One of the tricky things about great white Burgundy is that, given what you paid for it, you’re always weighing which occasion is “appropriate” for opening a bottle. That’s where the less-famous villages and “next door crus” come in: Today’s wine from the resurgent Château de Puligny-Montrachet, crafted by talented young gun Étienne de Montille, hails from one of the greatest next-door vineyards of them all: “En Remilly,” a Premier Cru in the village of Saint-Aubin.
If you’re a longtime subscriber, you know this vineyard and wine, and have likely skipped ahead to your shopping cart. This wine would shine in a blind tasting of Premier Crus from some of Saint-Aubin’s more-famous neighbors—many of which, based solely on being from Puligny- or Chassagne-Montrachet, would fetch twice the price (and then some). This 2016 is another stellar example of this exceptional, if small, vintage: crystalline, opulent, ripe, and perfectly balanced. Given that En Remilly sits next to Grand Cru Montrachet, what else would you expect?
Straddling the Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet borders, “En Remilly” is one of the great “insider” vineyards in all of Burgundy. It doesn’t quite fit into the Puligny or Chassagne appellations, and yet it’s close enough that you could hit a Montrachet vine with a rock if you had a decent Little League arm. En Remilly’s higher elevation and the cool breeze running through its valley also make it a solid wine bet as global temperatures rise.
Then there’s the winemaker at Château de Puligny-Montrachet. Étienne de Montille is Burgundian royalty: His family roots include 17th-century Volnay lords. Étienne’s father Hubert earned a name for his family domaine by crafting whites happy to sit almost as long in the cellar as the reds. Then it was Étienne’s turn. After stints in law and a brief year bartending at Chez Panisse in California, Étienne realized where his heart lay. He returned home and apprenticed under his exacting father. In addition to overseeing operations at the family domaine, which he took over in 1990, he and his sister, Alix, created a well-known négociant business and, in 2012, they purchased the historic Château de Puligny-Montrachet—which Étienne had run since 2001. He has revived the Château’s fortunes largely by focusing on the health and sustainability of its vineyards—not only converting them to organic/biodynamic farming but reducing overall wine production by 20 percent to focus on a smaller number of bottlings.
As you’ve heard here and elsewhere, 2016 was another hail-shortened vintage—meaning that storms in the spring stripped fledgling grape bunches off the vines and thus reduced the size of the eventual crop—but the fruit that did make it to harvest was of superb quality. As in past vintages, DeMontille coaxed brilliance from the Château’s 1.7 hectares in En Remilly, a feat no doubt aided by the average age (70 years) of his old vines. The 2016 version of this wine is both opulent and lively, showing excellent oak integration (only 20% new barrels are used) and lots of bright, lip-smacking Chardonnay fruit. In the glass, it displays a deep yellow-gold core moving to straw and silver at the rim, with an explosive nose of yellow apple, citrus, a hint of nectarine, salted lemon, honeysuckle, and wet stones. Medium- to medium-plus in body, with electrifying freshness to balance its ample extract, this is typical of a lot of ’16s in that it is very pleasurable now but also poised to lay down for another 5-7 years. I’d say do both: Open a bottle now and decant it about 45 minutes before serving in all-purpose white stems (or larger red Burgundy bowls) at 50-55 degrees. Its plush mid-palate, followed by its zippy, mouthwatering finish, will have you craving a beautiful piece of white-fleshed fish, sautéed and drizzled with lemon. I feel like I could eat (and drink) that every night, but this would be an especially good version. Enjoy!
