Jean Chartron – 2016

Update 12.11.2017(11.11.2017)billn

Tasted in Puligny with Jean-Michel Chartron, the 16 October, 2017.

Domaine Jean Chartron
8 Bis Grande Rue
21190 Puligny-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 99 19
www.bourgogne-chartron.com

Jean-Michel on 2017:
I’m happy with 2017, though the bottom of the hill here in Puligny saw some frost. We’re just a little down in volume, that’s partly down to the thick skins of the grapes – it wasn’t the easiest juice to extract, but we had nothing less than 12.8°

Jean-Michel on 2016:
We had some luck in Puligny as it was a little cloudy, though the grand crus were badly hit of-course. So clearly we don’t have an exceptional volume, but the September rain was a little miracle as we went from almost nothing to harvest, to something! Clos des Caillerets was similarly affected to Montrachet – so not so good – yet the Clos de Pucelles below was quite okay. Both the Chassagne and the Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune were very low yielding; only 4 hl/ha for the Bourgogne. We started our harvest about the 20th and had a good level of acidity, we had no rot, indeed we had good grapes. ​Overall maybe 40% lower volume in this vintage, the 1ers were minus 50%.

The wines…

Entry level wines have been bottled just before the harvest – 25-26 August.

This domaine – as for the last 2-3 years – was an absolute highlight. It was too early to properly appraise the last three wines that were still in barrel – but before them were some magical wines!

2016 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune Blanc
A big and bright, indeed overt nose. Fresh with a modest citrus. Supple, just a little flesh, but then layers of pretty and fine citrus with a little finishing sweetness. Delicious first wine of the day!

2016 Rully Montmorans
A lovely, extra depth and clean impression to the nose. A little more composed, but longer, narrower and with a melting, intensity. Needs a little more time vs the Hautes Côtes, but delicious, despite more structure in the finish.

2016 Meursault Les Pierres
A blend of parcels on the hill towards Puligny – Tillets and Narvaux – ‘I want a Puligny style hence the locations but this very meursault.’
A nicely deep and classic nose. Extra weight and flesh – gorgeous, beautiful, layered Meursault flavour – directly a ‘bravo’ wine.

2016 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Benoîtes
A little more yellow. More freshness and more herb on the nose. Lithe, mineral, wiry delicious wine. Less fat, more vibrant with a fine finish. Yum!

2016 St.Aubin 1er Les Perrières
A plot bought from Château Pommard in 2008.
​Vibrant, yellow citrus. Energy, and freshness, framed by a mouth-watering citrus deliciousness. Vibrant wine!

2016 St.Aubin 1er Les Murgers des Dents de Chien
Here the nose, still lemony, but more compact. Not a bit compact on the palate – mouth-watering, faint gas, more saline – at this stage it’s behind the Perrières this year, but it’s lovely wine all the same.

2016 Puligny-Montrachet
Normally three parcels with a hint of 1er from the Meursault side. Mainly Sous la Velle, Levrons and Rue Rousseau, plus some must from colleagues as I own only a dozen ouvrees.​ This year less touched by frost – some parts a normal rendement.
A more perfumed freshness. Lots of energy, a little more weight – it deserves its place after the St.Aubins – a little more oak in the finishing flavours, but bold, fresh and pure. Excellent in the finish too.

2016 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Caillerets
JMC loves this vineyard, but needs to be uprooted as it was very hard hit by frost in 2016 plus there’s some vine degeneration near the top – ​so this is the last vintage for a while. The domaine is a part of an association for diversity of cepages, together a library of older vines are propagated, the selection comes from there, maybe with a mix of quality clones too as there currently isn’t enough plant material to plant the whole area with these selections.
A wide, composed nose, complex but not full force. Supple, layered, growing freshness. This is a super wine to drink whilst waiting for the new planting, really delivering layers and layers of flavour. Mouth-watering, super wine, really…

2016 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Folatières
Fresh and open, less overt density after the Caillerets. Open and fine, but like the nose a little in the shade of the Caillerets today, but beautifully elegant and complex. Today I think that only the finish easily matches the previous wine – perhaps even betters – so that’s a great indicator. Super elegant and fine…

2016 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Clos de la Pucelle
More depth, less width but a fine and inviting citrus. More weight, more structure, more melting flavour – faintly saline, super mineral. Wow wine! Still without shouting, just continuous waves of finishing flavour. More a wine of line than width – brilliant.
2016 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Clos des Caillerets
The 99th vintage for this wine chez Chartron. This, together with the Clos Chevalier and Clos de Pucelles were bought from a Madame Billerey – her domaine had an amazing collection of vineyards.
Much more aromatic width, slowly adding higher toned complexity. Oily texture – super-silky, weighted but alive – energetic, fine acidity, saline in the finish. I don’t think so every year, but this is clearly of grand cru quality in 2016. Bravo!

In terms of their elevage, all the following wines, tasted from barrel as opposed to tank, were later in their elevage and not showing the same highlights of the previous wines. Given the quality of those wines in tank, these should really be tasted again in 2 or 3 more months.

2016 Corton-Charlemagne
The first wine tasted from barrel.
Bright, mineral, saline and citrus. A little gas, but beautiful silky texture and a hint of fat. Wide, wide, wide. Slowly fading in the finish. A classic, mineral Charlemagne, and excellent.

2016 Bâtard-Montrachet
20-25 hl/ha this year.
A little barrel spice (here a mix of a newer and older barrels) yellow fruit below. A little gas. Very impressive width, and flavour that saturates the palate. Fine freshness, but this is a wine of density and weight of flavour. It will really need some time in bottle.

2015 Chevalier-Montrachet, Clos des Chevaliers
A little tighter nose. A little gas. Here more alive, more energy, plenty of density of-course, but here the complexity is so much more accessible today. Some barrel flavour in the finish. Some salinity too.

And a modest red to finish!

2016 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Clos des Caillerets Rouge​​
A big, enveloping pinot nose. Direct, fresh, layered pinot – super expressive. Partly floral, modestly oaked. Small waves of finishing flavour. Simply a delicious, but ultra-rare wine…

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