2022 Domaine-Jaeger Defaix, Rully Blanc, Les Cloux, Premier Cru, Côte Chalonnaise White Burgundy, France.
The crisp, but concentrated 2022 Jaeger-Defaix Rully Blanc Les Cloux is full of chalky intensity with subtle oak notes and a core of pure Chardonnay fruit, with lemon, apple, peach and golden fig, along with steely mineral tones, clove spice, less hazelnut and very delicate flowery notes. Losing its reductive side and gaining depth at this stage this proven to be a wonderful Côte Chalonnaise Burgundy that is drinking beautifully right now, it would be hard to imagine it being better or asking more for this terroir and price point. The winery says this excellent Rully1er Cru, Les Cloux Blanc (100% Chardonnay) comes from vines located just on top of the Chapitre, set on classic clay-limestone soils, which they add gets more clear as you rise on the slope here. The wine is fermented and aged in mostly used French oak barrels, where it also ages sur lie for close to 18 months. That explains the richness of detail and rounded textural pleasures here, but I must say it has stayed remarkably fresh, vibrant and elegant. Some importers, say that the wine sometimes, just stays in barrel 12 months and then settled in stainless tank for the other 6 months before bottling, which may be the case, but either way the wine is delicious and a steal for the quality. I must say, I was a newly to the domaine and maybe should have planned my meal better around opening this wine, but regardless it was a joy in the glass from start to finish and while not perfected up to the cuisine choices I made, it was very much a star at the table.
I hadn’t had these Jaeger-Defaix wines before, but was thrilled with this one and only wished I had bought more, especially this vintage, and I am grateful to my friend Alex Lallos of No Limit Fine Wine for getting me this bottle so I could get started with this domaine. I learned that the Les Cloux Premier Cru vineyard is home to Defaix’s oldest vines, being planted back in 1944 on that classic clay/limestone mix found across the best sites of Côte d’Or, giving the wines their class and terroir dimension. Since 2009, these old vines have been farmed exclusively with organic practices and carefully tended by hand. Within the Côte Chalonnaise, and the village of Rully, the Les Cloux is known for its ability to way over deliver in the bottle with its fleshy opulence and vitality, making a serious white Burgundy that can age well too, as I believe this Jaeger-Defaix should do. Not that any patience is really required here on this 2022 version, and at the price, why wait? Though you might consider putting a bottle away if you are an aged Burgundy fan, just for kicks. The Jaeger-Defaix domaine does a few other small production bottlings from the Rully village, with the Montpalais and Rabourcé Premier Crus also being of note, especially the Rabourcé, which is sometimes called the Montrachet of Rully and the Côte Chalonnaise, such is the reported power, richness and length of the wine. So now I’m very intrigued to discover the full collection here. I am excited that these wines are so reasonably priced, with the exploding cost of Burgundy these days, and I will definitely watching the Jaeger-Defaix label closely.
($32 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive