Galloni om:
Chateau Grillet
The 2020 Château-Grillet knocks it out of the park. Vinified from just-ripe fruit harvested between the 26th and 31st of August, it dazzles with outstanding purity and complexity. Fragrant linden blossom, chamomile and saffron mingle with white peach, apricot and cedar. Less oily and more delicate than in 2019, the 2020 Château-Grillet is built on finesse and intensity rather than power. Finely nuanced lemon peel, jasmine, melon and nutty hints add further layers to the delicious palate. The quintessential 2020 closes with an enticing phenolic grip on the lingering finish. 6,900 bottles produced. 98/100I spent a full morning at Château-Grillet with the knowledgeable Jaeok Chu Cramette. Born in 1980 in Seoul, Cramette initially studied English literature. Her diverse journey included working as a croupier in a casino, attending bartending school and a brief California internship in sales and marketing. Returning to South Korea, she entered the fine wine trade, eventually bringing her to Burgundy. After completing several winery internships and obtaining her National Diploma of Oenology in 2014, Cramette, who previously interned at Artémis-owned Domaine d’Eugénie, embarked on crafting her own wines using equipment from various wineries and custom crush facilities. In 2019, an opportunity arose at Château-Grillet due to changes within the Artémis group. Alessandro Noli, then winemaker at Château-Grillet, moved to Clos de Tart, creating a vacancy. Cramette was offered the position and first set foot on the property in 2019. Nestled in its own 3.5-hectare AOC, the tiny estate grows vines on 102 meticulously marked terraces with sandy-textured, biotite granite soils. Strolling, or better, climbing through the vineyards, is like entering a steep, south-facing amphitheater. “All the different parcels are attended to individually, and we also harvest them at separate times. Some of the parcels bring more roundness to the blend, others more body, and those on the east side near the forest, where there's a little stream, contribute freshness,” Cramette explains. Harvesting times are critical and demand accurate judgment, as the fruit must reach full ripeness to express its characteristic floral and stone fruit aromas. Allowing the grapes to linger too long results in flavor and acidity loss, while rapidly increasing sugar levels yields unbalanced wines that often lack flavor. “We usually pick all the grapes within five days. We can't go faster because we also have a pressing capacity restriction, so we need to be patient,” Cramette adds. Sorting is carried out in the vineyard, and direct pressing uses only whole clusters. “This allows the stems to facilitate the drainage. With no space between the berries, a total absence of stems would make the must too compact. In 2022, it took almost five hours to press one lot! If this process takes too long, though, it may extract too much potassium from the stems, causing precipitation of free acids - mainly tartaric acid - leading to increased pH and, ultimately, lower acidity. That's why I modified this process a little bit. In 2023, direct pressing took around three hours.” Fermentation starts in small tanks before the fermenting musts are transferred to various-sized oak barrels, always maintaining around 18°C (64.4°F). New oak is used but never exceeds 15%. After fermentation finishes, the wines mature for around one year in barrel before being moved to larger stainless steel tanks, where they remain on their fine lees for another six to eight months. Malolactic fermentation is always carried out. “I don’t like malic acid for Château-Grillet. It’s way too aggressive,” Cramette admits. Looking at the current portfolio, three wines are produced here. First, the flagship: Château-Grillet. Yields vary significantly from year to year, from just nine hL/ha in 2021 to 23 hL/ha in 2022 and then a solid 31 hL/ha in 2023. The main reason for this variation is the risk of poor flowering and fruit set, to which Viognier is especially prone. Given the strict selection process, grapes that do not make the Château-Grillet blend are used to make a Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc. Since the 2017 vintage, the estate has also produced a wine called Condrieu La Carthéry, which is vinified from grapes grown in the Condrieu appellation adjacent to the historical boundaries of Château-Grillet. Our tasting started with the delicious 2021 Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc and then focused on the four recent Château-Grillet vintages: 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019. While the super ripe, flamboyant 2019 and the more laid-back, elegant 2021 both showed very well, the 2020 knocked it out of the park. Built on mindboggling finesse and intensity, the 2020 is a quintessential Château-Grillet with remarkable inner energy and verticality. Whether or not the 2022 can reach the same heights as the 2020 remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t rule it out at this point.
