When the Winemakers from Arnaud Ente and Coche-Dury Visit You, You Are Doing Something Right - Top 5 Bourgogne Blanc - Brilliant Wines

2018 Domaine Berlancourt Bourgogne "Cuvee Les Champans" 
 - Blind, I Would Guess Grand Cru Chevalier Monthrachet or Puligny 1er Cru "Folatieres."
 - Micro Low Yields in the Lalou Bize-Leroy Range
 - The Ultimate Ringer at a High End Burgundy Tasting 
 - Nose: Psychotic
 - Meyer Lemon with Intense, Clear and Airy Minerality
 - So Deep and Enveloping Like an Ocean Breeze
 - Endless Aromas and Aromatic Depth
 - Palate: Massive and Intense
 - Nimble, Concentrated and Delicate
 - Classy and Easily Grand Cru Cru Level
 - Insane Structure, Density and Concentration
 - Fleshy Fruit but also Pithy

2018 Domaine Berlancourt Bourgogne Chardonnay
 - Debut Vintage
 - Parcels in the Puligny Area
 - Nose: So Complex for a Wine at This Price Point
 - Mega Green Apple Skins and Intense Minerals
 - Tree Bark, Wet Hay
 - Gorgeous Pure Apples
 - Spice, Lanolin
 - Terrific Purity
 - Palate: So Clean, So Complex
 - Dazzling Purity
 - Green Apple Fruit, An Engaging Sucrosiry
 - Amazing Balance

 - Ultra Irresistible 

I've been so excited to taste the 18 whites from Berlancourt as Pierre Berlancourt finally has enough of his top wine (Les Champans) and he also finally made an introductory wine below the great Equinces. Berlancourt as many of you know only works within the Bourgogne appellation but Pierre and his son have the ambition of estates with much much more prestigious slices of land. They have a regular audience of people who visit (e.g. the winemakers from Arnaud Ente and Coche-Dury). Pierre tells me the way they praise his wines and I can see in his wines the influence of great famous Burgundies as Pierre himself was a sommelier for many years. Also since the 2011 vintage when we started with them they have gone from strength to strength and improved every year. 

The 2018 Vintage

Another reason I was excited to taste is because 2018 is a fantastic white Burgundy vintage within the Fass stable of Burgundy producers. It's the best I've ever tasted as the wines have a freshness and richness allied with terrific acids and just perfect balance. The best whites of almost all the white burg estates (Boussey/Chavy/Brisset/Morel/Janotbos) were made in 2018. So I had a multitude of reasons to be exited to taste Berlancourt. 

Boy did they not disappoint. I was floored. Rich, textured, energetic and structured wines that will age for decades. Pierre Berlancourt believes his wines need decades to age and that they improve with air more than any other producer. I can't argue. The wines, all of them, were strong on day 3 as they were on day 1.

The Wines

The 2018 Domaine Berlancourt Bourgogne "Champans" for $99.99 a bottle on a 3-pack is as good a wine as 18 can deliver. At Berlancourt they have their own hierarchy. The Champans is their Grand Cru and after tasting the 18, I think it can compete with a large number of Burgundy Grand Cru whites. It has the depth, length, oh man does it have the length, complexity and richness of at least 85% of the Grand Cru while burgs I've tasted. It also has that dramatic and grandiose quality. It's just a wine that not only transcends the appellation but it's a wine that wants to remake the appellation. After drinking a bottle of this over 3 days it really made me think hard about the appellation system. It generally gets its right but how can a wine that is labeled Bourgogne Blanc taste like 85% of Burgundy Grand Cru Burgs? 

I have never encountered a wine quite like this in my career. Almost 20 years now. Blind, I would guess
Grand Cru Chevalier Monthrachet or Puligny 1er Cru "Folatieres."  It is from yields of around 15hl/ha and aged in 100% new oak for 2 years. Just an incredible wine. 

Huge nose. Vanilla extract, not woody at all but that good vanilla of super high end elite whites. Then herbals, Meyer lemon with intense, clear and airy minerality that is so deep and enveloping like an ocean breeze. Apple spice starts to develop after some air. Endless aromas and aromatic depth.  On Day 2 it was just insane. stunning nose. Vanilla extract aromas and so much coconut. Man this is so good, so airy with superb minerality. Just gorgeous and vibrates in its own plane. 

Palate is massive and intense but then so nimble, concentrated and delicate. My godthis is classy and easily Grand Cru Cru level. Insane structure, density and concentration. Mega mega juicy. Thunderous. So pure. No hard edges.  Unreal finesse. Such fleshy fruit but also pithy. Everything is in perfect proportion. Just gets better and better with air.  On day 2, palate has perfect balance, prodigious concentration and is so sappy and dense, yet so light it's super elegant. Big and suave at the same time. It's grand cru all the way. 

The finish is endless. Just silky and stunning. Stunning finish. The finish begins where you think it is going to end. Just a masterpiece. Truly a genius and incomprehensible wine that should not be a Bourgogne Blanc. Best Champans ever and the finish is eternal. Just never ends and has perfect dissipation. 

Up next is a wine that was also a revelation to me as it was a new wine and was the most "basic" wine from the great Domaine Berlancourt. The 2018 Domaine Berlancourt Bourgogne Chardonnay can be had for $31.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. It's just an amazing value and has the Berlancourt magic but in a drinkable out of the bottle, I can't believe how delicious this is iteration. My god this wine is great and blind it can pass as earlier vintages of Equinces. This is a briliant, brilliant value. 

The nose. This needs 15 or so minutes to get presentable. As it aerates it gets mega green apple skins and intense minerals on the nose. Tree bark. Wet hay. Very complex. Superb minerality. What an insane confectionary quality on the aromas after some air. Sweet brown sugar and green apple skins. Stunning. The aromas have a remarkable transformation. From this is nice to OMG in an hour. This wine does not let up on day 2. Gorgeous pure apples on the nose. Spice. Lanolin. So good. So clean. So pure. 

Palate is so clean, so complex and has such dazzling purity and an almost effervescence but not quite. Beaming with energy. It is super elegant and wow oh wow is it pure. Nose is coming along, but does needs 30 ish minutes. Floats on the palate. Green apple fruit and an engaging sucrosity make this ultra irresistible. Wow what inner mouth aromas. So juicy and lean in it's own way while also being very generous. Long finish. Longer than it should be. Amazing balance. Such a nice new intro wine. From parcels in Puligny. On day, 2, Palate is elegant and has lovely sweet mineral and sweet fruit. So compact and pure. Delicious and one of those beg you to drink it wines because of how it makes you salivate. Deep, serene and just so good. Lime, lemon, such intensity. So sappy and complex. Such an impressive wine. Drink now and over the next 5+ years. 

The Estate

It's truly unbelievable what he can do at Domaine Berlancourt with the Bourgogne appellation. If there is an estate that sticks its nose up in the air to the appellation system in Burgundy it is Domaine Berlancourt. For those of you who have not read my recent blog post "God, Science and Sweat: The Three Ways to Make Wine,"  I encourage you to give it a perusal.  The basic point is that it is possible for great winemakers, through incredibly hard work, to make stunning, even world class wines, in humble appellations.  I have always known this, but I've never seen anyone make wine this good from ordinary terroir.  How do they do this?

 - The total production of this winery is a microscopic 2,000 bottles (they earn  a living from their adjacent hotel, not from winemaking).

 - Yields are cut back to 28 hl/ha for the second wine and approximately 15 hl/ha for the first. 

 - As a basis for comparison, the average yield for this area is 68 hl/ha.

 - Legendary winemaker Lalou Bize-Leroy's famously low yields are 16 hl/ha (most of her wines are a thousand dollars and up).

 - What low yields do is add incredible concentration of flavor and texture to the wines.

 - These wines are made as if they were from Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards.  And it shows.

2018 Domaine Berlancourt Bourgogne Blanc "Cuvee Les Champans" - $101.99 ($299.97 3-pack) (*Including tariff of $12.30) 

2018 Domaine Berlancourt Bourgogne Chardonnay - $33.99 

($127.96 4-pack) (*Including tariff of $3.23)