2017 Chassagne-Montrachet Blanc Domaine Jacques Carillon

The 2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Macherelles offers up aromas of minty pear and subtle new oak, followed by a medium-bodied, stony, palate that's both more concentrated and more reserved than the Chassagne-Montrachet Village that preceded it, concluding with a chalky finish. Jacques Carillon began harvesting his 2017s on September 1st and is pleased with their quality, finding them classically proportioned but charming in style, with a pleasing immediacy that will lend them great upfront appeal-a judgement with which I am in entire agreement. He notes also that yields in his premiers crus were in fact lower in 2017 than in 2016. Revisiting the 2016s from bottle, I was immensely impressed by their incisive, site- driven profiles, finding the wines appreciably more structured and serious than when I tasted them before bottling a year earlier. They're serious, age-worthy wines, and as Monsieur Carillon served each cuvée, I kicked myself again and again, regretting that I hadn't purchased a few cases for my own cellar.

The 2017 Chassagne-Montrachet Village has a clean, precise, flinty bouquet that demonstrates more precision than the Puligny Village. The palate is very well balanced with a saline entry. Plenty of energy here, and a strict, focused finish. Excellent. 2020 - 2030