Marc Colin 2024
Marc Colin founded his domaine in the early 1970s, inheriting a handful of hectares from the Colin and Ponavoy families, and building it into one of Saint-Aubin's defining estates. I've always found the origin story worth telling customers, because it explains so much about the wines: Saint-Aubin wasn't a fashionable address back then, tucked as it is between Puligny and Chassagne, but Marc saw what the steep, limestone-cut slopes could do with Chardonnay, and he spent decades proving it. His children, Damien, Caroline, and Joseph, grew up in those vineyards and eventually took over, with Damien now running Domaine Marc Colin today.
The fourth sibling, Pierre-Yves, is the one people know best. He spent ten years at his father's domaine learning to make wine before venturing out on his own to form Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey. What people don't often realize is that most of the PYCM lineup is made from purchased fruit, with only a handful of true domaine wines in the mix. At the heart of his domaine are the vineyards of En Remilly and La Chatenière, which he received as part of his inheritance from his father.
What makes these vineyards so special is their location, perched high up on the slope above Chevalier-Montrachet. These are some of the first vineyards you see as you drive into Saint-Aubin. It's this steep, rocky, limestone soil that really comes to define Saint-Aubin 1er Cru. There is a citrus-leaning minerality that is the DNA of these vineyards, En Remilly more tightly wound with a slightly cooler expression, while Chatenière is a bit more expansive.
I feel that great wines start in the vineyards, and these Marc Colin holdings are some of the very best. You have a combination of old vines, which already promote lower yields, and precise farming, and the results speak for themselves. I've been buying these Marc Colin wines for as long as I can remember. These are wines that collectors quietly scoop up, because once you know, you know. I've only got a couple of cases of each available.
At a fraction of the cost of both PYCM and Lamy, these are a no-brainer.
Pale lemon in colour. Seems riper on the nose, a ripe citrus note on top of the apple, some weight, a little acidity still, radically different in style to the pure white fruit of En Montceau. But which do I prefer? Damien finds it the most complete, and Chatenière just gets my vote by a narrow margin. Drink from 2028-2034. Tasted Oct 2025.
- Jasper Morris, 92-95
Like the Montceau, this is aromatically firmly reduced. By contrast, the palate impression of the delicious and intense medium-bodied flavors is both fresh and bright while offering a lovely texture that carries over to the impressively long, complex and balanced finale. This is though very compact and in need to extended keeping.
- Burghound, 90-93 Outstanding Top Value
A lively mid lemon. Some perfume to the nose. Succulent and complete, thoroughly satisfying, En Remilly needs water and it got some. This is very good, with admirable concentration and perfect poise. Drink from 2028-2033. Tasted Oct 2025.
- Jasper Morris, 92-95
