2023 Bourgogne Chardonnay

This producer has enjoyed a purple patch over the last decade. Winemaker Damien Colin together with his sister Caroline have overseen some scintillating expressions from vines that populate Saint-Aubin, Chassagne and Puligny-Montrachet. It reaches its zenith with their holdings in Montrachet, the original split into quarters, their Domaine with two of those, the other quarters with older brother Pierre Yves Colin and Joseph Colin.

“There was no frost, and the flowering went very well at around the usual time of year,” Colin explains down in his tasting room. “There was no heat stress during the growing season as there were occasional storms. There was no problem with mildew in 2023 but more with oidium, which made it difficult farming organically. I started the harvest on September 1. You had to sort carefully, especially for the younger vines. The yield averaged around 55 hl/ha. We are still using natural yeasts during fermentation, and we did just a tiny amount of pigeage for the reds. The malo passed normally during the winter and we matured 11 months in barrel and then six months in stainless steel, 10% new oak for the reds. The whites are still in vat, aged in a maximum of 15% new oak for the Saint-Aubins and 20-25% for the Chassagnes, the barrels sourced from three cooperages, mostly François Frères. We will bottle the wines early next year. It was a generous year for the red wines, but the older vines limited yields. Vine age is crucial for this vintage.”

We always have a frank exchange on the quality of the wines. Like Pascal Mugneret and Christophe Perrot-Minot, they want honest feedback. This year, I felt that the best quality, certainly when considering price, lies within the strong array of Saint-Aubin, not least their stunning La Chatenière. Perhaps the Chassagne and Puligny cuvées are just a whisker away from the 2022s that exuded nascent ambition, though unequivocally, their Montrachet is an apex of the entire vintage, quite profound. No, I did not use my spittoon.