Burgundy – Martines Wines: Recent Episodes
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The young estate of Domaine du Chancelier, run by Elsa & Cédric Ehrhart, is deeply connected to the tradition and history that surrounds it. The cellars and vinification facilities are located in the historic center of Beaune in an 18th-century building that once belonged to the founder of Hospices de Beaune Nicolas Rolin and his wife Guigone de Salins. The selection of this location was deliberate on the part of the Ehrharts as a way to honor the heritage of Burgundy even as they blaze their own path forward.
Elsa and Cédric crafted their first vintage in 2016 from purchased fruit and slowly began to acquire parcels throughout Burgundy. They now have five hectares of land, and produced their first wine from their parcels in 2020. In plots where they don’t own the land, Elsa and Cédric have long-term contracts with growers where they choose the picking dates and complete harvest themselves. They practice organic farming, including with their purchased fruit, and seek to respect nature’s rhythms, preserving living soils for a pure expression of terroir.
At the winery, Elsa and Cédric have done a complete renovation and now have a state-of-the-art facility that is entirely gravity-fed. This helps reinforce their ethos of minimal manipulation of the fruit. All grapes are harvested by hand in small boxes and kept cold overnight. The whites are pressed directly, leaving the juice to oxidise slightly before being put in barrels for both fermentations. No sulfur is added, nor are the wines chaptalized or acidified. Only indigenous yeasts are used, and the juice is left its fine lees for the entirety of its aging without battonage or racking until bottling.
The reds are fully destemmed and start with a cold fermentation in a mix of stainless steel and barrel, with a few lots fermented in what is called “Vinification Integrale,” a method that allows red grapes to be fermented in the same barrel they will be aged in with gentle extraction. This technique sees 400 kilograms of grapes put in 500-liter barrels which are then closed, allowing for the fermentation to start. The grapes are then pressed and the barrels are steamed and cleaned, with the juice put back in the same barrels to go through malolactic fermentation and aging, all without the addition of sulfur.
From vineyard to cellar to bottle, the entire process at Domaine du Chancelier is meticulous and precise, as Elsa and Cédric leave nothing to chance. The result – absolutely stunning Burgundies that leave no question that a star estate has been born.
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Domaine Vincent Ledy
In his summary of the 2021 vintage in Burgundy, wine critic Neal Martin provocatively proclaimed, “it is indisputably one of the most fiendishly complex, byzantine seasons I can recall.” The reasons for this are many, but chief among them was undeniably the weather. Save for a horde of locusts, it seemed Mother Nature hurled everything she could at Burgundy’s vignerons in 2021. From an unwelcome and poorly timed cold snap, to localized hail, and then an unrelenting bout of rain through the summer months, the challenges to overcome were numerous. Indeed, if the same conditions had occurred twenty years previously, the season would have likely been deemed a total loss. Thanks in no small measure to the resilience and ingenuity of the Burgundians and modern advances in viticulture and winemaking, there is no shortage of treasures from this challenging vintage—one simply needs to know where to look.
Domaine Denis Mortet
While the 2019s and 2020s from Burgundy are notable for their depth and range, the 2021s are best characterized by their elegance and refinement. In many ways, 2021 is a return to the classic Burgundies of the 1970s and 1980s. Vincent Ledy and Arnaud Mortet are just two producers that successfully navigated the difficulties of 2021, crafting wines of unparalleled nuance and sophistication. Across the board, yields were frightfully low, but what is lacking in quantity is more than made up for in quality. This sentiment is very much echoed in Martin’s assessment of Mortet’s 2021s when he writes: “This was one of the strongest and most consistent set of 2021s that I encountered during my tour of the appellation, scintillating and intense expressions of Pinot Noir that had so much energy I worried they would leap from my glass. As you approach the top flight of Premier and Grand Crus, you begin to wonder how they could have been born in such a traumatic growing season. But they were.” It has become commonplace to say that great producers will make great wines regardless of the season, but what is surprising is the degree to which this is proven true in the 2021 vintage. Across the Martine’s Wines portfolio, you will find an array of 2021s that not only charm and delight but, in some cases, stir the soul. From the dependable and terroir-driven expressions from Charles Audoin to impeccably balanced and elegant bottlings from Domaine Bernard-Bonin, there are a wealth of excellent wines throughout this small but mighty vintage. The 2021s will be brilliant wines to drink upon release and over the next ten years, with the most prized expressions having the ability to age twenty years or more.
Bernard-Bonin
The only downside we are finding with 2021 is availability. With production down so dramatically, there aren’t a lot of 2021s to go around. Given the already frenzied demand for Burgundy’s best, we don’t expect these bottlings to be around for long once they come into stock. With the first wines of the vintage due to arrive over the next few months, if ever there was a year that will demand quick action—2021 is the one.
–Jim Bradshaw, Martine’s Wines Operations Manager
Domaine Charles Audoin
Covering about 5000 hectares that lie between the Côte de Beaune and the Mâconnais, the Côte Chalonnaise is an area that is stepping into its own. Boasting complex geography and a diversity of climats, ever more talented vigneron are taking up residence here, and the potential of this unique, 35-kilometer stretch of land becomes clearer by the day.
Today, we are focusing on two appellations within this region. Montagny, in the south, is known for producing racy, flavor-rich white wines, and Mercurey, further north, noted for its fruited, mineral-driven reds. In doing so, it’s our pleasure to be able to showcase the wines of the dynamic young producer Frédéric Gueugneau of the Gouffier estate.
MONTAGNY
Dedicated exclusively to the production of white wines, Montagny is the southernmost appellation in the Côte Chalonnaise. It is also one of the oldest, created in 1936. Situated on brown, thin layered soils and marly limestone over a Kimmeridgian bedrock, similar to that of Chablis, this is a Chardonnay-lover’s paradise that produces a variety of different styles of this beloved variety.
MERCUREY
Producing about 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay, the appellation of Mercurey extends just south of Rully. This is one of the most diverse areas in Burgundy, with soil types that echo both those of the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits, in addition to a wide range of exposures and altitudes.
Structured as an amphitheater that opens to the east, millions of years ago the vineyards of Mercurey were under a tropical sea, while numerous sedimentary layers built up. After the waters receded, what was left was a terroir composed of soils from the Middle, Upper, and Lower Jurassic periods, yielding a multitude of microclimates. However, the throughline of Mercurey has to be the stony soils over hard limestone strata that produce remarkable Pinot Noir.
ABOUT GOUFFIER
The Gouffier estate has been in existence for nearly 200 years, albeit under a variety of names. After working with Jerome Gouffier off and on since childhood, Frédéric Gueugneau assumed control of the estate in 2011 after Gouffier’s death. He now works with partner Benoit Pagot. Frédéric drew from his experience at La Chablisienne to improve the property, also instituting organic farming practices. All these Côte Chalonnaise expressions are aged in wood from Doreau Tonneliers, and every effort is made to ensure the perfect match between barrel and wine. The attention to detail is apparent throughout the portfolio, as Frédéric and Benoit bring a level of perfectionism to each of their cuvées.
With his debut in the 2019 vintage, Benoît Chevallier helms a young estate with a significant history in Vosne-Romanée. The vineyard comes from family lands worked for three generations. His grandparents acquired their vines in the 1930s, and his father, Maurice (who also served as the longtime mayor of Vosne-Romanée), continued winemaking from the 1960s until his retirement in 2008. After a decade of leasing most of the family vineyards to an organic winemaker, Benoît decided to pursue winemaking full-time and now cultivates his four hectares of vines.
All farming is organic and the goal is to respect the soil and vines in order to harvest the best from them. Intimately involved with all aspects of production, Benoît maintains his estate with a watchful eye, doing all work by hand. Work in the cellar aims to impart complex structure to the wines without overt influence. Some new types of oak are being introduced. All of Benoît’s production levels are minuscule, fitting for wines that are crafted with such a personal touch.Available via Martine’s Wines in CA, CO, FL, HI, IL, LA, MI, NC, NV, OR, SC, TN, TX and WA.
Pete Monteleone, Director of Purchasing for Martine’s Wines, sat down with host Tim Benton of KSVY radio’s “Guys @ Five Friday” to talk about the basics of Burgundy and the Rhone Valley. Click below and listen in as Pete guides the audience through the history and terroir of these regions by tasting three of Martine’s […]