Bachelet-Monnot – 2019

24.12.2020billn

Marc Bachelet 2020 Bachelet-MonnotTasted with Marc Bachelet in Dezize-lès-Maranges, 28 October 2020.

Domaine Bachelet-Monnot
15 Grande Rue
71150 Dezize-lès-Maranges
Tel: +33 3 85 91 16 82

Domaine Bachelet-Monnot in Dézize was the 2005 creation of Marc and Alexandre Bachelet, the grandchildren of Bernard Bachelet of Domaine Bernard Bachelet et Fils in Chassagne-Montrachet. The domaine started with vines from their father and an uncle – a Monnot – further growing wings in 2011 when the boys’ father endowed them with the rest of his vines. Today they have 23 hectares of vines from the Hautes Côtes to Pommard – including some fermage agreements – 8 of which are in the domaine’s home of Maranges.

The domaine works organically but is not certified. Roughly 90% of the domaine’s production is exported from France. About 60% of the production is white wine.

Marc on 2019:
We lost a lot of potential harvest to frost but otherwise it was a good vintage. We have good balance in both colours.

The wines…

For a first visit, this was an impressive introduction to the wines of the domaine. As you will see, I can’t speak more highly of a number of these wines…

Work in the vines, the timing of the harvest and then the pressing of the chardonnay – they are the keys – our objective is fresh and accessible but that can age. All the wines have 18 months of elevage in large-format, 350-litre, barrels. I think the reds might be ready for bottling in January – they already seem to be approaching ready. The whites we always wait, and they are not yet currently bright so we are never pressed to bottle. All the whites use natural cork with a wax finish – nothing technical here. NDTec style for the 1er and grand crus:

2019 Bourgogne Blanc
Might label as Côte d’Or in the future, coming from Puligny. Assembled in masse
Hmm – that’s a calm nose but one of fine and wide citrus perspective. Mouth-filling, bubbling with energy – a little grain of tannin, long and growing in intensity – extra – so in the finish.

2019 Santenay Blanc
From two parcels, almost touching Fussière on a layer, a vein, of limestone.
Also a calm nose but one of a little suggestion of effervescence. Ooh – that’s super, intense, mouth-watering, indeed juicy. A simply great finish. Bravo Santenay blanc!

2019 Maranges 1er Fussière Blanc
Again quite a modest volume of aroma – but an attractive one. Direct, even more mineral and fresh and mouth-watering – a touch of tannic texture and a growing juicy shape. Zesty finishing – that’s excellent.

2019 Chassagne-Montrachet
From 5 parcels neighbouring 1er crus towards the Puligny side – Houlières for example and also Pot Bois.
A small nose again, but here with a little extra floral context – it seems very elegant. In the mouth too – with lovely texture and a slowly growing width of flavour – slightly more structured but never with rigour. Lip-smacking finishing flavour – simply a lovely wine. Not a big but certainly an elegant Chassagne, perfectly assembled.

2019 St.Aubin 1er Remilly
Lost about ¾ due to the frost. 12 yo and older vines
Small but airy and elegant – really beautiful. Attack, incisive, almost a little lime style to the citrus here. Great finishing again.

2019 Puligny-Montrachet
Again 5 different parcels assembled here.
A modest nose once more, but what there is, remains beautifully elegant and quite classic in style. Wide, super acidity too – an open almost airy style to this wine – tension – yes, why not. Some finishing intensity though, that’s a super finish, holds with such persistence.

2019 Meursault Clos du Cromin
50% down due to the frost.
The most open nose so far – faintly, classically spiced – but still quite ethereal. The palate has good attack once more, but in this case less overt, slowly melting flavour, perhaps with an accent of reduction. But a growth of finishing flavour again. Less intense finishing than the last, but I might still take this on in preference – if I had the choice! Excellent wine.

2019 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Referts
Very old vines here
Ooh! Not big, but deep, and gorgeous! Sublime quality here – melting across the width of your palate, not a bit sweet, so long too. Bravo wine!
2019 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Folatières
High and towards Truffière and Garenne – ‘we’re really on the rocks here and the altitude is that of Chevalier…’
Just a little more aromatic intensity here – but exquisitely textured is the impression. Super-silky, direct, ethereal but with intensity too. Growing larger in the middle and finish – a little floral note in the finish. Long, finishing. This needs a bit more time than the Referts which I would already (over-) consume today. Bravo.
2019 Bâtard-Montrachet
Practically straddling the boundary of Puligny and Chassagne. No new wood here.
The nose is relatively open here – clarity, depth and fine citrus, perhaps with small mineral and floral accents. More mouth-filling and such great energy – rich Bâtard is a phrase that you’d never use here. So wide and long finishing. Great wine, a little structural that you will be rewarded to wait for, Wait at least 5 years is the recommendation of the domaine here. Excellent even for Batard…

Les Reds:
We’d say traditional – about 20% whole-cluster but not with rules, more the feeling of the vintage and how the grapes looked. We don’t want too much but like the style, the image, the profile of the wines that they bring. We have plenty of acidity in Maranges so it’s a natural way of reducing that. We try to harvest only in the mornings and stock in a refrigerated wagon before the grapes go into tank. No maceration cold – sometimes fermentations are fast, sometimes not – we try to get away with the minimum, but still 18 months of elevage. Freshness, fruit and pleasure, of course with tannin but ripe tannin. Hopefully not too ripe, with our yield and culture in the vines, things can, and do, ripen very quickly in the vineyard. Maybe if I had grand crus I might make the wines differently but I just want people when they open the wines to drink the bottle in one sitting:

2019 Maranges
That’s rather a comforting and attractive nose, practically cushioned, almost a mocha style to the fruit too. Ooh! That’s gorgeous in the mouth – clarity of fruit, a little cushioning, wide, the tannin an accent but without grain. Bravo – I never previously met a (villages) Maranages like this!

2019 Maranges 1er Fussière
Also a little deeper nose again – that wc/mocha impression though not overtly of fruit. Not bigger, simply finer. The tannin has the barest of grains – sometimes there, sometimes not – just a little more bitters in the middle and finish. But a wine of modest structure that you should wait a little for. Super elegant.

2019 Santenay Poirons
Near Chassagne 1ers
That’s a super and quite forward width of aroma, faintly textural. Round, plenty of concentration and depth of flavour here. In the middle a tannin that brings an accent of astringence but mainly right at the end of the palate – no grain. This will be super…

2019 Pommard 1er Chanlins
A little more high-toned and airy. More incisive, really a leading edge of flavour that’s well-equipped with acidity – but bringing a width of intense flavour in tandem. Tannin in the finish, but just a little less than the Santenay. Slowly fading. These last two wines have a more structural style that needs some patience, I’d give 2-3 years as a starting point – but they have been beautifully constructed.

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

Burgundy Report

Translate »

You are using an outdated browser. Please update your browser to view this website correctly: https://browsehappy.com/;