Domaine Coffinet-Duvernay Chassagne-Montrachet Les Fairendes Premier Cru 2017
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Delightful with white fish such as cod, haddock, sole or halibut. It is also excellent with chicken, and has the richness of fruit to pair well with veal in a morel mushroom sauce.
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2018-
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While the pair share in the management of this specialist boutique winery, Phillippe oversees the vineyards, where yields are strictly controlled, and cellars. He has adopted a traditional Burgundian approach to vinification, with pneumatic pressing of the grapes, followed by an overnight natural settling of the lees in tank. Following this debourbage, the wine descends by gravity for its fermentation in barrique. Philippe, uses only 25-30% new oak barrels for aging, which lasts for 12 to 15 months depending on the quality of the vintage. The exception is with the Domaine’s Batard Montrachet Grand Cru, which uses up to 50% new barrels, depending on its concentration.
All in all, intense concentration of aromas and flavors are the prevalent characteristics of the estate’s beautiful wines, which are capable of aging for decades. Their Chassagne Villages wine is made entirely from the vineyard climat of Les Blanchots Dessous, which lies just south of Criots Batard Montrachet. They also present a remarkable collection of Chassagne Premiers Crus vineyard sites, including Fairendes (the upper, northern portion of Morgeot), Caillerets and Maltroie. Domaine Coffinet-Duvernay is fortunate to own parcels of the two Premiers Crus sites that abut the great Grand Cru Montrachet itself, Dent de Chien and Les Blanchots Dessus, which Philippe affectionately refers to as "Pied de Montrachet."
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A Côte de Beaune village of Burgundy most famous for its beautifully textured and powerful whites, Chassagne-Montrachet reaches farthest south in the Côte d’Or, save for the village of Santenay. It has three Grands Crus vineyards: Le Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet and Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet. Le Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet overlap with and are (confusingly) shared with the village of Puligny-Montrachet. But Chassagne-Montrachet bears sole ownership of the Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru.
The beauty doesn’t stop there as the village has a great many outstanding Premiers Crus wines and village level wines. Most famous Premiers Crus vineyards include Les Chenevottes, Clos de la Maltroie, En Cailleret and Les Ruchottes. Also, village level wines offer many lovely examples of what Chassagne-Montrachet has to offer, but at more approachable price points and perhaps less demand of waiting.
The best sites in Chassagne-Montrachet have complex soils of sedimentary rock and limestone (with less marl). Whites, which are by law composed of 100% Chardonnay (as in all classified white Burgundy from Côte d’Or), have steely power, bright and concentrated citrus, stone or tropical fruit characteristics and attractive textures ranging from plush to tactile, grippy and mineral-driven.
There is some fine Pinot Noir produced from the village. These wines tend to be high-toned and earthy, with wild herb aromas and suave tannins.