Tasted in Chassagne-Montrachet with Caroline Colin-Morey, 20 October 2016.
Domaine Caroline Colin-Morey
4 Rue de la Murée
21190 Chassagne-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 90 10
Caroline still works with the customers of her father (Jean-Marc Morey), but says that it would be nice to open some new markets too as it’s an aging client base. The vines of Domaine Jean-Marc Morey are now shared between Caroline and her brother, Jean-Marc having stopped working after the 2016 vintage .
The 2016s vintage:
Caroline currently has 2.5 ha, and is happy with the quality, but of course it’s a very small amount. 2 reds and one white from Santenay did well, but she lost about 80% of her Chassagne 1ers due to the frost, a little less in the villages, then there were some sun-grilled grapes in whites and also some hail impacts to remove, but for all that, good!
The 2015 vintage:
“For 2015 there are Chassagne villages, plus 3 Chassagne premiers, one young the others with nearly 50-year-old-vines. Happy with the wines, not a surprise given the quality of the grapes, maybe they had very slightly less acidity, but they were not exceptional in any way. The potentials were good but not really much more than 12.5, so I always thought we would have something good!”
The wines…
The wines are not yet racked, maybe before end of October, but so-far they’ve not moved since they were put in barrels, less than 40% new oak and from larger barrels.
2015 Santenay Les Cornières
Pretty lemon yellow, and a faintly padded nose with enough but not too much oak – appealing and inviting citrus freshness. Wide, good volume too. An oak-edged flavour today, fine density and a pretty mix of flavours – exceedingly attractive wine… really super length too.
2015 Chassagne-Montrachet les Chênes
Vines about 15 years old, was old red vines but degenerated, now white here. Again 350 litre barrels, no battonage
A deep nose, not overt. The the oak is less overt, more mineral, beautiful texture, and then gets wider and wider. The last wine is more comforting, this, more engrossing. Super!
2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Champs Gain
Planted in 2009
A nose that hints to its barrels, but is really rather tight. An edge more CO2, but it soon fades, certainly a more mineral wine – not with an obvious extra density, but certainly an extra complexity. Much more persistent in the finish – wide too, a fine finish here.
2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Chaumées
Near Philippe Colin’s vines, near the quarry.
Here is a more open freshness of rewarding citrus fruit – yellow citrus. A hint of salinity, more muscle, more lithe energy and a fine complexity – this is a super wine! Very nice persistence with a hint of grapefruit. Excellent!
From the 3 different parts of this area – all the levels of the vines, different slopes, three different plantations, but the average is 45-years-old.
Very much a mineral freshness to this nose, almost a vibration. Just a little extra depth to the texture here – of course there’s no fat, just slowly flexing muscle and slow-moving waves of complexity. Really a super wine. Excellent Caillerets. Textbook – and really another wine it seems after you swallow such is the extra flavour – the fine finish rounds of a fine performance.