For customers of SommSelect, few white Burgundy producers seem to deliver as consistently and thrillingly as Jean-Marc Pillot. Everyone adores these wines. Pillot’s whites balance layered, mineral character and rich texture, combined with a palpable sense of regalness and class. These are extremely serious expressions of the ancient Chassagne-Montrachet terroir, and Pillot’s top Premier Crus in the village could easily pass in a blind tasting for another property’s $300+ Grand Cru.
We are offering the celebrated 1er Cru “Les Chenevottes”, Jean Marc’s most northerly holding in Chassagne and one of his most limited cuvées imported into the US. This small collection of vines, separated from Grand Cru “Le Montrachet” by only one small parcel, perennially produces one of Pillot’s most refined and detailed whites, of which less than 25 cases enter the US each vintage. So while it has never required much arm-twisting to convince our clients of Pillot’s brilliance, we want to underscore that this wine is a particularly special and rare treat.
Jean-Marc Pillot is the 4th consecutive generation of his family to produce white Burgundy. He began working directly beneath his father, Jean, in 1985. By 1991, Jean-Marc had assumed leadership of the family property, though he is assisted in numerous regards by his wife, Nadine, and sister, Beatrice. Pillot owns and farms an impressive collection of Premier and Grand Cru vineyards in the villages of Santenay, Puligny, Meursault, Montigny and Remigny. Still, for me, the family’s most exciting wines originate from their Premier Cru holdings in Chassagne-Montrachet. This wine originates from Pillot’s small .29 hectare parcel in the Premier Cru of Les Chenevottes that was most recently replanted in 1950. This is Pillot’s most northern cru in Chassagne—a literal stone’s throw from the Grand Cru “Le Montrachet”—and over the decades its limestone soils have produced some of the family’s most refined, delicate and “serious” wines. Only one barrel’s worth (25 cases) of wine enters the US each year, so this is also one of Jean-Marc’s rarest Crus.
The Pillot family hand harvested fruit for this wine in late September 2013, before fermentation in 1 to 5 year-old oak barrels. Following fermentation, the wine aged on its fine lees for a year, before being racked into stainless steel tanks where it rested and clarified for an additional six months. Pillot does not filter or cold stabilize to rush the process, so his wines always retain a certain vividness and dimension that is impossible to counterfeit. These are authentic, and extremely “grown up” wines that express the Chassagne-Montrachet terroir in all its power and vivid detail.
In the glass, the 2013 Jean-Marc Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes is bright yellow with slight golden tones on the rim. Aromas of yellow apple, Bosc pear, lemon blossoms, hazelnuts, acacia honey, wild mushroom, crushed limestone and hints of oyster shell rise from the glass. As always with Pillot, aromatics share the spotlight with an equally impressive palate—there are no hard edges or signs of awkward youth. All elements coalesce to form a gorgeous and fully realized finished product wherein fruit, acid and minerality are all suspended in perfect harmony. With Pillot, we generally encourage clients to enjoy the wine in two ways. First, Pillot has proved his ability to bottle Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Crus that drink beautifully in their youth with minimal fuss. So, if you wish to enjoy a bottle soon, simply decant for thirty minutes to an hour before service at about 50-55 degrees, then enjoy it in a large Burgundy stem. This wine evolves dramatically after an hour in the decanter, and it will blossom when the temperature rises to over 60 degrees—just give it a little time. The second and equally rewarding way to enjoy Pillot is to set it aside for 4-5 years. This is not a wine that requires an eternity of patience and deferred pleasure; just a brief rest in the cellar before it releases its more mysterious and nutty secondary aromatic palette. Recently opened 2008 and 2009 Pillot premier crus are showing beautifully right now and this wine will surely follow a similarly flattering path. Long story short, this is a gorgeous bottle that has a lot to offer. You will not be disappointed.
