Description
Domaine Jean-Marc Pillot, Chassagne-Montrachet “Les Masures”
Open any book, ask any wine critic, or search any corner of the world wide web and you’ll find consensus: A two-mile stretch of vines in Burgundy’s Côte de Beaune is the source of the most astronomically expensive and historically famous Chardonnay vines on earth. We’re talking cult names like Leflaive, d’Auvenay, Coche-Dury, whose Premier and Grand Crus fetch hundreds, even thousands of dollars. On the surface, it would seem these hallowed grounds are strictly reserved for the top 1%. I don’t mention all this to reinforce the unobtainable, but rather to tell you that there are a select few producers—like Jean-Marc Pillot and his breathtaking lineup of Chassagne-Montrachets—that give you vivid insight into high life without the high price.
For $79, Pillot quietly produces a handful of barrels from half of a hectare in the lieu-dit of “Les Masures,” which lies less than a mile from Grand Cru Montrachet, no less. So, if you’ve always wondered about the allure of this blue-blooded, insanely priced real-estate, allow Jean-Marc Pillot’s 2017 creation to take over your evening and introduce you to this legendary strip of vines that contains the world’s best producers and wines. There’s not much more I can say than the following: Do yourself one of the greatest fine-wine favors imaginable and discover what all this is about. The praise, and subsequent demand, for this specific wine is limitless, so don’t delay! It’s no coincidence that every Pillot wine we’ve offered has been a rapid sellout…
Pillot’s whites balance impressive soil character and electric minerality with vivid, pure fruit. They epitomize the Chassagne-Montrachet terroir while offering remarkable approachability in their youth and impressive complexity and evolution after even modest cellar aging. We love these wines, our customers love these wines, and the only challenge with Pillot is summoning the willpower to sell our meager allocation each vintage instead of shuttling it into our personal cellars. Honestly, if I had to list one (affordable) producer that epitomized the unending charm of Chassagne, it’d probably be Jean-Marc Pillot.
Jean-Marc Pillot is the fourth consecutive generation of his family to be involved in winemaking. He began apprenticing directly beneath his father, Jean, in 1985. By 1991, he had assumed leadership of the family property, though he was assisted in numerous regards by his wife, Nadine, and sister, Beatrice. Pillot owns and farms a broad range of vineyards in the villages of Santenay, Puligny, Meursault, Montigny, and Remigny. Still, there is little-to-no debate that the family’s finest wines originate from their Chassagne-Montrachet holdings. This is their specialty.
Today’s wine hails from the small lieu-dit (named site) of “Les Masures” which hugs the lower slope of Premier Cru “Les Champs-Gains” and is just a quick jog to Grand Cru Montrachet. Because Pillot only owns a half-hectare of vines here (10-70 years of age) and employs strict sorting during his manual harvest, he can only emerge with eight or nine barrels of this cuvée on any given year. Back at the winery, the Pillot family spontaneously ferments this special Chardonnay in mostly used French oak barrels where it spends a year on its fine lees. Following, the wine is racked into stainless steel tanks to rest and “tighten up” for an additional six months.
This patient, time-consuming approach means Pillot does not need to filter or cold-stabilize his whites, so they always retain a certain vividness and dimension that is missing from many higher-priced neighbors’ wines. The wine is rich and filling yet incredibly tense and laser-like in its approach. This is the appeal of top Chassagne—it’s ability to dance atop a piano wire with incredible depth and density. What’s more, the accessibility, or ‘openness’ of the wine is always what gives Pillot its distinction: As long as it’s properly served, this provides every luscious fruit (salted lemon peel, lime, white peach, yellow apple, pineapple core) and tension-filled minerality/savoriness (crushed rock, sea shell, limestone, wildflowers, baking spice) that comes with the best white Burgundy, whether enjoying now or in 10+ years! If doing the former, which is perfectly acceptable, serve in your largest Burgundy stems around 55 degrees after a 120-minute decant. Savor slowly, and enjoy—this is the gateway “drug” to the best white Burgundy has to offer!
