Puligny Montrachet Grand Cru

Fabulously bright colour, with a little green tint. The bouquet is restrained but also magical, with superb power through the middle, and intensity rather than weight. Really long.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

There have been some changes in vinification this year, making the wines a little more Jean-Marc Roulot in style: the grapes are now crushed before pressing, there is less settling of the juice, very little new wood is used and the wines are racked into tank after a year but still kept on their lees. The grapes were picked during the last week in September. Overall, this is an excellent result for the team at Château de Puligny.

Pure, clean and very backward on the nose, just giving the first signs of the fruit to come. But this is really impressive on the palate with chiselled purity, significant body and real length. An exceptionally graceful finish. The best Chevalier from the Chteau to date!
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

Around 30 percent down due to frost this year, this is a wine of wonderful purity and elegance, from the delicate, peach and citrus-scented nose through to the fine, precise and mineral palate. There is still an underlying sensation of brooding power which will no doubt open out to fill the palate, and a lovely finish of toasty oak. Drink 2023-2033.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

At 115 hectares, Domaine Joseph Faiveley is one of the biggest domaines in Burgundy. The company has been based in Nuits-St Georges since the days of Pierre Faiveley who founded the business in 1825. His son Joseph gave his name to the family business, to be followed by the first François, Georges who helped found the Chevaliers du Tastevin, Guy who developed the business in the Côte Chalonnaise, François who has retired and now his son Erwan, born in 1979. The change of generation has dynamised the business: there’s been a notable expansion of vineyards, including Domaines Annick Parent, Monnot and Matrot- Wittersheim in the Côte de Beaune, as well as Dupont-Tisserandot (Gevrey) and Billaud- Simon (Chablis). Old-style Faiveley wines could be massively tannic at the expense of the fruit. From 2007 the wines are much fresher and fruitier, yet with real intensity. Harvest began on the 22nd September in the Côte de Beaune, taking an unusually long three weeks to ensure everything was fully ripe. In terms of frost damage, the Côte de Beaune was worst-hit, along with some Gevrey parcels, but where there was no frost damage, the yields were good. Stylistically, the red wines have seen slightly less whole-bunch than in 2015, and the wines continue in the new, more elegant style. The feeling is that 2016 reds are fresher and crunchier than 2015, while Erwan suggests that the white wines have the potential to be better than 2014.

The nose shows such concentration that it's hard to make out the detail but it is not only massively concentrated but really classy. The volume is sensational here and the acidity is lurking. This wine will continue to build during its remaining time in barrel and will provide a great experience of Montrachet in the long term.
Jasper Morris MW - Burgundy Wine Director

 

Comprising two whole hectares, the fortunate Marquis de Laguiche has the biggest holding by far in Le Montrachet. This incredible wine starts quietly but then a sensational weight of fruit floods the palate, all but eclipsing anything that has gone before. The wine is perfectly poised, for all its power, but will need another decade before the thought of drinking it should even cross the mind. It will not be bottled until next summer.

A sensual and stylish bouquet gives rise to a feeling of perfect harmony and balance in this Montrachet from Maison Joseph Drouhin. This stretches out magnificently on the palate and the oak has been perfectly integrated with natural acidity, keeping the wine fresh despite its awesome intensity.

At this early stage the oak is more evident than for the straight Chevalier-Montrachet, perhaps hiding the fruit a touch on the nose. However, in the mouth the fruit shows incredible weight and energy, with opulent peaches and nectarines, all in a coating of expensive wood. 
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

The 2013 grapes were picked between 30th September and 11th October. The white skins were fragile so pressing was very gentle, the reds more robust and capable of a good proportion of whole bunch fermentation. Most wines are now in tank with bottling a little earlier than usual. An exceptional range of reds in particular from Bouchard this year.

Excellent, clear and bright, there is very little nose at this early stage but sublime fruit on the palate, with a mineral core and exceptional persistence. It offers intensity rather than weight, with maybe a little pear and white peach fruit leading to a fabulous finish. Grand vin.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

In response to the very small concentrated berries which characterise the fruit in 2012, Philippe Prost, head winemaker, has opted for more whole bunch fermentation this year, up to 25% per cuvée. The wines are exceptionally intense, so a little leavening by the inclusion of some stems makes sense. The white wines are bursting with energy, clearly amongst the successes of the vintage.

The 2013 Le Montrachet Grand Cru has a very reserved bouquet, a light marine influence coming through with aeration of shucked oyster shells and a smidgen of orange rind. The palate is fresh and crisp, compact, more austere than the two Chevaliers at the moment, with very laconic, tight-lipped finish compared to others that I have tasted. Let’s see...this is giving away zilch at the moment! 
Neal Martin - Wine Advocate - eRobertParker.com - Dec 2014

Le Montrachet is elegant and refined aromatically with complexity to the gorgeous and highly nuanced nose of dried flowers, spice elements and a broad range of both white and yellow orchard fruit scents.

There is superb volume and richness to the big-bodied and very serious flavors that are overtly muscular and also blessed with an abundance of dry extract that, in the same fashion as the Corton-Charlemagne, imparts a borderline chewy quality to the faultlessly balanced finish. What I find interesting about this wine is that it is at once openly decadent and opulent yet it remains beautifully refined. Whatever the magic, the key point is that this is most impressive.
95/100 Allen Meadows, burghound.com

Gagnard's Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru shows a powerful nose with delicate peach notes which lead to amazing intensity, building brilliantly to the back of the palate. This wine is a huge mouthful, with tannins from the new wood helping to complete the structure

Only 2.5 barrels were made. Its bouquet is very dense but exceptionally backward, as befits a Grand Cru. On the palate, the fruit absolutely swells, with a very engaging lime mineral thread while all the expected weight remains in superb balance. This is incredibly persistent.

“This is definitely the best vintage I have made in white,” says Benjamin. “The wines have great vineyard definition; I would just have loved to have made more. It is my style of vintage.” His reds, too, have gorgeous layers of ripe fruit, so 2014 is clearly a significant success all round for Benjamin.

Further cuvées are available from Benjamin and can be found at www.bbr. com/burgundy2014. Note – all the white wines will be bottled under top-quality screwcaps, StelvinLux Plus.

From a prime plot of Bâtard with old vines producing regular very small grapes, this is pale and bright in colour, with a magical intensity of chiselled Chardonnay fruit on the nose, it opens out gloriously on the palate, with a little touch of coconut, to very complex, ripe fruit notes but dominated by stone fruit. There is a sense of vibrancy throughout, while layers of fruit keep building in the mouth.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

This superb domaine grows in reputation and also in size: this year sees the first vintage of Nuits-St Georges, Clos de Thorey. Look out for even further additions in the next two years. Winemaker Pierre Vincent’s style is for lighter colours and very sensual wines and he has done a cracking job again in 2012; a vintage which supported the plentiful use of whole bunch fermentation. The domaine is certified organic and fully biodynamic.

Very pale and clear in colour, again with a light green tint, this is exceptionally fine-boned, with tremendous elegance and mineral purity. It combines discretion with intensity. This is no blockbuster, but rather is much more linear in style and very fine indeed with amazing persistence.

The progress we noted with the 2013 vintage here has been further developed with an excellent range of 2014 wines. Extra details apparent this year are the enhanced use of lees after racking and the minimal use of sulphur without risking oxidation. The Château de Puligny rises a further few notches up the ladder. Étienne de Montille notes that, in 2014, “there was super clean fruit and we could pick at leisure”.

Just two barrels of this were made, both new oak. The nose is discreet; it is too early for the wine to speak, but the palate has everything – oak, pears, a thread of acidity, cashmere texture and great length. Very fine, persistent finish. Drink 2022-2029.
Jasper Morris MW - Wine Buyer

The biodynamic Bachelet boys, Benoît and Jean-Baptiste, began picking on 3rd September, reporting  very good yields in white, close to the ideal, but down in red. The whites are superb again this year, scarcely showing any sense of heat, but enjoying excellent concentration with good balancing acidity. I would sign up for this every year, says Jean-Baptiste! As always, the wines will stay in barrel for nearly two years before bottling.