainly wait for, but this will be like bottling an explosion. Ouf!

Les Blancs…
Everything assembled and waiting. The 1ers were just assembled before the harvest, remaining on their fine lees.

2015 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Bottled at the end of August. All from the commune of Chassagne, no declassified chassagne, all old barrel elevage.
Wide, rich-fruited with perhaps a cooler side but not obviously fresh. Big on the mouth, but a surprise after the nose – gorgeous acidity that sustains a super volume of flavour. This is excellent!

2015 St.Aubin 1er Sous Roche Dumay
Assembled and fined.
A fresher line of citrus aroma, slightly cushioned. Lovely textured with a layered delivery of flavour, slightly gassy, less slight oak, but nothing over the top. A wide and impressive finish – really lovely wine here.

2015 St.Aubin 1er En Remilly
Ooh – that’s nice! Transparent, just a suggestion a reduction, of agrumes and minerality – really a beauty. Some reduction here in the flavours, but bright and complex with lots of energy. A burst of fireworks in the mid-palate, before finishing well. Super wine!
2014 Chassagne-Montrachet
The big cuvee of the domaine – 40-45% of production in 2015. Parcels all around Chassagne, many neighbouring the 1ers and 70% from the Puligny side of the village. Assembled as must, with only one bottling.
A cushioned nose, faintly saline. Fresh enough in the mouth, slightly floral flavour, really a super extra flavour on the mid-palate – here it’s really, really lovely.
2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos St.Jean
An attractive suggestion of reduction. Beautiful layers of fresh, silkily textured flavour. Faint reduction and really super persistence – bravo – excellent wine!
2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Vergers
More classic herb, faintly citrus nose too. A fine and intense line of flavour. Super, long, an autobahn of flavour. Tres yum! I love!

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Champs Gain
Also a more classic Chassagne nose of herbal complexity. Bigger shape, more volume, nicely complex and mouth-watering. The subtlest hint of reduction – really this mostly shows its class in the finish, lingering and mouth-watering. Super stuff.

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Chenevottes
This vineyard can quickly reach over ripeness, so it’s harvested relatively early.
A fine nose, really of very modest volume, but slowly adding some citrus dimension. Wow, in the mouth this is really very mineral, and with an understated but growing complexity. Mouth-watering, some florals, really top wine, and with a suggestion of finishing tannin too – bravo!

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er La Maltroye
‘This wine is always a mix if intensity and directness’ says Alex. 3 different parcels in Maltroye, with vine ages of 25, 40 and 55.
A tighter nose but with some attractive agrume reduction. A character almost halfway between the last 2 wines. Mineral but with a certain fresh fleshiness. This is very attractive and certainly the one to drink today – lovely stuff. And really long too.

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Morgeot
From 2 parcels in the 60 hectare Morgeot – La Cardeuse and Farendes.
Freshness on the nose, slowly, slowly adding more weight of fruit. Big, powerful, layered and fresh, really super energy and very fine balance. This is based not just in weight of flavour but minerality too. This is just a great wine – encore bravo! And then a pop of flowers in the finish too!
2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Caillerets
Some volume and plenty of fresh aromatic complexity. Very fresh and mineral, fine textured too. This is another wine of line, but with more melting flavour. Spreading out wide after swallowing. I don’t think that you can ever be disappointed by this wine…

2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Grandes Ruchottes
75-year-old vines, ‘Not affected at all by the dryness of the vintage…’
An attractive line of reductive agrumes. Very wide, super fresh complexity, certainly mineral, really a wine of both energy yet precision. Slowly lingering, less wide in the finish after Caillerets, but more action to start…

Unfortunately the Bâtard had just been racked, but there was still Chevalier…

2014 Chevalier-Montrachet
Ooh! Reductive agrumes, minerals, and an impressive depth too, if less-so width. A vibrant wine, of width, of complexity and allround open, givingness! Wow wine! There’s no other way to look at it – a great range in this cellar in 2015.

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

There is one response to “Bernard Moreau – 2015”

  1. dansamsoe21st November 2016 at 2:58 pmPermalinkReply

    Those 2015s sound very attractive… 🙂

    • billn21st November 2016 at 3:06 pmPermalinkReply

      Indeed, and one of the bourgognes to buy a couple of cases of!

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