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Domaine Gilles Bouton Chassagne Montrachet Voillenots Dessus Blanc 2020

Appellation
Chassagne-Montrachet
Region
Côte de Beaune
Vintage
2020
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$72.00
 
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Overview

The vineyard sits in the heart of Chassagne-Montrachet, actually the name is an old reference to the ‘Neighborhood’ due to the proximity to the village houses. Complex citrus notes transform into fresh just ripe peach with subtle notes of smoke and spice. This wine feels alive!!

Winemaker
Vintage

BURGUNDY 2020 VINTAGE

With so many winemakers finishing their 2020 harvest before the end of August, everyone here in Burgundy expected that this hot, sunny vintage would produce atypical wines, overripe, fat and flabby. Why it did not is a mystery to this day.

In fact, 2020 Burgundy, both red and white, is being lauded by the Press and professionals alike as an exceptional vintage, brilliantly fresh, pure, elegant and focused. Yes, the wines are ripe and concentrated, but there is good acidity that more than brings things into balance. This, in fact, defines the Burgundy 2020 style: high acidity and high concentration.

So let’s look, as we do every year, at how the growing season developed, to try to get some idea of what shaped these unexpectedly energetic wines.

In a word, from start to finish, 2020 was precocious. After a mild and humid winter, the vegetative cycle started a month early under sunny skies, with bud burst in mid-April and the first Chardonnay flowers in early May. Then the weather deteriorated. Pinot Noir flowered in cool, damp conditions, and was less successful than Chardonnay, explaining the smaller Pinot crop.

From that point on, there is not much to report weatherwise. It was hot and dry from June through to the end, the driest year since 1945. The grapes started to change color in mid-July, and harvest in August seemed likely.

Now you may think that an August harvest lets everyone get their jobs done and go home early. But remember that there is a big difference between the heat and luminosity of an August afternoon and the cooler, shorter days of September. When maturity comes galloping at you in August, you have to react quickly; a day or two can mean considerable differences in acid and sugar levels.

Indeed, there may have been more stress on the winemakers than there was on the vines. 2020 was in fact an easy growing season, dry, with little risk of fungal problems. The tough part was deciding when to harvest. Do you put off harvesting to try to get to phenolic maturity, or do you pick sooner to keep acid levels up and to avoid higher alcohol levels?

Many opted to pick early. And for the most part, it proved to be the right decision…though we still do not understand why! 

Many 2020 wines have alcohol levels of 13%-14%, but many are higher. Delaying picking increased the potential alcohol levels by as much as a degree a week.

At the same time, good levels of phenolic maturity gave ripe, but not overripe tannins. Some call the 2020s ‘crunchy’, which is a tannin level riper than ‘green’ but less than ‘fine’.

Total acidity was generally high, but most of that was tartaric acid. Malic acid, which would normally make up a big percentage of the total acidity, was low. In fact, the wines changed very little during malolactic fermentation, as there was little malic acid to transform into lactic acid.

So, again, we have a vintage that is characterized by high acidity and concentrated fruit. Some are saying that there has never before been a vintage where ripeness and acidity combined to give such brilliant wines with great aging potential. And this is true for both red and white. Freshness, balance, moderate alcohol.

The whites are rich and ripe, but with a crystalline, almost razor-sharp edge. That little touch of lactic acid makes them complex without adding weight.

The reds might bear a resemblance to past vintages.  2005, maybe. But they made wine differently in 2005. Back then, extraction was the goal: get as much out of the ripeness as you could. Today, Pinot is not so much ‘extracted’ as ‘infused’, like tea. This gives wines that are fresher and more energetic, with no less intensity and maybe more spice.

Drink them now, both red and white. There is astounding vitality in the youthful 2020s. But stick to the regional appellations for now because this is above all a vintage for aging, again both red and white. Keep the premier and grand crus for 10-15 years; longer for the best wines. They have the balance to age, and will reveal little by little the complexity that we just get hints of today. These are wines that may shut down for a few years in a few years, that’s to be expected. But be patient; you will be overjoyed to pull 2020 Burgundy from your cellar down the line.

But even just that little touch of lactic acid made the complexity of the whites.

Appellation

CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET

COTE DE BEAUNE

In the very south of the Côte de Beaune. Chassagne-Montrachet is one of the triumvirate in the 'golden traingle' of white Burgundy (with Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault). The broad hillside that it shares with Puligny brings out an extraordinary expression of both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. In Chassagne, they are grown side by side, such is the complexity of the terroir. The zone includes some plots in the neighboring village of Remigny which shares the same soil conditions. Extensive marble quarries which form a cliff face in the vineyards, are the source of the stone that went into the building of the Trocadero in Paris and more recently the Louvre Pyramid.

Produced in the communes of Chassagne-Montrachet and Remigny, the appellation Chassagne-Montrachet includes 55 premiers crus. The commune of Chassagne-Montrachet also produces 3 grands crus: Montrachet, Batard-Montrachet and Criot-Batard-Montrachet.

Wines

White Chassagne Montrachet can be one of the world's great Chardonnays. At its best it is glittering gold with hints of green. Aromas of honeysuckle and hazelnut with a citrus acidity in youth. Deep, smokey gun-flint minerality. Notes of honey and fleshy pear. Luscious attack, round and decadent with the minerality carrying the mid-palate through to a long finish.

Red Chassagne Montrachet (sadly more and more rare in the shadow of white Chassagne's popularity) can have one of the most beautiful and brilliant robes of all of the Cote de Beaune. The nose is cherry and nutty cherry pit with spicy notes and Pinot savagery with age. There can be great substance to a Chassagne red, a depth that can be overlooked because of the prettiness of the fruit. Young tannins can be austere, or at least used to be. The modern Chassagne red tends to be more fruit forward and open.

Terroirs

At altitudes between 220 and 325 meters, the succession of rocks from the top down is first rauracien then callovien and finally argovien. The soil of the various climats range from pebbly limestone, through marls, to sandy soils with a Jurassic basis.

Color

White wines - Chardonnay

Red wines - Pinot Noir

Production surface area

1 hectare (ha) = 2.4 acres

Whites : 187.16 ha (including 116.60 ha premier cru)

Reds : 114.27 ha (including 33.43 ha Premier Cru)

Food

The opulence and power of the whites work well with delicate white meats such as poultry or veal. Fish, either in well-spiced couscous or in curries or stir-fries, are also well-suited. Salmon, in itself highly aromatic, works particularly well. The premiers crus will complement crayfish, lobster, or even foie gras.

Chassagne reds can be powerful, despite the first impression of freshness and fruit. This makes it a good match with quality cuts of meat such as grilled or roast lamb, grilled pork and spicy meat dishes in general. The premier crus can go to game birds.

Appellations

The following climats are classified premier cru:

Abbaye de Morgeot

Blanchot dessus

Bois de Chassagne

Cailleret

Champs Jendreau

Chassagne

Chassagne du Clos Saint-Jean

Clos Chareau

Clos Pitois

Clos Saint-Jean

Dent de Chien

En Cailleret

En Remilly

En Virondot

Ez Crets

Ez Crottes

Francemont

Guerchère

La Boudriotte

La Cardeuse

La Chapelle

La Grande Borne

La Grande Montagne

La Maltroie

La Romanée

La Roquemaure

Les Baudines

Les Boirettes

Les Bondues

Les Brussonnes

Les Champs gain

Les Chaumées

Les Chaumes

Les Chenevottes

Les Combards

Les Commes

Les Embazées

Les Fairendes

Les Grandes Ruchottes

Les Grands Clos

Les Macherelles

Les Murées

Les Pasquelles

Les Petites Fairendes

Les Petits Clos

Les Places

Les Rebichets

Les Vergers

Morgeot

Petingeret

Tête du Clos

Tonton Marcel

Vide Bourse

Vigne Blanche

Vigne Derrière

The following climats are village wines from a single vineyard known as a lieu-dit:

Blanchot Dessous

Bouchon de Corvée

Champ Derrière

Champs de Morjot

Clos Bernot

Dessous les Mues

En Journoblot

En l'Ormeau

En Pimont

Fontaine Sot

La Bergerie

La Canière

La Canotte

La Goujonne

La Platière

La Têtière

Le Clos Reland

Le Concis du Champs

Le Parterre

Le Poirier du Clos

Les Battaudes

Les Benoites

Les Beuttes

Les Chambres

Les Charnières

Les Chaumes

Les Chênes

Les Encégnières

Les Essarts

Les Grandes Terres

Les Houillères

Les Lombardes

Les Masures

Les Meix Goudard

Les Morichots

Les Mouchottes

Les Perclos

Les Pierres

Les Plantes Momières

Les Voillenots Dessous

Plante du Gaie

Plante Saint Aubin

Pot Bois

Puits Merdreaux

Sur Matronge

Voillenot Dessous

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$72.00
 
CONTACT US TO RESERVE NEXT VINTAGE
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