Tasted in Chassagne with Thibault Morey, 09 October 2019.
Domaine Morey-Coffinet
6 Place du Grand Four
21190 Chassagne-Montrachet
Tel: +33 3 80 21 31 71
www.domainemoreycoffinet.com
Thibault on 2019:
“We started harvesting 1st September, finishing the 9th in 2019 but the biodynamics that we’ve been using here for the last 5-plus years has helped bring more balance. I’m happy – like all vintages that follow a large crop, there was less – 2009-2010 for instance, but I’m very happy with the quality. We had about 30% less rain than in most vintages, but that’s the vintage.”
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! Fermentations were relatively normal, the whites finishing in February-March. It was a vintage that saw us with our heads in phones – always waiting for the announcement of rain – which never seemed to come – yet there was a volume that surprised everyone! Red Bourgogne and villages were bottled just before the harvest – the Corton is still waiting – maybe for December. I think it’s a classic vintage for the years that we’ve recently had – of course, a solar year but that’s not completely obvious in the wines. A very rare full harvest here.”
The wines:
There was a fumé accent to many wines last year – coming from the barrels – this year there’s hardly any like this. Overall a very fine result – multiple grand vins from Thibault in 2018!
2018 Bourgogne Pinot Noir Côte d’Or
All vines in the commune of Chassagne
A nice depth of colour. Spicy fruit, darker red. In the mouth too – dimension, depth, some structure but everything you may reasonably expect a villages Chassagne to be. The finish more melting and comfortable – excellent Bourgogne that perfectly reflects its village but wait 6-12 months for the structure to soften.
2018 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Chaumes Vieilles-Vignes
Next to Boudriotte
Clearly more depth of colour. Tighter to start, but a fine fruit and some florals lift from the glass. Folds of deep flavour, a little faint dryness, velvet astringence, but bright points of fruit flavour. More serious concentration but not more serious structure. Excellent-plus this wine. Also you should wait but it’s already very attractive…
2018 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos St.Jean.
The old original section, just Thibault and Domaine Paul Pillot are here.
Again some initial tightness but a finer impression of texture to this nose – more floral than fruit. More clarity, less grain of tannin – energy too – each wine showing a particular step-up. Lovely energetic but pure fruit here – yet again excellent wine. Slowly fading in the distance.
Was a blend, but the Fairendes is now pulled out and planted with white, so just Francemont above Cardeuse, close to Tête de Clos on the Santenay side of Morgeot. 50% new oak for these two premiers.
This has a nice freshness – suggesting but not really fully delivering a little reduction – the dark-red fruit growing in clarity and intensity. Sleek, driving, a faint touch of astringencey, vibrant again – intense – a trace of oak but no more. Big proper Chassagne with an elegance of fruit to balance the power. Bravo!
2018 Corton
From tank. The third vintage, from Clos d’Aimee and Paulands blended – this is a purchase of fruit.
The nose has a touch of reduction, behind is a modest creaminess of fruit – but it’s quite tight. A different shape, open structure, finer texture – the tannin is almost polished – a long wide wave of finishing flavour to catch a ride on. Very backwards just now, but great shape and material. I think excellent.
Les Blancs:
“I’ve no special memories of the fermentations, maybe the malos were relatively quick – all were done in Feb-March.”
2018 Bourgogne Chardonnay Côte d’Or
This also from the commune of Chassagne
Fresh but also deep – a certain ripeness but nothing exotic. Hmm, melting, decent concentration, fine balance. A flavour that you can enjoy swirling around the palate with a good finish, touched by phenolics, too. Not quite great but absolutely excellent!
The next 4 are all from contracts, the purchases accounting for a little more than 10% of the total production:
2018 St.Romain Sous le Château
Bought in must – actually an exchange between friends.
A little more open, modestly higher toned. Like the nose – more open on the palate too, a little more citrus style of fruit. Really a super finishing intensity – ooh that’s good. Overall, I like the shape of the Bourgogne more but qualitatively it’s not better than this.
2018 St.Aubin Les Frionnes
Tigher but at the same time higher toned and more floral. A little richer, again more citrus style to the fruit. More weight of flavour and a good with – a wine that insinuates itself into your palate then shimmers in the finishing flavour. Excellent despite a little less energy than the last two.
2018 Puligny-Montrachet Le Trezin
A deeper but reductive minerality on the nose. The reduction is also visible (tasteable!) on the palate – but this has good shape and depth of flavour – not overtly energetic but very well balanced. To wait for or carafe but good wine with lots of finishing interest.
2018 Meursault
A single parcel – Millerandes
Not a big nose but a very satisfying width of proper, slightly spiced, Meursault fruit. Vibrant, lovely energy – fills the mouth quite well and has a fine backbone of Meursault flavour – Super! Easily the best of these cuvées so far! Delicious!
2018 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Houillières
Domaine – Direction Vide Bourse on the Puligny side of the Route Nationale.
A tighter nose again, the faintly grained complexity of Chassagne still evident on the nose – slowly adding a more mineral agrume. Wide, growing in volume – this is a more structural/mineral wine a small step up in quality but not today drinkability after the Meursault – give this a little time, but it’s very good and the finish is super.
All the following are in tank now with fining, probably to be be bottled from December 2019:
2018 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er en Caillerets
Hmm, there’s a fine minerality on show here – a flintiness. More direct energy and intensity than the previous wines showed – a certain citrus aspect to the fruit too. The mid and finishing flavours showing more depth and a little more focus. Delicious.
Ooh – great – beautifully delineated and fresh agrume fruit – yes! A little more drive and urgency to the flavour here – depth, fine texture – bravo – top wine! Love the layers of finishing flavour…
Barrel elevage before being racked into an amphora – gres not terracotta – ‘I thought the oak a little too obvious at that stage’
Just a little behind the energy of the Romanée – a more floral aroma too. Beautiful, perfect balance, wider, again less overt energy yet perhaps more apparent acidity. The oak is still showing in the middle but it will fade – finer boned though perhaps not much more elegant. The finish is perhaps a little more persistent though some of that is oak. Still, a great wine!
Aromas that are more in the direction of Romanée than the Dents, but also a relatively tighter nose. Bubbling energy – again placed somewhere between the last 2 wines. No fat but there’s a subtle depth to the texture – no obvious oak showing here. The best finish – intense, wide, lip-smackingly gorgeous.
2018 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Pucelles
The first of 3 purchases…
There’s a reductive note but also a fine and quite forward minerality in the depths here. Bigger, a halo of shimmer, citrus fruit but it’s more than just that – the reduction is more subtle in the flavour. Another really great finish that has a certain floral ‘extra’ to add to the citrus-mineral extravaganza. Excellent!
2018 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Combettes
A little less definition to this nose – despite no reduction. – everything on a more subtle level. Vibrant, depth of flavour, energy – mouth-filling. Vibrant finishing – not quite up to the Leflaive on this showing, yet still showing how good Combettes is in this vintage! Almost Bravo!
2017 Meursault 1er Perrières
Dessus de dessous! Négoce, 5th year. Maison Morey-Coffinet
Hmm, composed but very inviting aroma – there’s minerality and a touch of agrume – nothing too overt but all very fine. Hmm, vibrant – a little more compact in shape after the Combettes but with a super line of intense citrus-led fruit – a small touch of smoky barrel warmth. This is very fine and holds its flavour with aplomb.
2018 Corton-Charlemagne
A really different style of nose – vertical – high and low tones – it seems not quite ready though. On the palate, however, this is intense, almost muscled but with no fat – this is a speed athlete – mineral, almost chalky but with super intensity and fine purity – in intensity, this is certainly a step up. The finish is open but holding onto the intensity for a long time… Excellent again, maybe more.
From the Chassagne side, close to the only tree in the vineyard!
Not a big nose, but one of obvious width and clarity of fruit. Like the Charlemagne but padded out in all directions; more supple, still mineral, holding, holding a super intensity of fruit – perhaps a hint more ripe than some that went before. The finish is also fuller but no less long than the wine from Corton. Grand Vin.
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