2020  

"An elegant, admirably pure and airy nose freely offers up its aromas of green apple, lemon rind, oyster shell and iodine. There is again fine energy and detail to the equally saliva-inducing medium weight flavors that flash plenty of salinity on the complex, long and balanced finale. This too is excellent for its level." - Outstanding Top Value, Burghound

2019  Hautes Cotes de Nuits

"An exuberantly fresh nose offers up cool notes of essence of various red berries with snippets of spice and earth. The delicious and equally vibrant flavors are not quite as concentrated but they're finer with lovely detail and minerality on the ever-so-mildly austere finale. This is really quite pretty and worth a look as an all-around house red candidate." - Outstanding Top Value, Burghound

2020  Hautes Cotes de Nuits

Hautes Cotes de Nuits

2019  Rouge

Rouge

2020  Les Copains d'Abord

Les Copains d'Abord ---- The 2020 Saint-Bris Les Copains d'Abord is lovely, exhibiting aromas of gooseberry, pear, orange oil, mint and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and precise, with chalky grip and a penetrating finish, it transcends its cépage." - 90-92pts William Kelley, Wine Advocate ---- One of my most exciting discoveries in Chablis and the Auxerrois was fledgling Domaine Clément Lavallée. Clement's father is the proprietor of a substantial, modern and mechanized domaine in Saint-Bris, but Clément's aspirations were more artisanal. He started his own label in 2019, with just 3.5 hectares supplemented by purchased fruit - a surface that's grown to 5.5 hectares today. Eschewing herbicides, he cultivates the soils with lightweight tractors and keeps chemical treatments to the minimum. Working with a variety of sites and cépages, harvest lasts a full month. In the cellar, whites see a long pressing, with Clément selling in bulk any juice that doesn't please him, and reds see long macerations with a percentage of whole bunches. Élevage takes place in used wood on the lees, and the wines are never pumped. What I tasted on this first visit indicates that Lavallée hit the ground running with his very first vintage. Textural but incisive, pure and penetrating, I was immensely impressed by these young wines - from pungently mineral Chablis, to perfumed and intense reds, to Saint-Bris that's more Auxerrois than it is Sauvignon, everything here comes warmly recommended, and I encourage importers to beat a path to this new domaine's door.

2020  Cotes d'Auxerre Blanc

Cotes d'Auxerre Blanc ---- "Lavallée's 2020 Bourgogne Côtes d'Auxerre Blanc is very promising, offering up notes of citrus, Anjou pear, green apple and white flowers. Medium-bodied, elegantly fleshy and concentrated, it's fine-boned but intensely flavored. It's produced from deep but stony soils and, in total, amounts to a mere four barrels." - 88-90pts William Kelley, Wine Advocate ---- One of my most exciting discoveries in Chablis and the Auxerrois was fledgling Domaine Clément Lavallée. Clement's father is the proprietor of a substantial, modern and mechanized domaine in Saint-Bris, but Clément's aspirations were more artisanal. He started his own label in 2019, with just 3.5 hectares supplemented by purchased fruit - a surface that's grown to 5.5 hectares today. Eschewing herbicides, he cultivates the soils with lightweight tractors and keeps chemical treatments to the minimum. Working with a variety of sites and cépages, harvest lasts a full month. In the cellar, whites see a long pressing, with Clément selling in bulk any juice that doesn't please him, and reds see long macerations with a percentage of whole bunches. Élevage takes place in used wood on the lees, and the wines are never pumped. What I tasted on this first visit indicates that Lavallée hit the ground running with his very first vintage. Textural but incisive, pure and penetrating, I was immensely impressed by these young wines - from pungently mineral Chablis, to perfumed and intense reds, to Saint-Bris that's more Auxerrois than it is Sauvignon, everything here comes warmly recommended, and I encourage importers to beat a path to this new domaine's door.

2019  Savigny-les-Beaune

2019  Cote de Nuits Villages

Cote de Nuits Villages ---- "The 2019 Côte de Nuits-Villages offers up aromas of cherries, raspberries and plums, complemented by hints of sweet spices and loamy soil. Medium to full-bodied, round and fleshy, it's generous but balanced, with a seamless, gourmand profile." - 90pts William Kelley, WA

2011  

2019  

1200 bottles produced, average age of vines are 35 years.

2020  

2018  Mont de Milieu

Mont de Milieu -- "Touches of the exotic are present in the form of lychee nut, dried apricot and white peach along with hints of petrol and quinine. The succulent and borderline oily medium weight plus flavors possess an abundance of dry extract that imparts a sappy texture to the bitter lemon finish where an interesting hint of marmalade appears. This isn't classic but it is actually quite good." - 90-93pts/Sweet Spot Outstanding -- 2018 Chablis 1er Mont de Milieu from Domaine Pinson which is one of the highest rated 1er Cru Chablis in the most recent Burghound report! It received the same exact score as Dauvissat 1er Vaillons 2018 and Raveneau 1er Butteaux 2018 (Raveneau 1er Montee de Tonnerre 2018 received almost the same exact score of 91-93). This wine scored higher than the following wines: Dauvissat 1er Sechets 2018 (90-92), Raveneau 1er Montmains 2018 (90-92).