2020 Jean-Claude Bachelet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Encegnieres

2020 Jean-Claude Bachelet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Macherelles

2020 Jean-Claude Bachelet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Macherelles presents a finely tuned nose of citrus lemon, peach skin and touches of candle wax and crushed stone. The palate is clean and precise on the entry, then very smooth and harmonious, offering seductive peachy, mango notes. Not amazingly complex on the finish, yet there is fine persistence and sensibility to this Chassagne.

One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn’t like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.

Jean-Baptiste (first vintage 2005) and Benoît Bachelet (first vintage 2000) are now the primary winemakers at the family domaine, which has been making wine since the early 17th century.  The domaine is based in the village of Gamay, a hamlet of Saint-Aubin, and they have ten hectares, producing half red and half white. Almost half of the vineyards are in Chassagne-Montrachet, another 40% of the vineyards are in Saint-Aubin, and the remaining 13% of their holdings are in Puligny-Montrachet. All of the vineyards are estate-owned, and they started conversion to biodynamic production in 2012. In 2016, all ten hectares were managed following biodynamic principles. Although it means a lot more work in the vineyards, the brothers find that the wines have more precision and you get a stronger sense of terroir.