Chassagne-Montrachet - 2015
Philippe Pacalet
- Region
- France 禄 Burgundy 禄 C么te d'Or 禄 C么te de Beaune 禄 Chassagne-Montrachet AOC
- Type
- white still, dry
- Producer
- Philippe Pacalet
- Vintage
- 2015
- Grapes
- Chardonnay
- Alcohol
- 13
- Volume
- 750 mL
- Cellar
- not available
Ratings
As much as I enjoyed Vosne-Roman茅e 1er Cru Les Chaumes 2016, this bottle is a bit disappointing even in a blind tasting. Baked apples with cinnamon, nuts, butter, a bit of Jerez, wet cellar and citrus. With this wonderful nose comes a soapy, diluted and short palate. Good acidity, though.
Philippe Pacalet
Philippe Pacalet, a distinguished figure in the natural wine movement, has made a profound impact on Burgundian winemaking. Despite his winemaking lineage dating back to 1780, Pacalet did not inherit land. Instead, he became a 'micro-n茅gociant', renting vineyards in the C么te de Beaune and C么te de Nuits, crafting wines in a facility acquired from the De Montille family in Beaune. Influenced by his uncle, Marcel Lapierre, and the teachings of Jules Chauvet, Pacalet has been a passionate advocate for natural wine, managing Domaine Prieur茅 Roch and crafting wines in Ch芒teau Rayas and Domaine Leroy.
Pacalet's philosophy is grounded in minimal intervention, focusing on expressing each terroir's unique characteristics. He eschews industrial yeasts and minimizes sulphur use, opting for whole bunch fermentation and believing that the stems' ripeness is integral to the grapes' readiness. His meticulous approach includes hand harvesting and fermenting with natural yeasts on the grape skin, wooden vat fermentation, and low new oak usage to maintain the wine's delicate fruit and floral characters. His wines are unfiltered and unfined, bottled manually, emphasizing authenticity and a vivid expression of each plot.