Tag Archives: Cote Chalonnaise

60 Second Wine Review — Louis Bouillot Extra Brut

A few quick thoughts on the Louis Bouillot Extra Brut Cremant de Bourgogne.

The Geekery

The sparkling wine house of Louis Bouillot was founded in 1877 in the Burgundy wine village of Nuits-Saint-Georges.

Tom Stevenson and Essi Avellan note in the Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine that the house owns around 50 acres of vineyards but works with over 70 growers throughout the Côte d’Or as well as in the Côte Chalonnaise, the Mâconnais and Chablis.

Since 1997, the house has been a part of the Boisset Collection along with other notable Burgundian houses like Bouchard Aîné & Fils, Domaine de la Vougeraie, Ropiteau Frères and the California estates of Raymond Vineyards, Buena Vista Winery, DeLoach Vineyards and Lyeth Estate.

The Limited Edition Extra Brut is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Gamay and Aligoté. The wine spent 30 months aging on its lees (well above the 9 months minimum required for regular non-vintage Cremant de Bourgogne and 12 months required for NV Champagnes) before being bottled with a dosage of 6 g/l.

The Wine

High intensity nose. A mix of ripe apples and lemons with toasty pastry. There is also a white floral note that adds a sweet smelling element–honeysuckle?

Photo by Tomwsulcer. Released on Wikimedia Commons under CC-Zero

Perfect balance of apple fruit and toastiness in this dry sparkler.

On the palate, the apple notes come through the most and with the toastiness reminds me of a freshly baked apple turnover with some cinnamon spice. Noticeably dry I would have pegged the dosage more in the 3 g/l range. Impeccably well balanced with fresh lively acidity and silky smooth mousse. Long finish brings the lemon notes back with them being more zesty than fruity.

The Verdict

At around $20-25, this is a fantastic sparkling wine that would put many of the grocery store level NV Champagne brands in the $35-45 range to shame. I’ve long been a fan of Cremant de Bourgogne (and Louis Bouillot in particular–especially their rose sparkler) but this Extra Brut takes it to another level.

Being a limited edition, it will be hard to find but well worth the hunt.

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60 Second Wine Review — Ch. de Mercey En Sazenay

Some quick thoughts on the 2012 Château de Mercey Mercurey 1er cru En Sazenay.

The Geekery

Château de Mercey is owned by the merchant house of Antonin Rodet that was founded in the Mercurey region of the Côte Chalonnaise in 1875. In addition to producing wines under their own label and Ch. de Mercey, they also own Château de Rully (based around the AOC of the same name) and Domaine de la Bressande (based in Mercurey).

In his book, The Wines of Burgundy, Master of Wine Clive Coates notes that under enologist Nadine Gublin, Antonin Rodet has become a source for highly reliable wines in the Côte Chalonnaise. Though the current winemaker appears to be Anne-Laure Hernette.

The premier cru vineyard of Sazenay in Mercurey covers 118 acres in the heart of the commune. The lieu-dit that Ch. de Mercey owns is sustainably farmed and contains 50+ year old vines planted in sandy clay-limestone soils. Other estates that produce wine from this premier cru includes Château de Chamirey (Wine Searcher Ave $39), Jean-Michel & Laurent Pillot (Ave $35) and Domaine Hugues et Yves de Suremain (Ave $34).

The wine spent 12 months aging in 25% new oak.

The Wine

Medium intensity nose–a mix of red cherries with oak spice and smoke.

https://www.bourgogne-wines.com/our-wines-our-terroir/all-bourgogne-wines/mercurey,2459,9254.html?&args=Y29tcF9pZD0xNDUyJmFjdGlvbj12aWV3RmljaGUmaWQ9MzQ4Jnw%3D

The Sazenay 1er highlighted in the commune of Mercurey. Photo courtesy of www.bourgogne-wines.com

On the palate, the cherries come through with some raspberry fruit and taste very fresh with medium plus acidity. The smoke leaves but oak spice is still prevalent and gets more defined as cinnamon and clove with a little star anise. Medium body and medium tannins with a moderate finish that has some minerality.

The Verdict

The Mercurey region in the Côte Chalonnaise is often a go-to source for value in Burgundy and this bottle of Ch. de Mercey hold that to be true. At around $35 it offers a good amount of character and complexity that is difficult to find in under $50 red Burgundies.

This wine would particularly star on the table with poultry and smoked salmon.

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Getting Geeky with Cave de Genouilly Aligote

Going to need more than 60 seconds to geek out about the 2015 Cave de Genouilly Bourgogne Aligoté.

The Background

Cave de Genouilly was founded in 1932 as a co-operative of family growers in the Côte Chalonnaise region of southern Burgundy. Today, the co-op includes 90 growers with 180 acres based around the communes of Genouilly, Fley, Bissy-sur-Fley, Saint-Martin-du-Tartre and Saint-Clément-sur-Guye. Many of the growers are second and third generation members of the co-op.

In addition to Bourgogne Aligoté, the co-op also produces Crémant de Bourgogne as well as still wines from the AOCs of Rully, Givry and Montagny–including some premier cru.

The Grape

According to Jancis Robinson’s Wine Grapes, Aligoté is an offspring of Pinot and Gouais blanc, making it a full sibling of Chardonnay, Melon de Bourgogne, Gamay and Auxerrois.

Robinson speculates that the name Aligoté is derived from the old synonym for Gouais blanc, Gôt. The grape first appeared in written records in 1780 under the synonym ‘Plant de Trois’ which refers to the tendency of Aligoté to produce three clusters per branch. The name Aligoté, itself, appears in the Côte d’Or for the first time in 1807.

The grape earned some notoriety after World War II when the mayor of Dijon, Félix Kir, created a cocktail that blended Aligoté with Crème de Cassis. Today that cocktail is known as the Kir and, while it has many derivatives, the classic incarnation still features Aligoté.

Photo by Arnaud 25. Released on Wikimedia Commons under  CC-BY-SA-3.0

The classic Kir cocktail of Aligoté with Crème de Cassis paired with gougères, a savory puff pastry made with cheese.


Today there is around 4800 acres of the variety planted in France–virtually all in Burgundy. Producers tend to plant Aligoté either at the very bottom or very top of the slope, leaving the prime mid-slope section for the more profitable Chardonnay and Pinot noir.

While most plantings are found in the Côte Chalonnaise, particularly in the Bouzeron AOC, the grape was permitted in Meursault throughout the 19th century and is technically still authorized for use in the Grand Cru of Corton-Charlemagne thanks to a 1930s legal judgement. Bonneau du Matray maintained 1 ha of Aligoté in the Grand Cru until the mid-1970s.

In my post Brave New Burgs, I noted that the list of Burgundian producers who seem to have a soft spot for this obscure variety is impressive. Aubert de Villaine (of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti fame), Lalou Bize-Leroy, Marquis d’Angerville and Michel Lafarge, to name a few. Aligoté is even planted in the prime real estate of the Morey-St-Denis Premier Cru Clos des Monts Luisants owned by Domaine Ponsot.

Outside of France, Aligoté can be found in Switzerland (≈ 50 acres) and several eastern European countries such as Bulgaria (≈ 2700 acres), Moldova (≈ 39,000 acres), Romania (≈ 18,000 acres), Russia (≈ 1,000 acres) and Ukarine where the grape accounts for 11% of total vineyard area with ≈ 24,000 acres.

By Ensenator - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, released on Wikimedia commons

Aligoté grapes growing in Romania.


In the US, California winemaker Jed Steele makes an example in Washington State called Shooting Star sourced from 2 acres of Aligoté planted in the Yakima Valley by the Newhouse family in the 1970s. Josh Jensen of Calera has also experimented with the variety in the high-altitude Mt. Harlan AVA in the Gabilan Mountains of San Benito County, California.

The Wine

Medium plus intensity nose with citrus and fresh cut white flowers. A little grassy. Makes me think of a Sauvignon blanc.

The mouthfeel has surprising weight with a medium plus body that helps balance the medium plus acidity. It rounds it out and keeps the wine mouthwatering rather than bitey. Apple flavors appear alongside the citrus (lemon) and fresh floral notes carrying through from the bouquet. The grassiness doesn’t, though, which has my thoughts shifting from comparing it to a Sauvignon blanc to something closer to an unoaked Chardonnay from the Macon-Village.

The Verdict

In Brave New Burgs, I summed up my tasting note on the 2015 Cave de Genouilly Bourgogne Aligoté “As if a Sauvignon blanc and an unoaked Chardonnay had a baby. Great mouthfeel with weight. Smooth but fresh.”

The wine has a lot of character that makes it enjoyable on its own but with its mouthwatering acidity, I thinks it place to shine is with food. At around $15-18, its combination of fruit, acidity and structure gives great flexibility on the table letting it pair with anything from white and shellfish to fatty tuna and salmon as well as vegetarian fare, poultry and pork.

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60 Second Wine Reviews – Levert Freres Cremant Bourgogne

A few quick thoughts on the sparkling 2013 Levert Freres Cremant de Bourgogne Brut.

The Geekery

An old estate dating back to 1595 in the commune of Mercurey in the Côte Chalonnaise region of Burgundy. Today it is part of the Compagnie Vinicole de Bourgogne based in Chagny with Gabriel Picard managing and David Fernez making the wine.

Sourced from around 22 acres (9 ha) of vineyards in Mercurey, the 2013 vintage is a blend of 42% Chardonnay, 38% Pinot noir and 20% Gamay. The wine spent 24 months on the lees. This is far beyond the minimum 9 months currently required for Cremant de Bourgogne and is inline with the aging required for the upcoming prestige Cremant ranking of Crémant de Bourgogne Eminent that was announced in 2016.

The Wine

Medium plus intensity aromatics. Lots of fresh citrus with some subtle toastiness underneath. It smells like a freshly baked lemon roll with a glazed puff pastry. Underneath there is a white floral component that adds complexity.

The back label of the Levert Freres

The palate features a smooth mousse but it is quite dry. I couldn’t find the exact dosage but I would estimate it in the 7-8 g/l range, making it a legit Brut and a very well balanced one at that. The freshness from the nose carries over and it is quite lively and immensely charming. The floral notes are more pronounce and strike me more as daisy petals versus lillies.

The Verdict

Charming is the reoccurring theme. It’s certainly simple but it has enough character to engage the senses and is a bottle that can be happily shared (and emptied!) at any setting. At around $15 dollars, it is an excellent buy but this bottle could easily hold its own against other wines up to the $20 range.

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