Tasted in Puligny-Montrachet with Jacqueline and Matthieu Collardot, 07 October 2019.

Domaine Thomas-Collardot
4 Rue de Poiseul,
21190 Puligny-Montrachet
Tel: +33 6 23 76 92 51

It’s a rare thing, a new domaine in Puligny-Montrachet, particularly one that seems to make such beautifully crafted wines – but as with most things Burgundian, there is always give and take; great quality but so very little of it, as the domaine currently extends to only 2.5 hectares.

In this nice corner of Puligny, hidden from the main street in a large courtyard, is a domaine that was reborn in 2011 – though not with all the labels of today. The domaine’s vines had been in a mix of metayage and fermage between 1992 and 2010; Jacqueline inheriting the vineyards from her father, Pierre Thomas, in 2010. It was Pierre who had made the wines up until 1992, but then for the years that followed they were rented out to her cousins, Philippe and Hubert Chavy. 2014 was the first vintage with their Enceignères and Bourgogne under the domaine label.

Jacqueline and Matthieu don’t make all of the work in the vines as they have a connection with another domaine more expert win organic treatments who do that work in exchange for a number of barrels of Puligny – but the soils are worked by this domaine, the 1ers with a horse the rest by a small caterpillar tractor so as to minimise compaction of soil. They are planning to be fully organic from 2020.

Not just organic, but also working from a parcel philosophy, i.e. they have 7 different village parcels and 2 bourgognes and 2 1ers which they elevage and bottle separately. The domaine even made a Passetotgrains last year in honour of the 10 years since the passing of father Pierre.

The domaine’s market is mainly export, their wines ending up in many countries, but the allocations are small “As we don’t have a lot.”

Jacqueline on 2019:
“2019 is a quality year. The balance is great but unfortunately, the volume was low – the ripening was also not so consistent. We are lucky that in Puligny we are less influenced by the dryness as there’s usually plenty of water in the soil, though less on the hills of course. We had plenty of pressure from oïdium but we aerate the bunches quite strongly and that helped. We also harvested only until 14h00 each day to avoid the heat of the afternoon, always using small cases to collect the grapes. We decant, cold, after 24-36 hours. Fortunately for our volumes, our press allows one barrel volumes!”

The wines:

The 2018 Bourgogne was bottled after 1 year of elevage, it was 16-18 months for the other wines, i.e. 2 winters in the cellar. All old barrels were used in elevage, ‘okay a few were new in 2017!‘ As for DIAM, we are still testing. For now, we’ve been using the top-level corks from Trescases and to-date, we’ve no returns!

2018 Puligny-Montrachet Les Houlières
Direction Chassagne, made from 35 year-old vines.
A nice stony citrus nose. Hmm – that’s open, mobile, and backed by a good floral and mineral energy. There’s just a touch of fat but this flavour is vibrant and changing in the middle to finishing flavours – very long too. That’s an excellent start.

2018 Puligny-Montrachet Au Paupillot
Always plenty of water on the soil here as there are sources in the vines above. 45-year-old vines
Hmm, higher-toned, this being a more floral nose. There’s a slight touch of gas but a little more depth and width to the flavour too – richer. Lots of flavour here, melting, ooh thats a great finish – overall I slightly prefer the first, but it’s a great finish with more power here.

2018 Puligny-Montrachet Derrière la Velle
Planted in 1962, always small concentrated grapes, had a little frost this year but still a demi-muids of wine.
Yellow citrus fruit with a suggestion of oak, but narrows showing a little spice. Hmm, nice drive here, complex, very fine complexity, opulent but nicely balanced and showing a pronounced salinity in the flinty-mineral finishing flavour.

2018 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Hammeau de Blagny
The vines just above Truffière. ‘It’s fresh here and it suffered less than many of our parcels, so a normal volume here.’
An extra vibrance of mineral agrume in the core of this nose. Open and pure like the last but with just a little more intensity. Really long – an extra notch above the Enseignères in intensity. Excellent 1er cru

2018 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Folatières
South part in Au Chaniots next to En la Richarde, plenty of soil here
Deep, but this nose is a little closed up top – but slowly a floral note develops. Extra open in the mouth, fine almost airy but lacking no complexity or interest, ooh that’s good – really excellent wine.

The last two from bottle, and I note that both keep getting better with air “Yes you should carafe,” says Jacqueline. “Take your time, let it breath – you need to breathe too!”

2018 Bourgogne Les Petits Poiriers
This tasted from bottle.
Hmm, a little more compact, but this is very inviting and the aroma slowly grows in the glass. Hmm. Nice drive and texture, just a little rasp of tannin, but wide and insinuating green-yellow citrus followed by a fine mineral length. Super Bourgogne!

2017 Puligny-Montrachet Les Enseignères
A tiny impression of reduction to start, in the deep, tightly wound, ripe yellow fruit, almost truffled. Supple in the mouth, indeed a little plush, but behind there’s energy and a meltingly delicious, slightly creamy-edged flavour. Lots of power here. I have a preference for the openness that the 2018 currently shows. A delicious wine all the same with an understated but fine complexity in the mineral finish – almost a Vosne-style complexity in its fine-grained delivery. Long… super.