2019 Au Pied du Mont Chauve Chassagne-Montrachet En Pimont

France / Burgundy / Cote de Beaune / Chassagne-Montrachet Village Blanc
 
Au Pied du Mont Chauve Chassagne-Montrachet Village En Pimont (owned by Domaines Famille Picard).

Wine Enthusiast tasting note 92/100: "Broader and riper in profile than the 2018 bottling of En Pimont, this full-bodied Chardonnay highlights flavors of preserved apricot and almond nougat accented by mesquite and crushed white pepper. Luscious in texture yet brightened by pert lemony acidity, the powerful wine is ready to drink now but should hold well through 2029".

The plot is located in Chassagne-Montrachet at an altitude of 250 meters. It is a calcareous brown soil, poor, very shallow and we observe outcrops of limestone rocks from Ladoix and stones from Dijon Corton. Most of the vines were planted in the mid-1970s. The grapes are grown biodynamically.
Grapes harvested by hand in crates, sorted on a sorting table if necessary and conveyed directly to the pneumatic press. Pressing of whole grapes for two and a half hour. The juice from stainless steel vats settles at 12 degrees overnight. Then the must is directly transferred to barrels to achieve alcoholic fermentation (traditional Burgundy vinification).
 
Aged 18 months on lees, including 10 months in oak barrels.
 
Au Pied du Mont Chauve – where does this unusual name come from? APMC came into being at the end of the 2000s; the Picard family was then the owner of vines historically established on the Chassagne-Montrachet, Saint-Aubin, and Puligny-Montrachet estates. It was, therefore, perfectly natural for the name Au Pied du Mont Chauve to take root in Francine Picard's mind. After all, the latter is the nickname given to the well-known Montrachet's hill. APMC is bestowed with an extremely rich plot in those three exceptional winegrowing villages with no less than 20 prestigious climats – specially delineated plots of land, specific to Burgundy vineyards – including Les Demoiselles, Les Caillerets and En Remilly. From a desire for synergy between terroir and the wine, the vines have been biodynamically cultivated for several years, thus the vinification process is the most natural possible. Clearly delineated, delicate and expressive, APMC 's vintages are truly precise jewels where the perfectly controlled ageing reveals a fresh density of unmistakable elegance on the palate.