Description
Domaine Bader-Mimeur, Chassagne-Montrachet
Tasting an array of wines side by side is the great equalizer. Obviously, it’s best when you’ve got an assortment of bottles from the same appellation/grape, but, as often happens in SommSelect headquarters, a table-full of wines from disparate regions/grapes/price points works well, too. It’s like wine thunderdome—survival of the fittest—and today’s Chassagne-Montrachet would emerge victorious in any lineup I could imagine.
It is “that” wine: The one that stops everyone in their tracks and steals the show. And, as is so often the case with Burgundy, its label doesn’t give much away, unless you happen to be acquainted with the Château de Chassagne-Montrachet, a 13th-century mansion situated immediately downslope from Grand Cru Montrachet. These days, the château is a bespoke bed and breakfast and winery (owned by the négociant firm Michel Picard), but one wing of the property—and virtually all its historic, perfectly situated vineyards—are owned by the Bader-Mimeur family. The Bader-Mimeur winery is housed in what was once the “north wing” of the original château, and their five hectares of vines in the original “Clos du Château” have been under their control since 1919. Upon learning all this, and after consulting a map to remind myself just how close this vineyard is to Montrachet, this wine makes total sense—until you get to the price, at which point it becomes sensational. We’re talking truly great white Burgundy at a reasonable price, which is increasingly rare: Just six bottles per customer until our small stash disappears!
Generations of Baders and Mimeurs have farmed vines and made wine in Chassagne-Montrachet since the 1700s, but the hyphen came into the picture when Charles Bader, a wine merchant at the Halle-aux-Vins in Paris, married Elise Mimeur in 1920. Her father, Charles Mimeur, owned the Domaine du Château de Chassagne-Montrachet. Although most of the buildings of the château eventually found their way into other hands, the vineyards—98% of them, anyway—remained under the control of the Bader-Mimeur estate. Although they’ve since augmented their holdings, today’s wine comes exclusively from the 2.43 hectares of Chardonnay surrounding the historic château, just a short trot from the Montrachet Grand Cru (and, of course, the communal border with Puligny).
In an article about the 2018 vintage in Burgundy, the editors of Vinous mused as to whether it was an example of how global warming is shaping the character of classic wines. It was a generous vintage, for sure, and this wine reflects that: It’s got plenty of weight on the palate and is already drinking beautifully. But there is remarkable tension here, too, and while there’s a pleasant hint of oak-derived toastiness at this stage in its life, it’s judicious rather than overwhelming (just 20% new barrels are used). To me, it reads like a classic Chassagne-Montrachet, and, as you might have guessed already, I would have pegged it as a Premier Cru at a minimum if I had tasted it blind. This is serious white Burgundy, warm vintage or not!
In the glass, the wine is a glistening yellow-gold and jumps from the glass without much coaxing, although a 30-minute decant before service certainly won’t hurt. Aromas of grilled pear, yellow apple, lemon curd, lime zest, flint, and wildflowers carry over to a nearly full-bodied palate, which is richly textured but underpinned by taut acidity. It’s a high-impact white—a gutsy, “gastronomic” wine that made me crave a perfect roast chicken more than any white wine I’ve tasted in recent memory. Will it age for a decade-plus? Yes, but it will be hard not to deplete your stash at the 3- to 5-year mark. Regardless, this is a big-time white suitable for a special occasion. Plan accordingly!
