Chantereves Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Morgeot" 2023

Notes:

Producer: Chanterêves was founded in 2010 by husband-and-wife winemakers Tomoko Kuriyama and Guillaume Bott. Kuriyama studied oenology in Germany and worked at estates including Altenkirch and Friedrich Altenkirch in the Rheingau, while Bott trained in Burgundy and spent many years working at Domaine Simon Bize & Fils in Savigny-lès-Beaune. The project began as a small négociant operation before the couple acquired their own vineyards in the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune beginning in 2020, making Chanterêves both a domaine and négociant today. Their approach emphasizes careful farming, ambient-yeast fermentation, restrained extraction for reds, long pressing for whites, minimal sulfur, and little intervention before bottling. The Morgeot remains a négociant wine, but the fruit comes from a specifically identified parcel that is organically farmed and closely tended.
Vineyard: Although labeled Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot, Chanterêves sources this Chardonnay specifically from Les Chaumes, a lieu-dit within the much larger Morgeot Premier Cru area in the southern part of Chassagne-Montrachet. This distinction is useful because Morgeot encompasses numerous individual lieux-dits rather than functioning as one homogeneous vineyard. The vines supplying Chanterêves are organically farmed, with the source vineyard reported as having been farmed organically since 2012. Morgeot occupies the broader, lower southern Premier Cru slope of Chassagne, where clay generally plays a more substantial role alongside the appellation's limestone than in some of the thinner-soiled sites farther upslope. That geological setting helps explain why Morgeot is historically associated with Chardonnay of greater volume and substance. Chanterêves' fruit nevertheless comes from a precisely defined section of the climat rather than being assembled from numerous Morgeot parcels. The 2023 Burgundy vintage provided a generous crop and good physiological maturity, giving the domaine healthy Chardonnay with sufficient concentration for its long pressing and barrel élevage.
Winemaking: The 100% Chardonnay is crushed before pressing, followed by an unusually slow six-hour press cycle. Fermentation begins with a pied de cuve and proceeds with ambient yeasts, consistent with Kuriyama and Bott's broader preference for spontaneous fermentation. The wine is then matured for 12 months in a combination of 228-liter pièces and 600-liter barrels. The use of different barrel sizes allows for varying degrees of oxygen exchange and lees contact without relying on overt oak flavor as the defining feature of the wine. Chanterêves does not fine the wine before bottling; filtration is used only lightly and occasionally when considered necessary. Sulfur additions are similarly restrained and are made only when needed during élevage and before bottling. These are particularly useful technical details for this cuvée because they separate the actual cellar work from generalized descriptions of “minimal-intervention” winemaking: long pressing, ambient fermentation, mixed barrel formats, and limited finishing are all specific parts of how this Morgeot is produced.
Technical Details: Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru AOC; Morgeot; 2023 vintage; 100% Chardonnay; fruit sourced specifically from Les Chaumes within the larger Morgeot Premier Cru; négociant bottling; source vineyard organically farmed; crushed before pressing; approximately six-hour press cycle; ambient-yeast fermentation initiated with pied de cuve; 12 months élevage in 228L and 600L barrels; no fining; occasional light filtration only when necessary; minimal SO₂ additions during aging and before bottling when required; 750ml bottle.
Food Pairing: Butter-poached lobster, seared scallops, turbot, Dover sole, roasted monkfish, halibut, crab gratin, roast chicken, chicken with morels, veal chops, pork loin, mushroom risotto, truffled pasta, Comté, Beaufort, and Gruyère. Morgeot's natural breadth and the texture developed through barrel élevage make richer seafood, poultry, and mushroom preparations particularly appropriate, while Chardonnay's acidity provides balance with butter- and cream-based sauces.