Classics From Blagny

This week, we’re featuring a white and a red from Blagny, close to the top of the Côte at the border between Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault.

Laurent Martelet bottles wines under the Comtesse de Chérisey label, named after his mother-in-law, who had passed the domaine on to his wife, Hélène. Their domaine is centered around the small village of Hameau de Blagny. Their premier cru vines are at least 60 years old, as in La Genelotte, a vineyard north of Blagny, high on the slope above Meursault. This is the domaine’s largest holding, with 8.64 acres of vines planted between 1946 and 1955, and it produces one of the most distinctive wines in Blagny—instantly recognizable for its expansive freshness and pale limestone savor, the altitude of the site favoring the ripeness of 2019 with astonishing beauty. The acidity of the wine tingles, bringing luscious flavors of white pear and savory white peach into lively focus. Youthfully surrounded but not overcome by hazelnut and brioche scents of lees aging in oak, this is irresistible now and will only gain depths as those scents age toward complexity.

Sisters Adèle and Elsa run Domaine Matrot, based at their great-grandmother’s estate in Meursault. Their father, Thierry, stopped using chemical fertilizers in 1976 and started farming the domaine organically in 2000. This pinot noir grows in the same block as the chardonnay vines for Matrot’s Meursault-Blagny 1er Cru. The soils are thin at the top of the hill, leaving the vines in close contact with limestone, providing a wine with buzzing energy and a delicate frame. This is a beautiful, old-fashioned Burgundy, its scent parallel to equally old-fashioned roses, its sleek raspberry and black cherry flavors lasting with textural grace. The silken weave draws you into a wine that feels completely integrated, lovely to drink now and over the next five years.

Comtesse de Chérisey imported by Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; Domaine Matrot imported by Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL

Every week, our editors highlight a wine that intrigued them in our blind panel tastings, expanding on their tasting note in this space. These are entirely editorial choices; there are no paid placements. Subscribers can also access the original tasting note by searching here.

---

This is a W&S web exclusive. Get access to all of our feature stories by signing up today.

---