Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru ‘la Garenne‘ - Chardonnay

Chardonnay | 1er Cru wijngaard | 0,14 ha bezit | vergist en gerijpt op eikenhout, 10-25% nieuw | daarna 4-6 maandan op rvs gerijpt | rijke wijn | krachtig | veel spanning en diepgang | 5 -10  jaar fles rijping is een pré voor deze wijn 

Domaine de Montille 

Dit uit de 17 eeuw stammende wijngoed staat onder regie van Etienne en Alix de Montille. Het duo produceert wijnen uit iets meer dan 20 verschillende appelaties in de Bourgogne. Waar papa in de jaren '80 en '90 zich mocht rekenen tot een van de de allerbeste Pinot Noir producenten op deze aardbol pakken broer en zus Montille het veel breder aan. Zo werd Château de Puligny-Montrachet gekocht met een enorm sterk portfolio wijngaarden (vooral Chardonnay) en starte Alix haar eigen negocé (Maison Montille). Sinds onze start in de samenwerking proefde we in de oogst van 2014 wit en rood 2011 al een enorme positieve ontwikkeling door. Alix getrouwd met JM Roulot in Meursault richt zich steeds meer op de witte wijnen. 

Review

"La Garenne" comes from the medieval Latin word "Warenna", a term signifying woods surrounded by walls or hedgerows that lords used for breeding and hunting small game, especially rabbit. (This is from where the expression "lapin de garenne" comes.) The vineyard "La Garenne" in Puligny, which belonged to the Maizières Abbey, is located in the village of Blagny.

It is a small vineyard with a surface of only 0.14 hectare located at the top of the slopes and planted around 1950. An austere and wind-swept area, it is just on the cusp of the heights of Puligny's Premier Crus. Nonetheless, when the vines are well-tended, this wine offers a grand elegance and freshness. Reserved, the wine is fine, tense, mineral and subtle. Classically Puligny, it is my house wine, one that I love to share.

The wines, the style

Our wines are known for their great aromatic purity. We always favor balance and elegance over power and extraction. The wines are classic expressions of Burgundy, of their appellations in general and of their specific terroirs in particular. The farming methods we use contribute to this individual style, and our winemaking methods aim to avoid excessive outside influences in order to bring out the equilibrium that can be found naturally in Burgundian terroir.

All our fruit is hand-harvested. Thanks to pneumatic presses, we can calibrate our presses to fit the quality of the grapes and the profile of the vintage. After a light settling, the musts are placed mostly in 600-liter barrels as well as in 228-liter barrels, where the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations take place.

We use approximately five to twenty percent new casks primarily made from Allier wood that sees a long yet light toasting. The first racking occurs after about one year of wood aging, after which begins the second, four- to six-month phase in stainless steel, which preserves the wine's freshness and tension. We finish the aging with a light fining followed by a similarly light and respectful filtration before bottling. - Montille 

The 2016 Puligny Montrachet la Garenne was one of the last vineyards to be picked. It has a brisk, slightly minty bouquet that opens nicely in the glass. The palate has good volume with cooking apple and fresh pear scents, although I would like to see more tension and nervosité toward the finish.

“In 2015 the wines were natural pre-ferment and in 2016 we used some SO2 because of the growing season,” winemaker Brian Sieve told me as I tasted through his latest wines in Meursault. “The fruit came in clean after we started picking on 16 or 17 September, but we treated the vines 13 times instead of seven or eight. It was a growing season that did not give us the confidence [to obviate the use of sulfur]. If you don’t sulfur pre-fermentation then there is tendency to have a slow finish to the ferment and the malolactic can start at the same time and give some VA issues. So in a clean year you are prepared to take a risk...but not in 2016. There was oidium pressure from the beginning of the season insofar that the chances of outbreak were high, but we also had mildew, not only on the leaves but also on the canes. It is one of the first times that I have seen that. The wines will be bottled in January of February.” This was an up and down showing from Château de Puligny-Montrachet due to the challenges of the growing season that seemed to affect some vineyards and not others. On several occasions I discerned a lack of tension vis-à-vis recent vintages, whereas the likes of Les Folatières and the En Remilly seemed to sparkle. [See also Maison Montille and Domaine de Montille.] William Kelley 90/100