Maranges Blanc, Domaine Bachey-Legros, Burgundy, France 2023
Maranges Blanc, Domaine Bachey-Legros, Burgundy, France 2023
“Classy burgundy. Don't be fooled by its 'humble’ villages appellation.” - JancisRobinson.com, 17 points
This is the sort of wine that gives us enormous satisfaction, as the label doesn’t have obvious curb appeal, but once you step through the door, you are richly rewarded for your curiosity. It comes from a little-known appellation, called Maranges, found at the most southerly end of Burgundy’s ‘Cote d’Or’ and was made by two dynamic brothers, who have rejuvenated the family domaine, pulling it up from relative obscurity into one of the most exciting new names on the block, turning heads with their intensely mineral expressions of Chardonnay.
This wine sent shivers down our spine when we tasted it, because the quality outruns the price, which is considerably friendlier than the great Puligny-Montrachets that it tastes so similar to. If you can afford the latter, then by all means call Crispin Wallop at Cummerbund & Sons and request your 6 bottle allocation at £100 a bottle, but for those, like us, who simply want to experience Burgundy’s unique alchemy, where soil, grape, climate and tradition intersect, then this is one of the best value tickets around. It tastes of cool climate stone-fruits (aka classic white Burgundy), with a squeeze of lime juice and grated yuzu peel, laced through with sensations of crumbled limestone and a hint of creme patissière to sweeten the sharper elements. An absolutely sublime ‘village’ wine from a domaine that is bound to be ‘on allocation’ within a year or so. 13.5% alc. Drink now-2032.
JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin): “The struck-flint ring and wraith on the nose becomes old stone wall and windfall apples crinkling into wasp-wisped and sun-sucked sweetness. Stones that taste of the memory of rain and the whisper of moss and the curl of sweet rock ferns as they slowly crumble the stones to summer dust. Apple sweetness that tastes of tight green skin sliced by knife blade, of kneaded pie-crust pastry as it glitters under wooden roller (thump, push, widen, circle), of the cinnamon waiting, of the lemon sliced in half and glistening to be pressed. Long, bright contours. Classy burgundy. Don't be fooled by its 'humble villages' appellation. Drink now-2032.” 17 points