2022 Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, Chassagne-Montrachet, Vieilles Vignes, White Burgundy, France.
While I loved the 2020 version of Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey’s old vine Chassagne, this pale gold/straw hued 2022 might even be better and it feels just that just bit livelier at the same stage I tried the ’20, with a gorgeous purity, depth and striking mineral tones leading the way. The Vieilles Vignes shows off the classic modern reductive style at its best with bracing acidity and tension on the medium full palate that revolves around lemon, apple, pear and golden fig fruits, along with clove spice, leesy hazelnut, wet stones, a touch of orange blossom and subtle wood toast. This PYCM Vieilles Vignes Chassagne bottling which is from high limestone set mature vines, as I always note, is always a special treat and even though not cheap it offers almost Grand Cru excitement and depth, with this vintage being especially impactful. Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, one of Burgundy’s biggest stars, follows a strict protocol and method, using all sustainable and hand tended vineyards, with mostly organic practices in the vineyards, while in the cellar he ferments and ages his wines in barrel, with early picks being the norm, using indigenous yeasts and somewhat notably, he prefers larger format 350L French oak demi-muids these days instead of the classic 228L barriques, with his Lieu-Dit and Premier Crus seeing about 30% new wood if not more, especially in the more intense years, adding just the right amount of toasty accents. I don’t really need to tell you, these are sexy Chardonnays from Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, which never need too much patience to enjoy as this 2022 proves, making it worth every penny!
The coveted critically acclaimed Domaine Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, as I’ve mentioned in my previous reviews, is led by the huge talents of Pierre-Yves Colin, who is the eldest son of the famed Marc Colin, is based in Chassagne-Montrachet in their new cellars there that he shaves with his wife’s label Caroline Colin-Morey. Maker of some of Burgundy’s most sought out white wines, Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, as mentioned here in prior reviews, has made a brilliant career in Chardonnay. Pierre-Yves worked aside his dad and brothers as the winemaker at his father’s domaine from 1994 to 2005, then stepped out on his own founding his own domaine, starting it from family vineyards he inherited from his family and his wife’s side too, also famous and with good parcels of vines in the region. Since that time, he rapidly rose in the wine world, especially with his Saint-Aubin and Chassagne White Burgundies, he has really is a star in the Cote de Beaune and these wines set the gold standard for quality. He and his wife Caroline, join Jean-Marc Roulot and Alix de Montille as one of Burgundy’s elite power couple, and while his top bottlings are spectacular, I am always thrilled with his less pricey offerings, especially his Saint-Aubin lieu-dit whites. The Colin family has some fabulous plots in some of the Cote de Beaune’s best vineyards, from Chassagne to Batard (Montrachet), and Pierre-Yves added some high quality vineyards to his own portfolio, expanding into the Cote de Nuits and to the Côte Chalonnaise, with great success, with Pierre-Yves doing a lovely set of Rully Blancs, which I tend to look for value.
($150 Est.) 95+ Points, grapelive