Boyer Martenot is one of the star estates of the village of Meursault. With choice holdings of old non-clonal vines, Yves Boyer achieves naturally low yields, which gives his wines great power, depth and expression.
Boyer Martenot is one of the star estates of the village of Meursault. With choice holdings of old non-clonal vines, Yves Boyer achieves naturally low yields, which gives his wines great power, depth and expression.
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Boyer-Martenot is one of THE premier Meursault producers. "Les Chaumes" is one of the domaine's prized single vineyards. This wine is NOT a blend of Chardonnay throughout the village of Meursault; rather,
it is a specific lieu-dit (vineyard) that is surrounded by 1er cru sites. The value of this Meursault is uncanny and cannot be overstated! Read More »
Boyer-Martenot is one of THE premier Meursault producers. "Les Chaumes" is one of the domaine's prized single vineyards. This wine is NOT a blend of Chardonnay throughout the village of Meursault; rather,
it is a specific lieu-dit (vineyard) that is surrounded by 1er cru sites. The value of this Meursault is uncanny and cannot be overstated!
Like all Martenot Meursault's, "Les Chaumes" is artisanally made by 4th generation family members. The wine is pure and elegant. It is vibrant with saline and a pronounced mineral cut to the flavors of citrus and white flowers. Juicy, sappy and weightless with off-the-charts clarity and precision. Poached apples, crushed cashews, verbena, and toasty secondary flavors wrap your palate.
There is a lot of hype behind the 2015 vintage in Burgundy (and Europe in general for that matter). The whites are proving to be as spectacular as the reds.
If you like Burgundies, you should be stocking up on wines like this as the next Burgundy vintage - the 2016 vintage - experienced catastrophic conditions with yields less than 1/2 of normal production. Pricing will spike and availability with be limited at best. The good news is you still have time to cherry pick some of the finest like Boyer-Martenot!
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Chardonnay
Chardonnay is the most popular white wine grape grown throughout the world. The most prized Chardonnay growing regions are Burgundy, Champagne and California. The Chardonnays of Burgundy tend to produce dry, elegant w ...
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Chardonnay
Chardonnay is the most popular white wine grape grown throughout the world. The most prized Chardonnay growing regions are Burgundy, Champagne and California. The Chardonnays of Burgundy tend to produce dry, elegant wines with vibrant acidty and minerality; little or no oak is imparted into the wine for these "Old World" beauties and allows the essence of the Chardonnay grape to reveal itself. On the other hand, the New World Chardonnay producers of California (Oregon, South Africa, Argentina and New Zealand as well) tend to use new oak. These wines are often described as being "buttery" given their oak influence. Some Italian Chardonnays fall somewhere in between Old and New World. They too tend to be quite expressive and retain some of the best qualities of both Old and New World Chardonnays.
Chardonnay's weight and texture can be very different depending on the terroir and amount of oak used. Sometimes the oak is new and sometimes, in the case of Burgundy, the oak is used. If oak casks have been used, they impart less of an influence on the Chardonnay grapes. These wines tend to have mild oak notes in the wine and can often represent itself as roasted nut flavors. Yet no matter where Chardonnay is grown, there are some common threads that reveal themselves: apple, pear, honey, lemon and butterscotch.
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Burgundy
Wine has been made in Burgundy for over 2,000 years. The monks were responsible for first identifying specific plots of lands as superior to others; this heirarchy later became the basis for the region’s classification ...
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Burgundy
Wine has been made in Burgundy for over 2,000 years. The monks were responsible for first identifying specific plots of lands as superior to others; this heirarchy later became the basis for the region’s classification system. Today, that system identifies four tiers of wine: regional (ie, Bourgogne), village (ie, Chablis), Premier Cru (ie, Chablis 1er Cru "Vaillon") and Grand Cru (ie, Chablis Grand Cru "Les Clos"). This classificaiton in and of itself does not guarantee that a wine will be better than another, it simply means that it has the potential of being superior given its location. For a wine to take the prestigious designation of a region or parcel on its label, all of the grapes in the bottle must come from just that specific area or plot.
Burgundy and its classification can seem a bit daunting to some. But, if you can master understanding Burgundy, the rest of the wine world will seem easy. Basically, all red Burgundies are Pinot Noir and all white Burgundies are Chardonnay with two exceptions: Beaujolais reds use the Gamay grape and Aligote is the only other white grape permited. Burgundy, unlike Bordeaux, is a non-blending region, which means only the aforemetioned grapes are permissible. For this reason, Burgundy tends to attracts "purists" who appreciate the single grape and what nature gives the winemaker in any given season.
Some of the finest Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs come from Burgundy. There are five key districts in Burgundy: Chablis, Cote d'Or (which is subdivided into Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune), Cote Chalonnaise, Maconnais and Beaujolais. In Cote de Nuits, villages such as Nuits-Saint-Georges, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanee, and Gevrey-Chambertin are home to some of the finest Pinot Noir made anywhere. Cote de Beaune is home to some of the finest and well-known Chardonnay villages where seven of the eight Grand Crus are produced. Villages such as Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet and Meursault are the mighty three of the Cote de Beaune and produce some of the most complex and elegant Chardonnays on the planet.
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