Marsannay 2016
A recent appellation, Marsannay in the Côte de Nuits produces fantastic red wines as well as
a very significant production of white wines.
Origin
The vineyard of "The Golden Gate of the Côte de Nuits" covers the towns of Chenove, Marsannay-la-Côte and Couchey. This AOC is based on soils of great complexity of clay-limestone Middle Jurassic type.
The grapes of this cuvée come exclusively from the climate "La Bretignière" located in the town of Couchey a few hundred meters from the Fixin appellation. This small plot is located at the bottom of the hill with a full-east exposure and on a predominantly limestone soil.
There are traces of the name "La Bretignière" (from the old French Breton / Brecton = hawk) in the 1700s, it refers to the presence of a falconry where birds of prey were raised for hunting. It was attached to a manor house.
Viticulture
Grape variety: pinot noir
Soils: mostly limestone.
Orientation: East
Surface area under vine: 0.69 ha
Pruning: Cordon de Royat system
Yield: 55 hL/ha
Average age of the vines: 40 years old.
Vinification
Harvest date: 27 September 2016.
The grapes were sorted a first time in the vineyard and a second time on the sorting table when they arrived at the winery.
At the winery: the grapes were completely destemmed but not crushed (they were left whole) and were gravity-fed into tanks.Total maceration lasted 24 days including one week of cold maceration (12°C). Fermentation using uniquely indigenous yeasts (no oenological additives such as enzymes or tannins). Infrequent pigeages (eight maximum).
Ageing
Maturation: aged on the lees for 16 months with no racking using a proportion of 30% new French oak barrels.
Barrels: French oak barrels that had been toasted at low temperatures for a long time for very delicate oaking.
Bottling
Bottling: in February 2018, the wine was very gently filtered before being bottled using gravity.
Number of bottles: 3,100 magnums.
Vintage
2016 , small is beautiful!
Small volumes, but lovely fruit overall. This is expected to be a great vintage, confirmed by the first tastings in spring. Vintage 2016 offers fine surprises with wines of potentially high quality. White wines have fine fruit aromas, with good body and will be ready to drink while young whereas the red wines are powerful, tender, concentrated and will be ideal for ageing. The harvest was one-third down on average because of the frost that struck the region on 28 April, causing a lot of irreversible damage. This was all the more frustrating as the summer was very hot and sunny, resulting in very dense berries with thick skins, promising concentration and intense wines, but with low yields.
Ageing potential: from 6 to 9 years.
Tasting notes
The brilliant garnet red color offers ruby highlights. The nose exudes powerful aromas of blackcurrant, blackberries, as well as some slightly roasted notes. On the palate, the attack of this wine turns out to be quite supple with a good length. At the end, the tannins are silky.
