2019 Au Pied du Mont Chauve Chas.-Mtr. 1er Cru Les Macherelles

France / Burgundy / Cote de Beaune / Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Blanc

Au Pied du Mont Chauve Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Macherelles (owned by Domaines Famille Picard).

Wine Enthusiast tasting notes: "Full bodied but crisply concentrated, this is a zestier expression of Premier Cru Chassagne compared to its more opulent vintage peers. Green apple and grapefruit notes are ripe but brisk, accented by a vanilla and delicate notes of struck flint and smoke on the finish. Approachable now, the wine will likely improve through 2030 and hold further".
 
The domaine owns several small plots of this 1er Cru terroir located at the foothill, which half of the vines are more than 65 years old. The roots are going deep on these plots, the reddish clay-limestone soil, rich in iron oxide, guarantees a great growing of the vines and a steady ripening of the grapes, without excess water stress, which is an important factor as the last vintages were quite dry. The wines are usually very elegant, balanced, with a great harmony.

The grapes are grown biodynamically and harvested by hand in crates, sorted on a sorting table if necessary and conveyed directly to the pneumatic press. Pressing of whole grapes for two and a half hour. The juice from stainless steel vats settles at 12 degrees overnight. Then the must is directly transferred to barrels to achieve alcoholic fermentation (traditional Burgundy vinification).

Aged 18 months on lees, including 12 months in oak barrels.
 
Au Pied du Mont Chauve – where does this unusual name come from? APMC came into being at the end of the 2000s; the Picard family was then the owner of vines historically established on the Chassagne-Montrachet, Saint-Aubin, and Puligny-Montrachet estates. It was, therefore, perfectly natural for the name Au Pied du Mont Chauve to take root in Francine Picard's mind. After all, the latter is the nickname given to the well-known Montrachet's hill. APMC is bestowed with an extremely rich plot in those three exceptional winegrowing villages with no less than 20 prestigious climats – specially delineated plots of land, specific to Burgundy vineyards – including Les Demoiselles, Les Caillerets and En Remilly. From a desire for synergy between terroir and the wine, the vines have been biodynamically cultivated for several years, thus the vinification process is the most natural possible. Clearly delineated, delicate and expressive, APMC 's vintages are truly precise jewels where the perfectly controlled ageing reveals a fresh density of unmistakable elegance on the palate.