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With the 2017 Burgundy En Primeur campaign in full swing, here are a pair of small domaines in Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet respectively which offer first-rate white burgundy at excellent prices.
Domaine Michelot in Meursault is well-known in the UK, but the winemaking here has evolved during the last decade. We first tasted here over 20 years ago, with the late, charismatic Bernard Michelot, who kindly opened vintages stretching back to the 1950s..."quelque chose pour l'education!". It was education we have never forgotten, but the style of the wines has changed tremendously in the intervening decades.
The wines are now made by Bernard's grandson Nicolas Mestre. Like many winemakers in the village, he has moved away from obvious new oak influence to focus on fruit character, but he seems to have gone further than many of his neighbours. Tasting in the cellar here is a master class in every possible descriptor one can muster to describe the diversity of fruit, floral and spiced notes of which Chardonnay is capable. The local saying is 'in Burgundy, another vineyard is another country, another village another world'. This is never truer than when tasting the various lieu dits and 1er Crus from Michelot.
In Puligny, Alexandra Pascal of Domaine Jean Pascal makes 'artisan' Puligny-Montrachet, with lovely purity of fruit and a robustness which echoes her own character. The Pascals also run a 'pépinière', a vine nursery business, supplying young vines to many of their neighbours and their expertise shows in the quality of fruit from what are, most likely, some of the healthiest vines in the Côte d'Or. The pithy 'ciselé' (chiselled) character of Alexandra's white wines gives them a seriousness and intensity, and this goes for the humble Auxey-Duresses as much as for the more illustrious 1er Crus.
Offered En Primeur, wines due to land in the UK in November 2019.
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