2022 Domaine Sylvain Pataille
On a trip to France in 2008, I met Sylvain Pataille and have been closely watching his journey ever since. In all the years I’ve been visiting domaines, this man's passion for growing grapes, making wine, and all things related is unmatched and to say he is well respected in the world of Burgundy wine would be an understatement.
In 1999, Pataille started his domaine with merely 1 hectare of vines but has since grown to present day size of 15 hectares, with most vines in Marsannay. He has a passion for aligote as well as pinot noir and has been certified organic long before it was fashionable. He is also one of the leading minds in the biodynamic movement, (although he himself is not certified) and he is a consulting enologist to some of the biggest names in the Côte d'Or.
His approach to winemaking is one of minimal intervention. The vinification process is long and slow with the use of some whole clusters, depending on the vintage. Only indigenous yeasts are used, with sulfur only being added at bottling. Between 15-30% new barrels are used. Fairly standard elevage with barrel aging being approximately 15 months, although some cuvees could see almost 2 full years. He lets the wines tell him what they need as there is no set formula.
Since 2008, there have been rumblings that several of the Marsannay vineyards, Clos du Roy in particular, deserve to be elevated to Premier Cru. I don’t think there has been all that much advancement of this idea since. That said, several of Sylvain’s vineyards in Marsannay produce wines which handily rival some of the top premier crus in the Cote!
Chez Pataille has turned out yet another successful vintage for 2022. I think this quote extracted from Burghound sums up the vintage perfectly in Sylvain’s words -
“(2022) growing season had a difficult start with the massive June storm but in the end, it proved to be our salvation because otherwise the super-hot and dry conditions would have caused the vines to shut down completely. The fruit was clean and averaged around 13% in terms of potential alcohols. As such, the vinifications were straightforward and I used a relatively high proportion of whole clusters. One of the things that has impressed me about the 2022s is that they have tasted good from the very beginning and overall, it strikes me that they likely will do so all their lives. I hope so anyway.”
REVIEW
- Burghound
Vins Rare Note: I always find this wine offers above average bang for the buck - especially in the riper vintages. This is worth your attention!
Just bottled. Mid crimson. An energetic pure pinot fruit nose, not ethereal but not massive, just about the fruit. The finish is made a little more severe by the recent bottling but this is a hugely satisfying crunchy fruit. Persistent for this level. Lovely. Drink from 2025-2028. Tasted: November 2023.
- Jasper Morris, 89
Vins Rare Note: Chardonnay Rose is a genetic mutation of the Chardonnay grape specific to the village of Marsannay. Sylvain Pataille first noticed the mutation in 2002, when he acquired his Blangeys parcel, and found some surprisingly pink grapes at harvest. From 2002 until 2005, his Marsannay Blanc was 100% Chardonnay Rose from Blangeys, then he began to blend in Chardonnay from other parcels to complete the cuvée. But Sylvain wasn't content with mixing this unique grape variety with traditional Chardonnay. He continued his research from there, finally using his vines from Les Blangeys to propagate the variety, planting at high density (20,000 vines per hectare) in 2009 and then in 2013 and 2014.
Once again the expressive nose is super-fresh and appealing with its overtly floral-suffused nose of red pinot fruit, wet stone and rose petal. The medium weight flavors aren't quite as concentrated, but they are notably finer on the youthfully austere finale that could use better depth.
- Burghound, 88-90
Firm reduction completely masks the underlying fruit. More interesting are the racy and beautifully detailed medium-bodied flavors that exude evident minerality on the moderately austere and decidedly firm finale that exhibits lovely balance. This is very good but firm enough to need at least some patience, indeed up to a decade's worth would not surprise me.
- Burghound, 90-93 Top Value!
Bright deep purple. A spectacular bouquet, too much fruit to be able to keep it all in one glass, yet beautifully harnessed. Magically intense with a wonderful interplay between the peppery energy of the stems and the magical intensity of the dark red berry fruit. Drink from 2028-2034. Tasted: November 2023.
- Jasper Morris, 91-93 | 5 Stars
Once again there is a highly attractive floral quality to the softly spicy if distinctly earthy nose that features mostly notes of dark currant and exotic tea. There is good underlying tension to the well-detailed medium weight flavors that are shaped by relatively fine-grained tannins on the chiseled and sneaky long finish that is akin to rolling tiny pebbles around in the mouth. This decidedly firm effort is an excellent example of the vineyard though one that will need all of a decade to arrive at its apogee.
- Burghound, 91-93 Top Value!
