Bourgogne Chardonnay
Les Ursulines 2017
The beating heart of the Maison Jean-Claude Boisset is Les Ursulines, and this wine is the quintessential expression of the winery, and is both an initiation into Burgundy and a great wine in its own right.
Origin
This ‘vast’ appellation brings together four great regions; Yonne to the north, with its fresh, mineral wines, followed by the Côte d’Or, with its rounder, deeper whites, the Côte Chalonnaise with its pleasant wines, and lastly the Mâcon region to the south, with a range of styles varying with the individual soil and exposure.
Viticulture
Grape variety: Chardonnay
Soils: clay-limestone
Orientation: mostly southeast / south
Average age of the vines: 25-45 years old.
Vinification
Harvest date: from 11th to 17th of September 2017.
The grapes were handpicked and collected in 20-kg perforated crates.
At the winery: The whole bunches of grapes were gently pressed for 2½ hours. The temperature of the must was brought down to 12°C then was immediately transferred to barrels with no settling to preserve a maximum of lees. Very long fermentation using indigenous yeasts.
Ageing
Maturation: half is aged for 10 months with no racking or stirring to bring out all of this wine’s minerality. A proportion of 10% new gently toasted French oak barrels were used for very delicate oaking. The other half is aged on the lees in stainless steel tanks to preserve the freshness of the wine.
Barrels: French oak barrels that had been toasted at low temperatures for a long time to impart a subtle, delicate touch of oak were used.
Bottling
Bottling: the wine was bentonite fined and very gently filtered before being bottled using gravity in September 2018.
Vintage
2017, finesse
The growing cycle was thrown off-kilter by a very cold winter, late spring frost, then optimal conditions for rapid flowering, sporadic hail, and summer drought. Harvesting began in early September in the sun, and after several lean years, the vines finally produced abundant grapes, although with significant differences in maturity between whites and reds and from one region to another, which called for strict sorting.
Ageing potential: from 4 to 6 years.
Tasting notes
With a pale, bright yellow robe, this wine reveals citrus aromas, but also notes of white flowers and a hint of smoky notes. The mouth confirms the citrus aromas and offers a chiselled wine for this vintage.
