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The white wines of Burgundy’s Côte de Beaune are thought of by many to be the best whites on the earth. Essentially the most well-known of those come from the villages of Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, and Meursault. Worldwide demand makes these wines very costly; any entry-level village Puligny from a well-known maker will promote for greater than 100 {dollars}, and the grand crus can price 5 or 10 occasions as a lot.
However there are much less exalted villages in Burgundy producing wonderful chardonnays. (Don’t name them chardonnays in Burgundy otherwise you’ll get soiled appears to be like. Place trumps grape in France. Grapes are simply supply programs for the style of a particular web site—what the French name terroir.) My favourite of those villages is Saint-Aubin, which in recent times has been rising from obscurity due to the efforts of a few of Burgundy’s high white winemakers. It’s one among 70 villages in France named after a Sixth-century bishop identified for his generosity to widows and orphans, however it’s the one one which wine lovers must find out about. And whereas this is probably not related to the standard of the wines, Saint-Aubin is likely one of the prettiest villages in Burgundy, with steeper hillsides than its neighbors; it additionally boasts a Thirteenth-century fortress rising from a base of stable rock.
Alamy
Saint-Aubin shouldn’t be situated straight on the so-called Côte d’Or, the east-facing escarpment alongside which the legendary villages of Burgundy are strung like pearls, however in a separate valley that begins simply across the bottom of the hill of Montrachet. The appellation has two distinct zones, with the perfect vineyards situated on the southwest-facing slopes behind the hill. In contrast to neighboring Chassagne and Puligny, Saint-Aubin has no grand crus—the very best class within the Burgundy hierarchy—partly as a result of its vineyards are larger in elevation and cooler than these of the Côte d’Or, however it’s blessed with 30 premier crus, all of them on the jap facet of the valley and all sharing the limestone and marl soils of their posh neighbors on the Côte.
Due to the marginally decrease temperatures, Saint-Aubin tends to excel within the hotter vintages, when the whites of Chassagne and Puligny can appear a little bit overblown. And certainly there’s little question that international warming is partly chargeable for the rising prominence of Saint-Aubin’s whites. Thirty years in the past the vines right here struggled to ripen grapes. The present yr on retail cabinets, 2018, is an effective instance—a really heat classic that produced a bumper crop of scrumptious, well-balanced wines.
Olivier Lamy of Domaine Hubert Lamy has been as accountable as anybody for Saint-Aubin’s hovering status in recent times. His household has been in Saint-Aubin for the reason that seventeenth century; Olivier took over the domaine from his father after placing in an apprenticeship at Méo-Camuzet in Vosne-Romanée. “When my father began, the manufacturing was 80 p.c crimson wine,” Olivier says. “White wine was tough to promote.” (200 years earlier than, Thomas Jefferson famous that growers of white grapes ate rye bread, whereas crimson wine growers have been capable of afford white bread.) However fashions change, and most observers imagine that the limestone and marl right here is a lot better suited to chardonnay than pinot noir. Underneath Olivier’s steering the manufacturing has shifted largely to whites, and his meticulous work within the winery and cellar has made these a few of the most sought-after wines in Burgundy.
The opposite younger star of Saint-Aubin is Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, who was born within the village and began his profession on the household domaine, Marc Colin, earlier than launching his personal property, with six acres of vineyards in Chassagne-Montrachet and Saint-Aubin. His wines quickly gained a following in Europe and the US. These on the top quality promote for a whole bunch of {dollars}; his Saint- Aubins are relative bargains, and they’re wines near his coronary heart. Tall and rangy and perpetually tanned from his work within the winery, Pierre-Yves normally chugs up on a tractor after we meet at his vineyard in Chassagne-Montrachet. “Saint-Aubin is cooler in comparison with Chassagne and Puligny or Meursault,” he informed me at our final assembly. “The terroir of Saint-Aubin is extra uncovered to the north wind, which was inconvenient up to now however grew to become a bonus with the hotter summers we’ve now. To me Saint-Aubin wines have one thing very particular. They’re perhaps a bit much less ‘severe’ than their neighbors, however rather more attractive. They’ll age very nicely when the classic is in steadiness, however they’re extra approachable when younger. They’ve quite a lot of high quality from the start, and one thing extra spontaneous. The fruit could also be rather less ripe, however they’ve extra freshness and power than the wines of their three neighbors.”
The premier crus of Saint-Aubin are likely to promote for a fraction of the price of the premiers of Puligny and Chassagne, they usually characterize large worth. Essentially the most well-known of those not fairly well-known vineyards is En Remilly; only a stone’s throw from Chevalier-Montrachet, it produces crisp, shiny wines which have the piercing character that wine buffs name minerality, a top quality additionally discovered within the wines of Murgers des Dents de Chien, the highest-altitude winery within the appellation. La Chatenière, simply down the slope, will get the warmer afternoon solar and tends to be richer and extra opulent than En Remilly.
Among the many producers I might suggest, in addition to Lamy and Colin-Morey, are two Chassagne-based domaines, Paul Pillot and Bernard Moreau, in addition to Vincent Latour, who relies in Meursault, and Saint-Aubin specialist Henri Prudhon. The nice and cozy 2018 classic supplies a superb introduction to those vibrant whites—whereas 2017 was undoubtedly higher in close by hotter terroirs. I believe the village additionally excelled in 2019, although I haven’t tasted the wines but.
If you happen to’re a white Burgundy fan who’s struggling sticker shock from the escalating costs of the assorted Montrachets, Saint-Aubin affords a pleasant respite. If you happen to haven’t but been transformed to the incomparable pleasures of Puligny-Montrachet or Meursault, this is likely to be an ideal place to start out your schooling—the gateway drug to addictive pleasures way more chic than you might need imagined the chardonnay grape was able to delivering.
Standout wines from the village embody 2019 Domaine Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin Premier Cru En Remilly ($90, klwines.com), 2018 Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Les Champlots ($84, vervewine.com), and 2019 Domaine Paul Pillot Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Les Charmois ($65, klwines.com).
This story seems within the Could 2021 difficulty of City & Nation. SUBSCRIBE NOW
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