2022 Chateau de la Maltroye Chas.-Mtr. 1er Cru La Dent de Chien Magnum
France / Burgundy / Cote de Beaune / Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Blanc Magnum
Allocation:
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1.5-liter Magnum bottle.
Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Dent de Chien Magnum from Château de la Maltroye.
Jean-Pierre Cournut unequivocally called 2022 "a great vintage". It is more precise than 2020 and more readable as well in terms of the underlying terroir.
Burghound.com/Allen Meadows tasting notes 96/100 + "Don't Miss" (June 2024): "From vines planted in 1935. A beautifully layered nose features plenty of spice elements on the elegant aromas of mineral reduction, floral elements, and lemon zest. There is almost painful intensity to the strikingly delineated and super-sleek flavors that seem to be built on a base of firm minerality before culminating in a chiseled, bone-dry, impeccably well-balanced, and hugely long finale. This is pure class and it's not every day that even a top Premier Cru can best a Grand Cru but the Dent de Chien appears to have done just that, if only just. I would repeat what I advised about the La Romanée e.g., if you can find it, buy it. 2032+".
Dent de Chien is a tiny 1er Cru lieu-dit located in the Chassagne-Montrachet appellation of the Côte de Beaune subregion of Burgundy. The vineyard is planted on a corner of land between the Montrachet Grand Cru climat below and the scrubland above, and, like its famous neighbor, is planted to Chardonnay.
The vineyard's curious name, Dent de Chien, is a reference to the rock that underpins the site. Meaning "dog's tooth", the name evokes the jagged stones that jut out of the land here, in stark contrast to the smooth pebbles of the surrounding vineyards.
The Dent de Chien site is actually made up of three small plots on the western corner of Le Montrachet, at the base of the hill spur between the east-facing Côte d'Or slope and the roughly south-facing slopes of Saint-Aubin. The latter's border lies just over 100m west of Dent de Chien.
The three plots combined cover only 0.6ha and, while the site is undoubtedly stony, it has much common with its illustrious Grand Cru neighbor to the east, sharing something of a similar aspect and overall soil-type.
Dent de Chien should not be confused with the Murgers des Dents de Chien site, which is a way up the spur (on the Mont-Rachet hill) in Saint-Aubin. Despite being one of Chassagne-Montrachet's smallest 1er Cru vineyards, its favorable position and soils generally produce a highly-regarded – if somewhat rare – 1er Cru Chassagne-Montrachet. A regard only further enhanced by its illustrious neighbour.