Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey only completed its first independent vintage in 2006, but its lineage is undeniable. Winemaker Pierre-Yves Colin (son of Marc Colin) and his wife, Caroline (daughter of Jean-Marc Morey), are modern-day Burgundy royalty. Pierre-Yves worked for his father at Domaine Marc Morey after his enology education in Beaune and also learned under the greats in the Northern Rhône, Languedoc and the Loire Valley before setting up his own, now-famous shop in Chassagne-Montrachet. With examples from Chassagne-Montrachet, Saint-Aubin, Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet, every bottle in Pierre-Yves’ lineup is highly sought-after and lives up to every bit of hype.

 

This pedigreed examples hail from three of the top Premier Cru vineyards in Burgundy; each site sits near the border of Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet, where the greatest examples of Chardonnay in the world call home. Les Chenevottes is only separated by a tiny parcel from the grandest of Grand Crus, Le Montrachet, and offers the aromatic complexity, pitch-perfect balance and rich texture I dream about but rarely encounter. Les Champs Gain is in Puligny-Montrachet, only one vineyard away from the Grand Cru Chevalier-Montrachet, and is noted for its focused minerality and higher elevation, delivering unrivaled precision, focus and longevity. La Garenne is adjacent to Les Champs Gain and consistently delivers fiery acidity, pristine fruit and the flinty minerality we all crave from the best examples of this terroir.

 

In these special vineyards, Monsieur Colin forgoes the use of herbicides and plows manually in an effort to deepen the root system, which results in immense concentration and complexity. Each Premier Cru bottling is derived from a mere 2-3 barrels and is crafted from only the most carefully selected fruit. The juice is pressed into barrel where the wine ferments with only native yeast and is never racked. The wine then undergoes a slow, cold and spontaneous malolactic fermentation, which isn’t completed until 8-9 months after harvest, thus retaining ample freshness and purity of fruit. Although the wine ages on its lees, it does not receive batonnage (stirring of lees) or filtration. Pierre-Yves uses only 30% new oak in 350-liter demi-muid barrels, which are larger than normal Burgundian barrels (225L). The lack of batonnage and the use of larger, mostly older barrels yields exceedingly fresh, terroir-driven wines that are transparent, brightly aromatic expressions of Chardonnay. Although he is a ‘non-interventionist,’ there are a multitude of tiny nuances that deliver perfection in the glass.

 

Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey’s wines are on my short list of the very greatest wines of Burgundy year after year. There’s a reason why people fight to get every bottle they can get their hands on. Due to the incredibly small allocation of these wines, I haven’t even opened up my own bottles and will not be doing tasting notes for this offer. Nevertheless, you can rest assured that these wines will become some of the greatest treasures of your collection. All wines should be decanted for an hour and enjoyed at about cellar temp, or a touch above (55-60F), to enjoy their full personality. I would advise waiting until these wines achieve three or four years of bottle age, although they can be stunning in their youth, if they have enough air. Please note that sometimes a bottle might need more than an hour of air if opened very young. I anticipate these wines truly peaking at about 7-15 years of age. Enjoy!