Description
Domain Henri & Gilles Buisson, Saint-Romain Blanc “Sous le Château”
Whether it’s in our Daily Offers, our newsletter, our clubs, or just in regular conversation with friends, we can’t stop talking about the treasures to be found in Burgundy’s lesser-known precincts. Most intriguing to me are three villages on the west side of the Côte de Beaune: Saint-Aubin, Saint-Romain, and Pernand-Vergelesses. If you look at a map of the entire Côte d’Or, in fact, you’ll see that most of the high-end real estate is on the east side of the appellation. But, as we’ve been stressing ad nauseum lately, the lower-rent western precincts are where the greatest values are found.
Saint-Romain is especially noteworthy because of its altitude: Some of its vineyards climb to 400 meters, considerably higher than its more-famous neighbors to the east, and these cooler sites—still containing the classic Burgundy mix of marl and limestone—are starting to fall right in the sweet spot as global temperatures warm. Add to this the consistent excellence of the Henri & Gilles Buisson estate, and the exceptional generosity of the 2019 vintage, and you’ve got one of the most exciting bottles of white Burgundy to grace this site in quite some time. Buisson’s “Sous le Chateau” is Burgundy Chardonnay that is powerful and electrifying in equal measure, ceding nothing to the likes of Puligny-Montrachet. Many of you already know this, as Buisson has been a SommSelect staple since day one. Grab as many as six bottles of Sous le Château now and stay tuned for a Pinot Noir sibling later today—this is one of Burgundy’s unsung heroes at the height of its powers!
The commune of Saint-Romain is the ultimate off-the-beaten-path appellation, situated west of Auxey-Duresses—quite far from the main escarpment that runs through the Côte de Nuits/Beaune. Saint-Romain sits in a mountainous amphitheater, with vineyards arrayed in a jumble of exposures, and the Buisson family has been an anchor tenant in the village since the 12th century. Estate-bottling began relatively early here, in 1947, with Henri Buisson and his wife Marguerite. Their son Gilles and his wife Monica expanded the family’s holdings and moved toward organic viticulture in the 1970s—back when such practices were seldom encountered in the Cote d’Or. Over the past decade, Gilles and Monica’s talented and dynamic sons, Fred and Franck, have gradually assumed control. They guided the vineyards to full organic certification in 2009 and maintain a precise, exacting non-interventionism in their gravity-fed winery (no pumps or machinery) employing only native-yeast fermentations and bare minimum use of sulfur. This progressive, ecologically aware approach, matched with a stunning run of superlative whites (and reds) in recent vintages, has placed Buisson head and shoulders above all Saint-Romain growers.
Of the 19 hectares owned by the Buissons, 11 are planted to Pinot Noir and the remaining are Chardonnay. They bottle as many as five different white cuvées from Saint-Romain, sourced from lieu-dit (named) vineyards such as “Sous la Velle,” “La Perrière,” and the vineyard that supplies today’s wine, “Sous le Chateau.” Described as the warmest of the Buisson climats, Sous le Chateau could easily be mistaken for top-tier Puligny-Montrachet in a blind tasting, offering up a tremendous mix of nerve and concentration. Today’s ’19 is already drinking beautifully, but it has many years of graceful aging still ahead of it.
Once hand-harvested, the grapes for Sous le Chateau are meticulously sorted and fermented in mostly neutral French oak barrels (10% new) of varying sizes. The wine returns to barrel after pressing to finish its secondary fermentation. It remains there for 10-12 months and is blended and gently filtered prior to bottling. Shining a brilliant straw-gold in the glass, this has very high-toned aromas of wet stones and chamomile right out of the gate, but, after a brief decant and a rise in temperature to about 55 degrees, aromas of mandarin, Anjou pear, crushed white stone, and yellow citrus waft from the glass. The medium-plus-bodied palate delivers white peach, yellow apple, wheat toast, and a kiss of vanilla, followed by a scintillating citrus/mineral finish. Serve this in large Burgundy bowls with grilled oysters or a whole-roasted fish like snapper or porgy. This is an epic white Burgundy experience to enjoy throughout the decade. Enjoy!
