bourgogneblanc

2022  

"The Bourgogne has just been fined. Pale colour. Both floral and full of fruit on the nose, giving one an immediate desire to drink it. Just a little bacon fat at the finish, otherwise a clean ripe citrus note and a fresh apple or two. Very nice. Drink from 2024-2027. Tasted Nov 2023." - 4/5 stars, Jasper Morris MW

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  

2022  

From a 0.96 hectare parcel in the village of Chassagne, both the Santenay and Puligny sides, planted in 1988, 2001, and 2012. Aged in 10 months in 228 and 350 L oak barrels, 25% new. Unfiltered.

2023  

2021  

"In bottle. A baby Chassagne on the nose, along with a touch of reduction. Good backbone, some riper fruits at the back along with a touch of wood, with the thread of acidity of the vintage to finish. Holds on well at the back. Drink from 2024-2026. Tasted Oct 2022." - 4/5 star, Jasper Morris

2021  

Bourgogne Blanc La Plante des Champs - "Pale primrose with a pretty floral nose with a little bit of barrel toast. The oak is fine rather than heavy and makes for a delicious Bourgogne, which fills the mouth very nicely. Drink from 2024-2026. Tasted: October 2022." - 4/5 stars Jasper Morris