Sylvain Morey Chassagne-Montrachet Blanc 2019
About the wine:
Made from two parcels just below the village (Meix Goudard and Les Pierres) and comprising just .21 hectares between the two of them, this wine in its total production is just a bit more than 100 cases a year. Elevage is done in barrel, with about 25% being new. About 25 cases a year are available for the US market.
• Appellation: AOC Chassagne-Montrachet
• Encépagement: Chardonnay (100%)
In The Vineyard:
• Parcel Names, Slopes, and Locations: From .47 ha (11 ouvrées) of vines in La Bergerie lieu-dit, .11 ha in the Petit Clos lieu-dit, and .11 ha in the Pierres lieu-dit, all surrounding Chassagne.
• Soil Types and Compositions: Limestone-clay
• Vine Age, Training, and Density: Trained in Guyot and planted in 1959, 1974, and 1997 at 10,000 vines/ha • Average Yields: 55 hl/ha
• Average Harvest Date and Type: Manual harvest, early-mid September
In The Cellar:
• Fermentation: Wine ferments spontaneously in 350-l oak barrels (20% new)
• Pressing: Pneumatic, whole-cluster direct pressing
• Time on Lees: Wine remains on its lees until assemblage prior to bottling
• Malolactic Fermentation: Spontaneous, in barrel in the spring
• Élevage: 16 months in 350-l oak barrels (20% new) followed by 2 months in stainless-steel tanks
• Press Wine: Blended after pressing
• Fining and Filtration: Fined with Casein and unfiltered
• Sulfur: Applied at harvest, during élevage, and at bottling, 20-25 mg/l free
In The Glass:
The Domaine’s village Chassagne comes from Les Pierres, Le Pe- tit Clos, and, since 2017, La Bergerie. La Bergerie contributes acidic structure and freshness to the ripe and rich fruit from Le Petit Clos. Les Pierres, located further down on the plain, brings power and concentration. The blend of these three sites allows the taster complete view of Chassagne’s terroir, one that gives round, powerful yet tense wines of great longevity.
About the producer:
Two of the hallmarks of Burgundy are the minuscule size and the fractured distribution of the small domains that line the Cote d’Or. Centuries of division by inheritance and often family discord have fractured once-larger land holdings into microscopic parcels. Domains have become so small (and their fractured holding so atomic) that it is has become doubtful how these domains can continue to be passed down to the next generation. In the case of Domaine Sylvain Morey, this difficult tradition continues with the dissolution of Domaine Jean-Marc Morey. Jean-Marc’s son Sylvain and his sister Caroline split their father’s holdings in 2014, making this already small family domaine much smaller. (Domaine Jean-Marc Morey was founded in 1981 when Domaine Albert Morey was split between his two sons Jean-Marc and Bernard.) We feel fortunate to continue our relationship with these familiar family parcels, however small they may be, through the impressive and thoughtful work of Sylvain.