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Bouard-Bonnefoy, Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru, “En Remilly”

Burgundy, France 2017 (750mL)
$88.00
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Fruit
Earth
Body
Tannin
Acid
Alcohol

Bouard-Bonnefoy, Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru, “En Remilly”

Fabrice Bouard is not your typical Burgundian vigneron. His career as a bodyguard for French dignitaries prepared him for the role of winemaker by imparting a particular steeliness of spirit, a resourcefulness that comes in handy during difficult vintages. His wife Carine Bonnefoy brings the hereditary chops as the fourth generation of a Chassagne family of vintners.
Their domaine (which touches Domaine Ramonet’s parcel of Chassagne 1er “Morgeot”) is a minuscule, farmstead-scale operation designed to supply locals, friends, and family with their hand-crafted wines. But cream rises to the top, and Bouard-Bonnefoy has found an eager audience well outside the Côte de Beaune—thanks in large part to precision-crafted whites like this 2017 Chassagne-Montrachet from the celebrated Premier Cru “Les Vergers.” Although the family’s holdings include vineyards in other villages, Bouard-Bonnefoy is first and foremost a Chassagne-Montrachet specialist, and while other bottlings of theirs show off the more broad-shouldered, fleshier side of Chassagne Chardonnay, this one is more tensile and sleek, poised for a long, graceful evolution. It may not say “Grand Cru” on the label, but when you taste this wine you instantly feel like you’ve reached the very top of the Burgundy Chardonnay pyramid. And given that Fabrice makes just a few barrels of this wine each vintage, we consider ourselves privileged to have any to share with you—take up to six bottles today and know that they’ve got 10-20 years under the hood!
Chassagne-Montrachet was especially hard-hit by the spring frosts of 2016, so it must have been gratifying for Fabrice and Carine that 2017 was a vintage of both quantity and quality. Nevertheless, they do not make a lot of wine: Their vineyard holdings total about 8 hectares, most of them old-vine sites passed down from Carine’s family, and their annual production easily fits into that aforementioned garage. The Bouard-Bonnefoy team ignores commercial farming in favor of sustainable, traditional methods. Everything is done by hand, including a gentle pressing in a hand-cranked wooden antique. Wild yeasts carry out fermentation before the wine is delicately aged in 20 percent new French oak. Finally, bottles are labeled and corked by hand. It’s this attention to detail that makes me believe Bouard-Bonnefoy’s wines are the antidote to the mechanized, homogenized bottles of the modern world, and certainly some of the best-quality white Burgundy on the market. 
 
Bouard-Bonnefoy’s parcel of the “Les Vergers” Premier Cru was planted to 100 percent Chardonnay in 1996. It’s positioned a little higher up the slope, between 700-800 feet, with a due-east exposition and a fairly rocky soil combination. The name Vergers means “orchard,” recalling a time—not that long ago—when that portion of Chassagne was dotted with fruit trees. Within the Bouard-Bonnefoy lineup (which includes bottling from four other Chassagne Premier Crus), Les Vergers is perhaps the most linear and mineral of the group, and in ’17 they’ve crafted a version that feels like it’s vibrating with nervous energy. You can feel the underlying concentration in the wine as well—in about 5-7 years time, when this wine enters its prime drinking window, it is going to be downright explosive!
 
In the glass, the 2017 ‘Les Vergers’ shines bright gold, flecked through with green. The first whiff is all yellow fruits—Mirabelle plums, ripe Meyer lemons, and tart apple skin. The palate is both fruitier and more acidic, with notes of yellow apple, honeycomb, and crushed stone. The minerality is quintessential Chassagne: a combination of chalk and oyster that lingers long after you’ve put down the glass. It’s ripe without ever feeling opulent, weighty without ever feeling heavy. ‘Les Vergers’ is held up by a fine, acidic backbone that promises another 10-20 years of graceful evolution. But try the first bottle tonight with a warm, buttery lobster roll and a generous wedge of lemon. It’s one of the greatest (and most straightforward) food pairings you’ll ever enjoy!
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Country
France
Region
Burgundy
Sub-Region
FranceChassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru
Soil
Limestone & Clay
Farming
'lutte raisonnée'
Blend
Chardonnay 100%
Alcohol
13.5
OAK
20% New French
TEMP.
50-55
Glassware
Burgundy Stems
Drinking
Now-2035
Decanting
30-60 Minutes
Pairing
Ultimate Lobster Rolls

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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