2019 Blanc Ladoix Village

I have been visiting Michel Mallard’s winery in Ladoix for a number of years now. Of course, we became acquainted when I first met him at Domaine d’Eugénie in Vosne-Romanée where he continues to work [see the relevant Producer Profile coming in Part 2 of this report], but I am equally interested in his family’s wines that congregate on the northern extreme of the Côte de Beaune. Mallard himself is a tall, athletic and garrulous man who divides his time overseeing wines for one of the wealthiest proprietors in the world with his own humbler wines that deserve more attention. “We started picking on 9 September and over the next nine days, one hectare per day with sorting in the vineyard,” Mallard told me in his living room, log fire roaring away behind me after I moaned about his cellar being too Arctic one year. “There were low yields for the whites due to low temperatures shocking the vines during flowering, then afterwards, the dry conditions. We did not have the water of 2018. Normally, I should make 5,000 bottles of the Ladoix Blanc but this year it is 1,200. We did more maceration this year than working the cap and the highest alcohol is with my Ladoix Village Blanc at 13.9°. For all the Village reds there is one 500-litre barrel for every six barrels. I used 40% whole bunches for the Village Crus and up to 70% for the Grand Crus.”

I really enjoyed Mallard’s 2019s. The Corton Rognets and Les Renardes battle it out for best in show, the latter likely to need more time in the cellar. But what I really admire about Mallard is that he is a flag-waver for Ladoix, arguably the most “untrendy” appellation. Just taste his Ladoix Le Clos Royer to see what can be achieved – and it isn’t even a Premier Cru!