Description
This is the site and wine that I think of as his signature flagship vineyard, and one of the noblest in all of Mercurey. Planted to 14k plants per hectare, this 1.2 hectare parcel is on the sloped hillside of mother rock limestone. Again, the balance between richness and animating drive is seamless and pure class, with an even stronger impression of linear limestone salty/mineral drive, at once delicate and powerful, with tremendous length. This was the bottle that Thomas Bouley had mentioned to me as outshining the pricey trophies during their soirée tasting, and I can see why people wanted to wring out the magnum in hopes of a getting few drops more. This is class in a glass, no matter how you slice it. To my taste, this is an insane value on the Burgundy stage, and would put to shame innumerable pricier examples from the Côte de Beaune’s finest. Get what you can justify here, and thank me later…..a little * awarded here.
“High density planting (14,000 vines per ha), exposed to the south-west so open to the evening sun, grown on white marl with little or no topsoil. A little greener in the colour with less ripe skins on the nose, a little bit of mint. Pineapple skin is suggested by my neighbour and it resonates. Exceptional density. There is an impressive thickness of texture and certainly ripe, in the white fruit register but with a perfume of cherry blossom or even alpine strawberries. Takes time! Very, very long. Tasted: February 2020” 92 Jasper Morris “Five Star Wine” award
“The 2018 Mercurey 1er Cru Les Champs Martin offers up lovely aromas of crisp golden orchard fruit, lime zest, linden blossom and beeswax, followed by a medium to full-bodied, satiny but incisive palate with an elegantly textural attack that segues into a deep and mineral core. Once again, this cuvée has turned out brilliantly.” 93 William Kelley
