Tasted in Chassagne with Thibault Morey, 10 October 2018.
Domaine Morey-Coffinet
6 Place du Grand Four
21190 Chassagne-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 31 71
www.domainemoreycoffinet.com
Thibault on 2018:
“For me it was a complicated Spring as we storms forecast almost every night – it was really a period of stress. Summer came and the storms calmed and it was more a case of waiting for the rain! I’ve friends that exited bio in June as the pressure was so great in regards to mildew, but in the end it all worked out well. A very rare full harvest here.”
Thibault on 2017:
“Well, I’d be happy with a year like 2017 every year. We started our harvest on the 30th – actually one day ahead of what we did in 2018 – then it rained so we stopped and restarted on the 4th September. Yields are a little like 2009 – I’m not a big fan of 2009, in fact most vintages ending in a 9 – I’m happy with the yields though I’d have liked just a little less for the reds and a little more for the whites – but we are only talking one or two hectolitres so it’s good. The spring of 2017 was much easier than in 2018, indeed I had a little late arriving mildew at the end of July – I clearly should have been more vigilant – it cost me 15-20% of my harvest! The one advantage of mildew is that the grapes dry and fall – so there’s no impact on the quality. Since I moved through organic and biodynamic I have to say it has really aided the balance of my wines and I don’t seem to have a lack of acidity – luckily with such sunny vintages! It’s actually hard discussing allocations with buyers as I had so little in 2016 and because of the mildew I have less than many of my neighbours in 17!”
The wines…
Reds and whites of regional and villages were bottled before the harvest – the rest will be done between November and January – so there are a few different stages in the cellar at the moment.
Thibault on his seals: “I’m a defender of natural cork… I ask myself what I did in 2001-2002 as the difference was already apparent in 2005! – Oenologues said sulfur! I added to the grapes, the pressoir too – I do think this was a mistake with extra removal of lees – everyone loved the wines for 2 years! Now I use much less sulfur and really press the grapes! I compare these additions of sulfur to giving a child too many antibiotics when young – they become fragile and struggle when challenged – I keep testing the wines and don’t have the problems that I saw back then.”
There is a fumé accent to many wines this year – coming from the barrels – I’ve not noticed it in previous visits, but once the wines trickle out into the market in another 6-12 months I think it will have faded. There are some very great whites this year!
All vines in the commune of Chassagne
Good colour. Bright and directly attractive and inviting – a roundness of pure red fruit with a little cushioning. Good volume, a certain depth of flavour and ripe concentration of fruit that wouldn’t be out-of-place in a villages wine. Delicious, properly structured, zero hard edges – bravo.
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Chaumes Vieilles-Vignes
Less direct, but with a little more depth of cushioned fruit and faintly floral complexity. Fuller, more energy and intensity, depth of flavour with a little more structure and modest oak in the mix. To wait a little longer for – delicious fruit and a little minerality spreading out over the palate in the finish. Super.
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos St.Jean.
The old original section, just Thibault and Domaine Paul Pillot are here.
Also less forward than the Bourgogne but also with more depth of aroma – here a higher, more airy blossom aroma. Hmm, direct, fine textured, a lithe muscular impression. Here is concentration but no fat. You should have a little patience with this one – but it’s very classy and a proper 1er cru. Excellent.
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Morgeot
Was a blend, but the Fairendes is now pulled out, so just Francemont above Cardeuse, close to Tête de Clos on the Santenay side of Morgeot.
A little blossom aroma again – but a wider if more discreet base of fruit aroma. Hmm, wider and more melting flavour over the palate vs the direction and drive of the CSJ. That makes this wine easier to appreciate in its youth. Concentrated, lingering finish. Excellent again.
2017 Corton
From barrel. The second vintage, from Clos d’Aimee and Paulands blended – this is a purchase of fruit.
A modest volume of aroma and with depth. Hmm, ooh that’s good – it starts with line but then there’s width, there’s fine texture and a mouth-full of concentrated, mobile flavour without extra depth of texture – a wine that needs no cushioning, sleek but round. Really quite something – super-silky wine, with a great finish – excellent Corton from Chassagne!
Les Blancs:
“I’ve no special memories of the fermentations, maybe the malos were relatively quick – all were done in Feb-March.”
2017 Bourgogne Chardonnay Côte d’Or
No price change for the label change!
A little tighter nose after the reds, but this has a fine shape and good precision – it remains inviting. Modest impact but it has good clarity, a suggestion of minerality and just enough complexity and depth of texture to hold interest – a modest Bourgogne in the context of concentration, but definitely not in terms of an easy to appreciate tasty wine…
2017 St.Romain Sous le Château
Bought in must – actually an exchange between friends.
A little more depth of interest – very inviting. More volume – again a wine of clarity and much more flavour and complexity interest. A very slight warmth of oak here but just another thing to enjoy at it’s modest intensity. Very pretty, very enjoyable – excellent.
Direction Vide Bourse on the Puligny side of the Route Nationale.
A faintly smoky addition to the aromas here. More impressive is the combination of faintly cushioned texture and volume. More mineral, this needs a little more time than the St.Romain – gorgeous wine in the mouth for its shape and texture. Bravo!
2017 Meursault Vieilles-Vignes
Also Maison Morey-Coffinet
The nose needs a little coaxing from the glass, but yes it is definitely from Meursault – nicely pure too. In terms of texture and shape this has much in common with the last wine, but with a little more direction and drive vs the roundness of the last. Pretty ginger spice on the palate – classy Meursault from Chassagne!
All the following are in tank now with fining:
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er en Caillerets
Back to the slightly fume oak noted in some of the other wines – but it’s a modest accent – with a vibration of more interest below. Ooh – direct, gorgeously textured wine but which broadens to fill the whole palate. The finish has more power for sure – very persistent – a wine that broadens and broadens your horizon the more time you spend with it. Excellent.
A very reticent nose today. Fresher, more vibrant and mineral flavour than the Caillerets – really a growing, mouth-watering flavour – almost juicy despite the concentration. Impeccable texture and like the Caillerets growing in stature all the time in the mouth – be patient, but this will be brilliant!
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Dents du Chien
Barrel elevage before being racked into an amphora – gres not terracotta – ‘I thought the oak a little too obvious at that stage’
A wine of slightly fumé complexity, but still another wine that’s only discretely aromatic today. Hmm, mobile, mineral, finding every place in the mouth, the essential difference here is an extra sucrisity – a ‘deliciousness’ – the fumé from the barrel only an accent now. Much easier to drink today than Romanée – I wonder if that will be the case in another 5 years…
A nose that’s more accommodating – more width a little cushioned, not full of energy – but full of promises! Hmm, directly great wine, relaxed, beautifully textured, mineral but with no edges – a little oak to lose but still hardly a lot, perhaps a grain of tannin even. This will be – in fact is – great wine of wondrous length. Bravo!
The sole wine of the domaine from outside the commune of Chassagne. 21-year-old vines.
Not the biggest nose – plenty of depth – perhaps aided by a twist of reduction – accented by the fumé style of the domaine this year. A more muscular and structural wine, but still with a super texture. A hint more austere – or better said less generous than the Blanchots – extra minerlality. An excellent wine that has more scale but less drinkability after the last wine. It will be a top wine all the same.
2017 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Combettes
Maison Morey-Coffinet
A little more scale and volume to this nose with the attractive accent of Morey-Coffinet oak. Hmm, depth of texture, luxury texture, mobile and concentrated, some sucrosity – ooh this is a decadent thing. Yes decadent. Just super in the glass.
Dessus de dessous! Négoce, 4th year. Maison Morey-Coffinet
Hmm – an extra intensity, a direction of aroma, a hint saline – the first. Super volume and energy. Depth of flavour, it follows the last wines with aplomb. Really complex and intense with a hint of firework reduction at the end of the finish. Great Perrieres!
Ooh – a big nose – there’s plenty of volume and interest here. More considered than the Perrieres – a little – depth of concentrated flavour, more oak here than the last wines (one new barrel, racked into an older one after some months) another great wine, complex, faintly saline, extra long. Bravo
From the Chassagne side, close to the only tree in the vineyard!
A width of concentrated but fresh aroma – a certain tightness today. A different shape – one that widens and widens – supple concentration, extra depth of flavour too – clarity to the delicious flavour. Sooo loooonnnggg… Bravo…!