2023 Montrachet Grand Cru

Domaine d’Eugénie is about to undertake major changes. Firstly, this was the last vintage overseen by Michel Mallard, who will henceforth focus on his namesake Domaine in Ladoix as his father retires. I will continue to follow his wines as I have done for many years. In his place will be Korean-born winemaker Jae Chu, who joined us for the tasting and suffered my sense of humor.

“I arrived in Dijon in 2008,” she explains. “I was a trainee at d’Eugénie for two years in 2009 and continued to study at Dijon University. From 2019, I was in charge of Chateau Grillet for five vintages and…now I have returned.”

I look forward to tasting with Chu in years to come. In the meantime…2023.

“We had a good flowering,” Mallard tells me. “There was a first wave of heat in July where some of the Meursault was affected by hail. July and August were a bit cool, then from mid-August to mid-September there was heat, with 45mm of rain. This concentrated the fruit. Two green harvests were conducted during the summer months. We started the picking on August 31 with the whites, the reds beginning on September 1 and finishing on the September 9. We had to adapt the picking, harvesting earlier in the morning and cooling the fruit in a truck. This was sorted the following day. We had to sort a lot because of rot and acid rot. Yields were 40 hl/ha when they are usually around 30 hl/ha. I would have vinified using 80% stems for the Vosne Brûlées, but in the end, I used 50% as there was too much rot. But there are 100% stems used for the Chambertin.”

Chambertin? Yes, the range will expand here as they will vinify the Côte de Nuits vineyards previously part of Bouchard Père & Fils (see separate Producer Profile for further information). I tasted through the entire range, which includes the Bonnes-Mares and Chambertin, as well as the whites made in quantities that barely fill a thimble.