Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022 - 55

Top 100 Wineries
FRANCE | BURGUNDY
Domaine Chanson
The first harvests from a new young team build on the reputation of this
Beaune specialist.
LUCY AUGER
This hisToric house is based aT The bastion
de l'Oratoire in Beaune, a defensive
structure dating back to the 15th century.
The walls of the tower, 24 feet thick, help to
create cellar-like conditions for Chanson's
wines as they age in barrel. The Bollinger
family purchased the house in 1999, installing
Jean-Pierre Confuron as winemaker, who
immediately transitioned all of Chanson's
111 acres of premier and grand cru vineyards
to organic farming and, for his négociant
wines, started purchasing and harvesting
grapes, exclusively, rather than finished
wines. The domaine's 62 acres of premier
cru vineyards in Beaune make them a specialist
in the appellation, especially their
monopole Clos des Fèves, a nine-acre block
of pinot noir overlooking the city. Managing
Director Vincent Avenel joined Chanson in
2016, bringing his experience at Bouchard
and William Fèvre to direct the transition to
the next generation of Chanson's winegrowing
team: Justine Savoye joined in 2019 to
manage the domaine's vines; Lucy Auger
signed on in 2020 to manage the cellar. The
wines, and the future of the house, are in
good hands, if Auger's first releases are any
indication. -C.W.; tasting notes by J.G.
FOUNDED:
1750
MANAGING DIRECTOR:
Vincent Avenel
WINEMAKER:
Lucy Auger
VITICULTURIST:
Justine Savoye
OWNER:
Société Jacques
Bollinger
ACRES OWNED:
111
ANNUAL PRODUCTION:
75,000 cases
ESTATE GROWN:
30-35%
FARMING PRACTICES:
Organic, certification
in progress
IMPORTER:
Vintus, NY
2020 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Marconnets
($80, 95 points) Chanson owns 10 acres in this
cru at the top of the côte, on the northern edge
of Beaune. Converting the luscious ripeness
of 2020 into power, this is a big, juicy Beaune
with succulent red-cherry flavors and the chewiness
of cherry skins in the tannins. Aggressively
youthful and already delicious, it still needs cellar
time to calm the tannins.
2020 Beaune 1er Cru Monopole Clos des
Fèves Rouge ($134, 93 points) This monopole
of 10.13 acres sits mid-slope on the northern
side of Beaune. In 2020, the wine wraps its
broad ripeness in a bolt of silk, bringing blackcherry
and tart red-cherry flavors into an opulent
texture. There's a rich overlay of oak, while the
wine's marked freshness carries through the
wood to last on red fruit. Substantial, incipient,
needing long aging.
2020 Beaune 1er Cru Les Hauts Marconnets
($60, 91 points) With the golden ripeness of an
autumn pear, the sweetness of white peach and
the silken bitterness of peach skin, this is cool
and spicy, lasting in its mineral power. A contrast
of high acidity and high ripeness, this will be fascinating
to watch as it develops.
FRANCE | BURGUNDY
Louis Jadot
With 20 Top 100 awards for its extensive portfolio, Jadot is consistently at
the top of our Burgundy tastings.
FREDERIC BARNIER
Maison Louis JadoT aLready had More
than hundred years of history as a négociant
when the Kopf family purchased the house
and its vineyards in 1985. At the time, it was
run by André Gagey, who had taken over
the management of the company for the
Jadot family in the '50s. He hired winemaker
Jacques Lardière in 1970, and together they
built the reputation of the brand's vast Burgundy
portfolio, stretching from Chablis to
Beaujolais. Today, the firm is run by André's
son, Pierre-Henry, and Frédéric Barnier,
who joined the team in 2010 as Technical
Director, taking over as winemaker when
Lardière retired in 2012. The domaine began
with the Clos des Ursules, the first parcel
purchased by the Jadot family, in 1826, and
now extends over 342 acres in the Côte d'Or,
as well as extensive holdings in Beaujolais.
Barnier uses a light touch in the cellar: long
macerations, ambient-yeast fermentation
and not much new wood. The consistency of
the wines is impressive, with ten earning 90
points or more this year. Barnier is currently
leading an effort to convert Jadot's vineyards
to organic farming with projected certification
by 2024. -A.B.; tasting notes J.G.
FOUNDED:
1859
WINEMAKER/
VITICULTURIST:
Frédéric Barnier
OWNER:
The Kopf family/
Kobrand
ACRES OWNED:
342
ANNUAL PRODUCTION:
15,000 cases
imported
ESTATE GROWN:
60%
FARMING PRACTICES:
Under conversion
to organic
IMPORTER:
Kobrand,
Purchase, NY
2019 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru Domaine Louis
Jadot ($230, 94 points) Jadot farms just over
five acres of vines at Clos Vougeot, their fruit
destemmed and fermented in vats before aging
18 months in barrels. This is classic Burgundy;
its fragrant complexity and resonant length of
flavor would be at home in the stone-walled
monastery at Vougeot. For now, the wine is compressed
into its tannins, its elegant depths of
fruit bristling in that tannic structure, showing
the capacity for long aging.
2019 Chablis Grand Cru Blanchots ($94, 93
points) Golden-apple in color and scent, this
layers flower petals over earthy lees, the wine's
density held in a youthful grip. As the oak influence
recedes, the wine's layered intensity opens
toward floral wheat, Bosc pear, lemon pith and
oyster liquor. Fresh and compelling.
2019 Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos ($102, 92
points) The sunny exposition of Les Clos shows
in this wine's immediate hit of sweetness, a jolt
from the climate that disappears into the rich,
mouth-filling flavors of ripe orchard fruit, hazelnuts
and oyster-shell salinity. It leans toward
integration several days after the bottle is first
opened and should be fascinating to taste again
with a decade of age.
F ALL 202 2
WINE & SPIR IT S
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Wine & Spirits - Fall 2022

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