Climats de La Cote Chalonnaise

10 June 2015: Following our very educational tasting in the Mâcon  , we were hosted by Château de Chamirey for a tasting of the 5 villages from the Côte Chalonnaise. In 2010, Bertrand Devillard and Aubert de Villaine initiated a movement to promote the villages of the Côte Chalonnaise and formed the group “Climats de La Côte Chalonnaise” with 10 family-owned domaines as members.  Every year, the group organises tastings in Paris and London to present their wines and the new vintage to professionals and clients. They share their experiences with each other and their common goal in making the wines of the Côte Chalonnaise better known.

A selection of Rully Premiers Crus by Paul et Marie Jacqueson

Aladame's Montagny Premiers Crus

This is a region that offers richness in history, diversity and excellent price-quality ratio even at the Premier Cru level.  Every climat has its own unique character.  We were able to taste the poignant differences between Rully La Pucelle (more clay in the soil, rounded with such depth of character) and Rully Grésigny (more calcaire in the soil, more linear and mineral), by Paul and Marie Jacqueson, for example, or the different expressions of Montagny by Stéphane Aladame, from the tension and nervosity in Les Maroques to the finesse and elegance of Les Vignes Derrière, and amongst the reds such as Mercurey La Framboisière (more stony soil, with raspberry fragrance) and the Monopole Premier Cru Clos des Myglands (more intense with darker fruit) from Faiveley.  Where Mercurey offers structure and requires time to deliver its potential, Givry is charming and delights the palate with such juicy fruit and clarity of style.

Faiveley's 2 monopoles from Mercurey

Standing with full view of the magnificent Clos du Roi and the Touches hameau in the distance, our host, Amaury Devillard, who together with his sister Aurore, now looks after Château de Chamirey and Domaine de La Ferté (they also have Domaine des Perdrix in Nuits-Saint-Georges and Domaine de La Garenne in the Mâcon), spoke to us about the improvements in the past 15 years in the region. Such improvements have covered areas of viticulture, vinification, maturation, bottling and training of the people. The vignerons are now much more willing to replant and there have been a lot more replantings to ensure long-term sustainability and healthy, high quality fruit. Vine height has increased from 1 metre to 1.2 metre, so that the fruiting area has better exposure to sun, resulting in better ripening. Significant improvements have been made in the winery, including use of larger barrels to give more balanced white wine, better attention to prevent excessive oxygen uptake and more gentle and precise extraction.

I spoke to the Export Manager at Domaines Devillard, Cédric Ducoté, who visited Hong Kong recently to promote the wines. As the Devillard family also an estate in the Côte d’Or, he has been able to compare the sales trends from both Côtes. He said that it was encouraging to see increasing sales of the wines from the Côte Chalonnaise in Hong Kong. He alluded such improvements to the economic crisis driving consumers to search for expressive wines offering better quality-price ratio and also the limited supply from the Côte d’Or as a result of 3 very small vintages, which resulted in the loss of almost 1.5 harvest between 2010 and 2014, on average. These had created tremendous opportunity for wines from the Côte Chalonnaise, but it required education and targeted marketing.

Raising our glasses to thank Amaury Devillard for his hospitality

We enjoyed dinner and a few magnums from the producers in the recently built dining room at the Château where visitors could come taste wines and enjoy lunch (the chambres d'hôtes are work-in -progress but we can expect 9 beautifully appointed rooms so that visitors can explore the region at leisure).  Amaury introduced us to a magnificent bottle of 2012 Château de Chamirey La Mission Monopole to go with the cheese course. It showed such regal expression, depth of character, layers of mineral-laden complexity, refined balance that belies the inherent opulence of the wine. It is an incredible wine with such vinosity and depth, from the humble village of Mercurey!

The following are worth seeking out:

Whites

Bouzeron, de Villaine

Rully Premier Cru La Pucelle, Paul et Marie Jacqueson
(Paul now joined by daughter Marie)

Rully Premier Cru Grésigny, Paul et Marie Jacqueson

Montagny Premier Cru Les Vignes Derrierè, Stephane Aladame

Montagny Premier Cru Les Maroques, Stephane Aladame

Mercurey Premier Cru La Mission (Monopole), Château de Chamirey




Reds

Givry Premier Cru La Grande Berge, Domaine Ragot

Mercurey Premier Cru Les Ruelles (Monopole), Château de Chamirey

Givry Premier Cru Clos du Cellier Aux Moines, Domaine du Cellier Aux Moines
(the estate is owned by Philippe and Catherine Pascal with the winemaking overseen by Robert Vernizeau, Technical Director at Domaines Devillard)

Mercurey La Framboisière (Monopole), Faiveley

Mercurey Premier Cru Clos de Myglands (Monopole), Faiveley (We had the 2012 out of magnum - very tasty!)