Tasted with Chrystelle Pillot in Chassagne-Montrachet, 24 October 2018.
Domaine Paul Pillot
3 Clos Saint-Jean
21190 Chassagne-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 31 44
www.domainepaulpillot.com
Chrystelle on the last vintages:
“2018 was most certainly not easy with the weather in the first part of the year. We has stress in April because of the frost, then there was the heat. I think that we did well to harvest quite early, in order to keep a combination of freshness and elegance.
“Great grapes, such great grapes – they were concentrated and clean. We started 27 August, vs 29 August in 2017, and my memories are more than agreeable; we took our time, waiting for particular parcels – it was a good time. So, very happy. The volume surprises in some places, but not in others.
“2017 is a flattering if surprisingly less generous vintage than 2018 but we’re still happy of-course. It’s a constant surprise for me, they taste so good now…”
The wines…
Ever less new oak is used at this address – it’s 15% or less now…
Generally excellent wines, though not showing their best at this stage of their elevage – it was hard for us to find a date to taste. But as every year, so much promise…
2017 Bourgogne Chardonnay
A fresh nose with some floral aspects. Hmm, depth, good concentration, mouth-watering intensity of flavour. Structural, young but really a quality Bourgogne.
2017 St.Aubin 1er Charmois
A little extra mineral tension on the nose. Hmm, deep, there’s a little extra in all dimensions, plus an extra cushioning to the structure. Wide, excellent finishing.
2017 St.Aubin 1er Pitangerets
A colder terroir on more limestone.
Another vibrant, mineral and agrume nose. Wide, more intense, mouth-watering but still balanced wine. This is very fine.
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet
A mix of two parcels.
Pretty, finer, less aromatic depth today though. Long, lingering, great direction to the flavour, mouth-watering flavour. I love the clarity here today, not to mention the length!
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Mazures
A ‘nice terroir’ below Champs Gains. Two parts harvested a few days apart
Hmm, faintly spiced. Hmm, line of flavour, muscled flavour. This is really fine.
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Champs Gains
Deeper soil, more clay versus Mazures. One of the richer wines of Chassagne, like Morgeot.
Finer, fresher, faintly floral nose – very inviting. Supple, silk that covers the muscle, wide, deliciously complex. Yet another very fine wine.
3 different plantings in the same parcel, the younger vines giving larger grapes.
A clean, fresh nose. A little more volume, beautiful clarity here, complex, finely saline, I love the texture. Bravo – and almost every year too for this wine!
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Caillerets
Ooh – fine, pure, ripe citrus but with energy. Hmm, architectural volume in the mouth – impressive scale – the flavour is more reticent, fine but reticent today. A finely haunting finish though.
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Les Grands Ruchottes
A nose of soaring clarity. Fuller in the mouth, but fresh – no fat – a complexity, fine-grained, but with a delicious melting of flavour all-round. Really holding in the finish – simply excellent…
Next to La Romanée – there are only 5 producers, indeed some have parcels not yet planted!
Wide, very fine but also an aromatic with very modest in volume. Lithe, fresh, gorgeously textured, growing in intensity, fully fresh-flavoured. Great! Mineral slightly saline in the finish.
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er La Romanée
A little mineral style reduction. Lots of volume in the mouth, faintly reductive minerality – full, never heavy nor fat, successive waves of finishing flavour – another simply excellent wine. Modest intensity length, but far from modest length…
Les rouges…
A little Santenay and Remigny but the vines for this are mainly in the commune of Chassagne
A lovely fresh, concentrated nose – nice. Silky texture, depth of flavour – really great bourgogne.
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet
Mix of Morgeot plus others.
A more compact nose, much more considered, only slowly opening. More volume, more freshness in the mouth, layered flavour with good depth. Not the finer texture of the last, a wine with some line to go with the width, tannin too, but very fine. Serious Chassagne but very much approachable. Excellent, a nice reminder of flavour after swallowing too.
2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos St.Jean Rouge
An extra width. Little dark red fruits. Extra depth of flavour, roughly the same tannin as the villages at the start, but then it grows a little. Wide, many dimensions of flavour. Excellent-plus! Holding some tannin in the finish.