Top Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet 2021 en primeur wines

Best producers: Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey (Chassagne) Domaine Paul Pillot (Chassagne) Domaine Blain-Gagnard (Chassagne) Domaine Lamy-Caillat (Chassagne) Domaine Michel Niellon (Chassagne) Domaine Jean Chartron (Puligny) Domaine Alvina Pernot (Puligny) Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Charles' top-scoring Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet 2021 wines [subscriber-content]In Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet, the damage due to frost, cold and rain was severe but varied widely within the villages. According to Pierre-Yves Colin, of Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey in Chassagne, 2021 was a difficult season that started poorly and delivered few grapes: ‘We had a big problem with quantity, but the quality of the finished wine is better than we could have hoped,’ he said. He also notes that the damage in 2021 varied widely: in some parcels, he lost up to 70%, while others were off only 5%. In his vineyards, he was helped by two facts: the vines for the regional and village appellations were less affected than others, and where candles protected his top sites, the defence was reasonably effective. For him, the most challenging task was to choose a picking date that found a balance between the ripening times for the first-generation grapes and the second-generation fruit that sprang up after the frost. Sébastien Caillat of Lamy-Caillat compares the results to 2016 or 2013, with similar volumes and difficulties with cold, rainy weather. However, he appreciated the challenge of a vintage distinctly different from the previous several. ‘The work in the vineyards was more difficult, but the style [of the vintage] is very interesting, and the wines should age beautifully,’ said Sébastien. He began to pick on 18 September, which was pretty early in the context of the vintage. [caption id="attachment_496793" align="alignnone" width="750"] Pierre-Yves Colin. Credit: www.chassagne-montrachet.com[/caption] Another vigneron to pick on the early side was Thierry Pillot of Domaine Paul Pillot, who said that despite the stressful conditions in the vineyard he is content, now that the wines are approaching their second winter in barrel. ‘I don’t feel the stress of 2021, he commented. According to Jean-Marc Blain of Blain-Gagnard, it was necessary to adapt the vinification in a vintage such as 2021, noting that he did bâtonnage, which he usually avoids, to give a bit more flesh to the wines. However, other aspects of his work continued without interruption as he went ahead with his organic conversion in 2021 despite the difficulties. He agrees with Pierre-Yves Colin about the heterogeneous nature of the vintage: ‘Morgeot was off by 80% and Boudriotte by 70%, but the grand crus were only off by 20%, and for the reds it was essentially a normal harvest.’ Although Domaine Leflaive will only show its wines once they are in bottle, we have some perspective on Puligny from Jean Chartron, who says that overall losses averaged 50%, but this is due to the frost, and not to rot and mildew from the rain. Newcomer Alvina Pernot (granddaughter of Paul Pernot) founded her domaine in 2018 with her husband, Philippe Abadie. They have just completed a new winery, but the fledgling venture was devastated in 2021. ‘We had zero from several appellations, and overall losses were 80%, but fortunately the regional and Puligny village appellations were less affected by the conditions of 2021,’ she remarked. Despite the harrowing losses in this section of the Côte de Beaune, there will be delicious wines bottled for those lucky enough to find an allocation. [/subscriber-content] See the score table listing Charles' top Burgundy 2021 wines all scoring 94 points or above See all 700 Burgundy 2021 tasting notes and scores Quick links: See further analysis and top-scoring wines of the following areas:

See tasting notes and scores for Charles Curtis MW's top-scoring Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet 2021 wines: [wine-collection] Related content Burgundy 2021 en primeur: full report and top-scoring wines