Chardonnay Wines

wines

Boillot’s emblematic 2018 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Mouchère has turned out brilliantly, wafting from the glass with aromas of pear, hazelnut, dried white flowers, citrus oil, blanched almonds and smoke. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, with terrific concentration, searing levels of extract and a long, mineral finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RPA whiff of matchstick is present on the elegant and highly restrained aromas of acacia blossom, spice, white orchard fruit and a hint of Asian-style tea. There is excellent volume and minerality to the strikingly textured medium-bodied flavors that display outstanding complexity on the balanced, dry and impressively persistent finish. This is one very classy wine that is already wonderfully harmonious.Burghound | 94 BHSlightly fuller yellow in colour, with more opulent fruit on the nose. Perhaps a little on the heavy side. A latent waxiness, a considerable volume of fruit, a wine of great potential which has not yet fully found its feet. There is a huge amount still to come. Tasted: May 2022.Jasper Morris | 94 JMThe 2018 Puligny-Montrachet Clos de la Mouchère 1er Cru has yet another reductive nose that at present obscures the terroir expression. The palate is well balanced with a saline entry. Plenty of concentration here and the acidity is taut and lends adequate tension. Touches of sour lemon on the marine-influenced finish. Give this 3-4 years in bottle and then plenty of time in a decanter. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 white tasting.Vinous Media | 93 VM

Notes of peonies, rose petals, raspberries, orange oil and spices introduce the 2019 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Boudriotte, a medium to full-bodied, pretty and perfumed wine that’s seamless and elegant, concluding with a long, perfumed finish. It’s well worth seeking out.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92+ RPOpulent, this red features cherry, blackberry, spices and a flash of iron, with plush texture and solid structure. Revealing excellent balance, this fades gracefully with the fruit, mineral and spice notes. Drink now through 2032.Wine Spectator | 92 WSPungent aromas of matchstick, petrol and a phenolic hint precede rich, robust and concentrated medium-bodied flavors that flash evident power on the mildly warm and slightly rustic finale. This is solidly constituted and should repay mid-term cellaring out to about 10 years.Burghound | 91 BH

Here too there is plenty of petrol character to the cool and nicely layered nose of ripe yellow orchard fruit, resin and rosemary oil. The attractively textured, rich and solidly concentrated medium weight flavors exude a subtle minerality while offering outstanding complexity on the sappy, balanced and sneaky long finish. If you allow this to warm up a touch of warmth slowly emerges but it’s a non-issue if the proper serving temperature is maintained.Burghound | 93 BH

(Chablis Montmains 1er Cru, Domaine William Fèvre, White) From all three sections of the vineyard as usual. Racy lemon colour. Pure crystalline nose, very little reduction, very classical left bank Chablis, very intense but neither heavy nor exotic. The kimmeridgian is speaking underneath a graceful layer of flesh. Fruit and stones both keep coming back at the finish.Jasper Morris | 92-95A wine from a selection of sites over 3.9ha in Butteaux, Forêts and Montmains. Butteaux is very cold and mineral, while Forêts is elegant and floral. Great precision and focus here, allied with crystalline citrus fruits on the palate. Shows density, but is also very fresh, with lovely mineral characters on the finish. A highly successful Montmains.Decanter | 93 DECHere too the nose is elegant, pure and layered but with more floral and spice nuances adding breadth to the cooler and more restrained aromas. There is both excellent intensity and density to the mineral-driven flavors that terminate in a bone-dry, sneaky long and balanced finale. This too is really very good.Burghound | 91-93 BHConsisting of roughly equal parts Montmains, Butteaux and Forêts (the three sous-climats of Montmains), the 2020 Chablis 1er Cru Montmains offers up aromas of crisp green apple, white flowers, bee pollen and oyster shell. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and concentrated, it’s taut and precise, concluding with a saline finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92 RP(Chablis “Montmains”- Domaine William Fèvre) The 2020 Montmains here is also lovely, with perhaps just a bit more definition and complexity than in the Beauroy. The nose is pure and bright, offering up scents of apple, tart orange, wet stone minerality, citrus peel, dried flowers and a nice shading of oyster shell. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and racy in personality, with fine focus and grip, a lovely core and a long, minerally and beautifully balanced finish. A lovely example. (Drink between 2026 - 2055)John Gilman | 92+ JGThe 2020 Chablis Montmains 1er Cru comes from 3.8 hectares of vines over 12 parcels and offers pressed white flower scents and a touch of crushed rock. The well-defined palate features red apple mixed with subtle spicy notes that dovetail into a generous, leesy finish. Fine.Vinous Media | 89-91 VM

The primacy of the citrus and green apple fruit is dramatic, but there is depth and nuance here as well, not to mention fresh acidity and enough extract to make the finish linger enticingly on the palate. Boillot’s Clos de la Mouchère is a monopole of nearly 4ha in the lieu-dit Les Perrières. The vines are more than 80 years of age, and each section is vinified and matured separately in cask (70% new). This wine has surprising volume, concentration and length – assuredly close to grand cru in quality. Drinking Window 2025 - 2040.Decanter | 96 DEC

The 2021 Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes 1er Cru has a clean, precise bouquet with apple blossom, white peach, crushed stone and wet pavement scents, beautifully proportioned and focused. The palate is well balanced, certainly one of the more powerful Premier Crus with outstanding length on the finish thanks to its spicy, stem ginger touch. Outstanding.Vinous Media | 93-95 VMFirm reduction completely overshadows the fruit. Otherwise, there is excellent volume to the seductively textured medium weight flavors that exude plenty of minerality that adds lift to the succulent, balanced and gorgeously persistent bitter lemon-tinged finish that goes on and on. This isn’t quite as concentrated as the Folatières but it’s finer and stunningly long. This may not be the best Sauzet Combettes ever but in time, it should be in the conversation, it’s that good.Burghound | 93-95 BHHappily, there is much more 2021 Combettes chez Sauzet than the En Richard, and the wine is every bit as beautiful. The bouquet jumps from the glass in a crystal clear blend of fresh lemon, apple, lime, a complex base of minerality, white flowers, citrus zest, vanillin oak and a lovely topnote of candied lemon. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, deep and pure, with great mineral undertow, snappy acids and laser-like focus on the long, complex and electric finish. Stunning juice. (Drink between 2027 - 2060)John Gilman | 94+ JGThe 2021 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes is another one of the high points chez Sauzet this year, offering up aromas of confit citrus, beeswax, crisp stone fruit, white flowers and hazelnuts. Medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, it’s taut and structured, with good depth at the core and chalky dry extract.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91-93 RPThe Sauzet team run the vineyards then purchase the grapes. Pretty and lively colour with a fine floral bouquet, a touch of spring flowers. Punchy in a good way, lemon and lime flavours but with adequate ripeness, leaves an attractive tingle on the tongue and medium plus length. Drink from 2026-2030. Tasted: October 2022.Jasper Morris | 90-93 JM

Boillot waited until 29 September to pick the 2021 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Mouchère, producing a mere 18 barrels. Unfurling in the glass with notes of pear, white flowers, hazelnuts, spices and beeswax, it’s medium to full-bodied, ample and satiny, with a chiseled, concentrated profile and a long, saline finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93-94 RPCool, airy and very pretty aromas of the essence of pear, exotic tea, spice and acacia blossom are trimmed in an admirably discreet touch of oak. Much like the Pucelles, the texture of the slightly bigger and more mineral-driven flavors is wonderfully refined and even more powerful on the explosively long, graceful and bone-dry finale. This is also highly recommended.Burghound | 94 BHGuillaume has pulled out the youngest vines, for rootstock reasons. Most of the old vines fortunately are on 3309C. But badly frosted, below 10 hl/ha. A little more yellow in the colour, a riper fruit, which then comes back to its roots on the palate. Sappy, Guillaume says, while there is a generosity in the mouth which has completely retained its balance. Very persistent. Drink from 2026-2032.Jasper Morris | 92-94 JMThe 2021 Puligny-Montrachet Clos de la Mouchère 1er Cru, a Boillot monopole, is bright and nicely focused. This is the parcel that was most affected by frost. Production is 18 barrels as opposed to a more typical 75 or so. There’s good depth and intensity, but also a certain rawness that needs time to soften. This is another wine where acidity is especially prominent. - Antonio GalloniVinous Media | 90-92 VM

Here too there is a touch of reduction though it’s light enough such that notes of honeysuckle and lemon-lime can be discerned. The texture of the medium-bodied flavors is again wonderfully refined while keeping the same impressive punch while displaying excellent cut on the bone-dry, youthfully austere and sneaky long finale. This is quite simply a gorgeous Pucelles and highly recommended.Burghound | 94 BHThe 2021 Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles 1er Cru is at once incredibly elegant but also reticent, with bright acids that are especially prominent today, perhaps because of the lighter structure of the year. The 2021 will need time to come around, but I am optimistic. Tangerine oil, marzipan and lightly honeyed notes all lend nuance through the long, sustained finish. - Antonio GalloniVinous Media | 91-93 VM

Mid yellow, with a biscuity touch. Seems unsubtle until you get to the palate which is super powerful but also with subtlety. This Monopole vineyard comprises four distinct terroirs though they are always assembled. An electric backbone stops the power overturning the balance. Yellow fruit, and then an extraordinary, indeed grand cru, weight. Incisive white fruit finish. Drink from 2030-2038. Tasted: December 2023.Jasper Morris | 95-97 JMThe 2022 Puligny-Montrachet Clos de la Mouchère 1er Cru is one of the most shut down of the whites in this vast range. Mineral and savory notes abound, but fruit is decidedly pushed into the background. Citrus confit, crushed rocks, mint and white pepper all race across the palate. There’s quite a bit of youthful austerity at this stage, but this should come together in time. A whole range of complex floral and tropical nuances linger. - Antonio GalloniVinous Media | 93-95 VMGuillaume Boillot continues to work his nearly four hectares of old vines in the Clos de la Mouchère in several parcels; we tasted each section separately. The vines near the wood surrounding Clos de la Garenne have bright citrus notes with hints of flint and mineral. Those near Clavoillon have more of a ripe pear and marzipan aroma; they are less focused but have more density, elegance and depth. The combination makes a superb wine that is one of the delights of Boillot’s cellar.Decanter | 95 DEC

Middling deep yellow. A little oak on the nose, but otherwise high class predominantly orchard fruit. This is more nuanced than the Folatières, entirely white fruit and a good balance between the clay and the minerals. An excellent and persistent finish. Drink from 2029-2036. Tasted: December 2023.Jasper Morris | 94-96 JMThe 2022 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Perrières 1er Cru is a heady explosive wine endowed with tremendous depth and textural intensity. Crushed rocks, mint, graphite, tangerine oil and insistent saline notes all meld together as this potent, driving Puligny makes its presence felt. Readers will have to cellar this for at least a few years. - Antonio GalloniVinous Media | 92-94 VM

The 2022 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes 1er Cru shows the more unctuous side of the village. Apricot, butter, spice and tropical notes all race out of the glass. The Combettes will be enjoyed most by readers who appreciate the more extroverted side of white Burgundy. This fruit came in on August 25 and was the first parcel harvested that year. - Antonio GalloniVinous Media | 92-94 VMThe same mid yellow colour as most of the 2022s here. Not the most evocative bouquet, showing the sunshine a little. Ripe and generous yellow fruit on the palate, not as nuanced as Perrières. Fair length once again. Drink from 2029-2036. Tasted: December 2023.Jasper Morris | 91-94 JM

A pale lemon yellow. The bouquet is beautifully classy. Little white fruits and flowers, perfectly nuanced, very slightly richer at the back and extraordinarily long on the palate. Perfect fruit acid matching all the way through. Drink from 2030-2038. Tasted: December 2023.Jasper Morris | 95-97 JMThe 2022 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles 1er Crus is an absolute delight. Bright and effusive, with tons of aromatic presence, the Pucelles is immediately charming. Lemon confit, crushed rocks, almond and a hint of reduction all soar out of the glass. Vibrant and wonderfully nuanced, the Pucelles is lights out. - Antonio GalloniVinous Media | 94-96 VM

The Champ Canet has not quite fallen clear yet. However, the bouquet is stunning! And keeps changing. The immediate fruit now adds a little toasty note, plus the additional depth and complexity of having been kept on more lees. The fruit ripened nicely, with a touch of honeysuckle but it is a minority component, with ripe citrus taking the lead. A fascinating, complex finish. Drink from 2028-2037. Tasted: October 2023.Jasper Morris | 94-96 JMThe 2022 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champ Canet is excellent, mingling aromas of lemon oil, citrus confit, white flowers, freshly baked bread and mandarin, followed by a medium to full-bodied, satiny and seamless palate that’s concentrated and structured, concluding with a long, nutmeg-inflected finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RPThe 2022 Puligny-Montrachet Champ Canet 1er Cru felt much more closed when I tasted it at the Domaine, introverted with dewy meadow scents. The palate is well-balanced, but it doesn’t quite convey the mineralité and tension of its fellow Premier Crus at the moment. Does it have more to give? I remain cautious for now.Vinous Media | 90-92 VM

Lemon and lime in colour, a little softer than the Garenne in the bouquet. This is quite complete with a lifted energy to it, very long, not trying to be fuller bodied that it can be, the citrus note has both a light lime note as well as some lemon, while pure orchard fruit forms the back bone. Very old vines which yield little. Drink from 2027-2035. Tasted: October 2023.Jasper Morris | 92-94 JMThe 2022 Puligny-Montrachet Hameau de Blagny 1er Cru has a complex bouquet that takes time to open in the glass: touches of wet pavement, Granny Smith apples and hints of fennel in the background. The palate is well-balanced, tensile and linear with a taut bead of acidity; this delivers an almost minimalist finish that is very Blagny in style. Good salinity and length. Very fine.Vinous Media | 91-93 VMOffering up notes of flowers, pear, freshly baked bread and hazelnuts, Sauzet’s 2022 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Hameau de Blagny is medium-bodied, bright and lively, with tangy acids and chalky grip on the finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 90-92 RP

A surprising degree of green to the colour. A light but fine bouquet, all quite discreet, then rather more fruit intensity on the palate, quite linear but not without a little flesh on the bones. Apples washed with lime. Fine and elegant finish. Drink from 2027-2034. Tasted: October 2023.Jasper Morris | 90-93 JMAromas of pear, green apple, mint and nutmeg introduce Sauzet’s 2022 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru La Garenne, a medium to full-bodied, satiny wine with good depth at the core and an attractively mordant finish. It’s a cuvée produced with purchased grapes from a parcel farmed and harvested by the Sauzet team.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 90-92 RPThe 2022 Puligny-Montrachet La Garenne 1er Cru has distant scents of sea spray and estuarine notes on the nose, neatly combined with the green apples. The palate is well-balanced, with the 15% new oak judiciously used to lend a little more creaminess in texture towards the lightly spiced finish. It just needs more nerve and mineralité overall.Vinous Media | 89-92 VM

The 2022 Puligny-Montrachet Les Truffières 1er Cru has a precise, slightly flinty bouquet that exudes typicité. Hints of oyster shell emerge with time in the glass. The palate is (again) precise with a killer line of acidity, very fresh and linear. One of Sauzet’s most elegant Puligny wines, this vintage with a persistent saline aftertaste. Superb.Vinous Media | 93-95 VMPure lemon yellow. The bouquet is delicious, softly ripe fruit, no citrus here. This is rather special as well, but not quite as nuanced as the Sauzet Champ Canet and with a little more yellow fruit. There is plenty of weight here, even a touch of bacon fat, perhaps not quite the length of my very favourites. Slightly more massive in style. Drink from 2027-2036. Tasted: October 2023.Jasper Morris | 91-94 JMThe 2022 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru La Truffière reveals notes of yellow orchard fruit, nutmeg, orange zest, honeycomb and iodine, followed by a medium to full-bodied, satiny and seamless palate that’s layered and saline. This parcel tends to suffer in warm, dry vintages to such an extent that Riffault intends to increase the height of his trellising here.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91-92 RP

More lemon than lime in the colour. Not much bouquet at first sniff. On the palate, this opens out further, a lovely sense of harmony, just ripe fruit, with a good point of mineral acidity, and a persistent aftertaste. Drink from 2027-2035. Tasted: October 2023.Jasper Morris | 91-94 JMThe 2022 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Referts is lovely, bursting with aromas of pear, green apple, confit citrus, freshly baked bread and toasted nuts. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and racy, with an envelopingly textural attack that segues into a pure, mineral palate, it’s seamless and harmonious.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91-93 RPThe 2022 Puligny-Montrachet Les Referts 1er Cru has a delightful bouquet with green apple, nectarine, and subtle wet pavement scents, quite generous in style with a hint of praline. The palate is taut and fresh, with very fine tension. It is one of the most citric cuvées from Sauzet with a flinty, slightly reductive finish, suggesting it will require a couple of years in a bottle.Vinous Media | 91-93 VM

The 2022 Puligny-Montrachet Les Combettes 1er Cru has a clean, precise bouquet with wet limestone, Granny Smith apples, menthol and light sea spray scents that could only originate from this appellation. The palate is very well-balanced, one of the most powerful of Sauzet’s Premier Crus. It possesses perhaps its spiciest and most texturally satisfying finishes that lingers long in the mouth. Excellent.Vinous Media | 93-95 VMAnother beautiful bouquet after an elegant colour. This keeps building, and seems to have rediscovered the magic of Combettes which I thought was lost in the hottest years. There is a fulsome weight of white fruit, while retaining energy. Just enough acidity, with ripe apples at the finish. Drink from 2027-2036. Tasted: October 2023.Jasper Morris | 92-95 JMThe 2022 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes is terrific, offering up aromas of pear, citrus zest, white flowers, toasted nuts and fresh mint, followed by a medium to full-bodied, satiny and layered palate that’s dense and structured, with racy acids and chalky grip. I suspect it may surpass even the excellent 2020 version.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RP

The 2017 Meursault 1er Cru Goutte d’Or is an elegant, precise wine that was less advanced in its élevage than the Meursault lieux-dits that proceeded it. Offering up aromas of apple, pear, white flowers and pastry cream, it’s medium to full-bodied, satiny and delicately textural, with good concentration and reserved depth at the core that suggests more is to come. I look forward to revisiting it from bottle.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | (91-93)+ RPThe 2017 Meursault Goutte d’Or 1er Cru possesses a sunny bouquet of tropical scents of pineapple, honey and peach, perhaps just missing the delineation of its peers. The palate is well balanced and slightly honeyed in texture (possibly with a touch of botrytis?). Very harmonious, with lovely white peach and Nashi pear notes toward the Puligny-like finish. A very classy Meursault that should age well in bottle. Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting in Savigny-lès-Beaune.Vinous Media | 91 VM

A seductive white that draws you in with heady aromas of stone, butter, hazelnut and lemon. The intensity continues on the palate, where the mineral element and vivid acidity elevate the white peach, apple and baking spice notes. The texture borders on creamy, but maintains a mineral edge and cascades on the long aftertaste. Best from 2021 through 2030. 5 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 96 WSThe best of Pierre-Yves Colin Morey’s Meursaults comes from the lower part of Perrières, very close to the limit with Puligny-Montrachet. The humidity in the soil was a boon in 2017, helping the vineyard to produce a premier cru that’s racy, refined and very pure, with laser-like focus and intensity and a kiss of oak. (Drink between 2022-2030)Decanter | 95 DEC(Colin’s vines are located just across the road from his Charmes and a bit closer to the village of Meursault): Bright, pale yellow-green. Wonderfully delicate aromas of underripe pineapple, white peach, flowers, spices and crushed rock. Denser than Colin’s other Meursault premier crus but its uncanny thickness is fully buffered by dusty, palate-staining minerality. This very pure wine shows the penetrating energy of a tungsten filament. Consistent from start to endless finish. There’s still an impression of sweetness here as the wine has two grams per liter of residual sugar, but Colin suspects that one of his three 350-liter barrels has not yet completely finished its sugar fermentation.Vinous Media | 93-95 VMAs is usually the case chez Colin, this is the most elegant wine among these 1ers with its cool, pure and airy nose of lemon peel, mineral reduction, apple, pear and soft floral nuances. There is very good concentration to the seductively textured but precise medium-bodied flavors that flash plenty of minerality on the saline and strikingly persistent finish. Note well however that this chiseled effort is very firm and is a wine that is going to require extended patience. (Drink starting 2029)Burghound | 91-94 BHThe 2017 Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières is strongly marked by its terroir, offering up a crisp bouquet of lemon oil, tart green apple, crushed chalk, iodine and subtle spices. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, taut and tensile with tangy acids and a pronouncedly chalky, mineral quality.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92-94 RP

The Clos des Mouches made by Joseph Drouhin may be more famous, but Bichot’s parcel of 0.7ha, situated in the highest part of the Premier Cru, is pretty impressive in its own right. Bright, focused and chiselled, it’s the sort of white that wouldn’t look out of place in Puligny-Montrachet, combining citrus, wet stone and aniseed flavours.Drinking Window 2021 - 2028Decanter | 94 DECA creamy-textured white with sliced apples, pears, cream and some lemon and lime rind. Hints of morning yogurt and smoke. Medium-bodied, ready and delicious. Drink now or hold.James Suckling | 92 JSCream and roasted hazelnut notes create an inviting, rounded nose on this wine. The palate has that same hazelnut richness and creamy flow, buttressed by freshness that recalls lemon and yellow pear. A lovely balance and a juicy, fresh finish do justice to the warm 2018 vintage. Drink by 2035.Wine Enthusiast | 92 WE(Domaine du Pavillon (Pommard) - Domaines Albert Bichot Beaune "Clos des Mouches" 1er Cru White) An overtly floral nose combines notes of various white-fleshed fruit with those of lemon grass and spice wisps. The sleek, delicious and equally seductively textured medium-bodied flavors possess very good depth and sneaky length. This balanced effort should drink well young as well as with a few years of bottle aging. (Drink starting 2024)Burghound | 91 BHMarked by vivid acidity, this white evokes lemon, apple, vanilla and clove notes. A tad disjointed, this could use a year to integrate, or decant now. Shows echoes of oak spice on the finish. Best from 2022 through 2029. 480 cases made, 100 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 90 WS