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Wine Description
The Story
The Montrachet family consists of grand five Grands Crus grown in the two villages of Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet. These two share the Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet appellations. Chevalier and Bienvenues belong to Puligny, Criots belongs to Chassagne. These Grands Crus are the most southerly of the Côte-d'Or, and lie between Meursault in the north and Santenay in the south. Their origins go back to the Middle Ages - the work of the Cistercian abbey of Maizières and the Lords of Chagny. The wines of Montrachet (pronounced Mon-rachay) came fully into their own in the 17th century. There is no argument : this is the finest expression of the Chardonnay grape anywhere on earth. The Grand Cru appellations date from 31 July, 1937.
The underlying rocks date from the Jurassic, 175 million years BC. Exposures lie to the east and the south. Altitudes: 265-290 metres (Chevalier) ; 250-270 metres (Montrachet) ; 240-250 metres (Bâtard, Bienvenues, Criots). In the " Climat " of Montrachet, the soils are thinnish and lie on hard limestone traversed by a band of reddish marl. In Chevalier, the soils are thin and stony rendzinas derived from marls and marly-limestones. In the Bâtard " climat " soils are brown limestone which are deeper and, at the foot of the slope, more clayey.
The power and aromatic persistence of these lofty wines demands aristocratic and sophisticated dishes with complex textures : « pâté » made from fattened goose liver, of course, and caviar. Lobster, crawfish, and large wild prawns, with their powerful flavours and firm textures, pay well-deserved homage to the wine and match its opulence. Firm-fleshed white fish such as monkfish would be equally at home in their company. And let us not forget well-bred and well-fattened free-range poultry whose delicate flesh, with the addition of a cream-and-mushroom sauce, will be lapped up in the unctuous and noble texture of this wine. Even a simple piece of veal, fried or in sauce, would be raised to heavenly heights by the Montrachet's long and subtle acidity.
Serving temperature : 12 to 14 °C.
Wine Information
The 2008 white Burgundy vintage turned out surprisingly well in spite of many problems during the growing season.
There was a very poor flowering period, a good amount of rot in the way of mildew and odium, and practically no hot weather all summer. if, at the end of first week of september, you were to ask growers what type of vintage it was going to be they would have said disasterous. some of the early reports of a mediocre vintage are premature and unwarranted. There was uneven quality, but that is the case almost every year.
The season started normally, with a fair amount of rain during the winter months, especially in January. Temperatures were not too cold, but not too warm, either. Conditions in March were normal, too, unlike in 2007 when temperatures were almost summer-like, leading to early bud- break. in 2008, bud-break took place at the typical time, in June. April had about 2.36” of rain with temperatures never reaching higher than 68oF. There was no precipitation for the first two weeks of May, and the temperatures averaged about 61oF. Then, approximately 1.18” of rain fell during the last two weeks of May. in June, there was rain practically every day until the 16th, when full flowering took place. Flowering took place over a two-week period and during that time the weather was cool and rainy, resulting in unven flowering.
Chassagne-Montrachet had the least amount of rain, almost none, and had the biggest crop, including from the hillside vineyards. Puligny- Montrachet had slightly more rain and therefore more shatter, especially on the mid-slopes.
Meursault had its own share of problems when on July 26th, 1.02” rain of rain fell in the matter of a few minutes, followed by a devastating hailstorm. The same weather also affected Volnay. The 26th was a saturday, and a wedding was taking place in Chassagne where the guests were outside enjoying their aperitif. One grower attending the ceremony said the sky was black just two towns over, but not a drop fell on Chassagne and the assembled guests.
Otherwise, July was fairly cloudy, not especially warm, and there were a couple of big storms. Temperatures in July were never summer-like, and august was even cooler. it was quite humid, too, so rot was prevalent, requiring twice the normal amount of sulfur treatments in the vineyards. Temperatures never rose higher than 84oF during the month and that trend continued into september. There were two storms in the early part of the month and it rained fairly often until the 14th. Then, miraculously, the sky became a deep blue, temperatures got very cool and the north winds began to blow. This combination of cooler temperatures and wind dried out the rot and the alcohols shot up. The grapes concentrated their sugars and their acids, too. it did not rain a drop from september 14 to October 1, and then only a trace until a major storm hit on the 8th. By then most growers had finished harvesting, having started on september 23rd, although some waited a few days longer.
it was never above 64oF until October 7th. These cool conditions enabled the growers to sort out the dry rot which comprised, in many cases, 10-15% of the crop. The combination of a bad set because of shatter, dry rot and the concentrated grapes due to the north wind caused some appellations to have decreased crop production levels as much as 25% below those in 2007.
The style of the vintage will be very different than the 2007, with less tartaric acid and more malic. The wines will be much richer after malolactic fermentation is completed.
Pricing has been stable over the last few years while the euro has been gaining against the dollar, so the wines have become pricey. This trend has finally become reversed, and quite dramatically since september of 2008. if i look at the sheer costs in euros, the wines have only increased in price 5% since 1999, which is miniscule compared to our own country’s wines. You cannot blame the growers for currency fluctuations. some of the new, small négociant companies in Burgundy have been buying wines at increased prices forcing up costs for everyone concerned. some négociants even contracted for 2008 wines before harvest at 20% above 2007 prices.
Vintage 2008
An indifferent spring caused uneven flowering and mildew risk. At the end of June the weather changed for the better, continuing into July. Apart from local hail in the Côte de Beaune at the end of July, the summer began well. August arrived fairly cold and variable, but fortunately the last week of the month brought fine, warm weather. The lead-up to harvest saw sunny skies, apart from two days of rain in mid-September. A challenging vintage.
From day one the red wines have had a rich, pure fruit character with fine, silky tannins. The whites offer a good balance between ripe fruit and vibrant acidity. A vintage not to be overlooked because the wines deliver potential and pleasure.
