Santenay
1er Cru Passetemps 2019
This is the Côte d’Or’s southernmost appellation, located just to the south of Chassagne-Montrachet …
Origin
Santenay’s vineyards stretch across 400 ha of which 123 ha are planted with Premier Cru vines, divided into 3 distinct zones.
The climat "Passetemps", located in the North of the appellation, is composed by two plots on a hillside located just below the "Clos des Mouches". and not far from the village of Chassagne-Montrachet. The vines are exposed south-east and benefit from a predominantly clay soil.
The name "Passetemps" probably comes from the fact that it was nice to spend time working on these plots.
Viticulture
Grape variety: chardonnay
Soils: mostly clay.
Orientation: East
Surface area under vine: 0.3042 ha
Pruning: Guyot system
Yield: 35 hL/ha
Average age of the vine: 41 years old.
Vinification
Harvest date: 16 September 2019.
The grapes were handpicked.
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 (450L) with no settling to preserve a maximum of lees. Long fermentation using indigenous yeasts for added complexity and freshness.
Ageing
Maturation: aged for 16 months with no racking or stirring to bring out all of this wine’s minerality. A proportion of 40% new French oak barrels.
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 March 2021.
Number of bottles: 1,400.
Vintage
A legendary vintages?
According to Grégory Patriat, this second harvest at the Ursulines winery will go down as a legendary vintage just like 1969, 1979, 1999, 2009, and 2019, because the concentration in the wines is very high indeed. Years with drought and low yields are always great vintages in Burgundy. We had some new premier crus come online last year, with three in Chambolle-Musigny, one in Gevrey-Chambertin, and one in Nuits-Saint-Georges; Le Clos des Argillères. Furthermore, we revived our tradition of producing white wines in villages better known for their reds, with a white Fixin.
Ageing potential: from 5 to 10 years.
Tasting notes
The color is pale yellow. The racy nose will seduce you with its intense aromatic bouquet of citrus fruits, yellow fruits, as well as some sweet spices and woody notes. On the palate, the very expressive and fleshy wine reveals a very good length. It is an explosive and energetic wine!
