2018 Bourgogne Rouge

Heading down to the village of Dezize-lès-Maranges always leaves me feeling happy because it means I am en route to meet Alexandre and Marc Bachelet and tasting their impressive whites and reds. Marc Bachelet escorted me through the 2019s and a number of 2018s. “We started picking on 6 September and finished on 20 September,” he told me. “Yields were around 42hl/ha for the reds and 30hl/ha for the whites, occasionally half the crop. The yields in Puligny-Montrachet were better. The low yields came because of the flowering and also since 2013 being organic. I guess it is the combination of different things over recent vintages. The whole bunches component on the red wines is selected from millerandé berries on the sorting table. We used around 25% for the 2018 red Premier Crus.” What can I say apart from every year these boys slam-dunk another raft of outstanding wines that brim with freshness and vigour. They have the knack. Their 2019 Bâtard-Montrachet is as good as any you will come across, but really what I love is how they elevate Maranges into something that exceeds all expectations, as demonstrated by a 2017 Maranges La Fussière I ordered from a restaurant list the following week.

My first visit during over five weeks of tasting was down in Maranges at Domaine Bachelet-Monnot, where Alexandre and Marc Bachelet have been on fire over recent vintages. They approach the vines organically but do not seek certification. "We used some whole bunch but adapted each cuvée to the amount desired," Marc Bachelet told me. "We had no problem with the dry conditions. We commenced picking on 28 August for the whites and the reds were picked from 3 until 8 September, keeping the yield around 40 to 45hl/ha. We use 20% new oak across the range and we were careful with pigeage in order not to over-extract. The malolactic was quite early, around mid-March instead of May/June. The wines were racked two weeks ago. With respect to the whites, I was worried that they were too heavy like the 2015s, but now very happy how they turned out."