Description
This famous domaine has been run by Caroline Lestimé, Jean-Noël’s daughter, since 1989. Its 12.5 hectares of outstanding vineyards have been certified organic since 2014, and are now run biodynamically, though are not yet certified as such. Most of the estate’s vineyards are in the heart of Chassagne, with one vineyard in the Hautes Côtes de Beaune, which looks down on St. Aubin and was planted in 2015. The wines coming off that site, ‘Clos Bortier’, are now making quite a name for themselves.
Caroline’s wines are very classic. There is little ‘struck match’ character, yet the wines are tight and closed when young, furled in a ball of intense and crystalline fruit. There are no tricks; they are, in the best sense of the phrase, ‘low intervention’ wines, with each expressing the character of its site. The grapes are all whole-bunch pressed and fermented in oak, a maximum of 30% of which is new, with a very light toast. The wines spend about 18 months in oak before bottling. They display a lovely purity of fruit due to their freshness and the low toast of the oak, but have all the characteristics of wines that will blossom after a few years in bottle.
The ‘Les Chaumes’ vineyard borders Premier Cru ‘La Boudriotte’ but is only a ‘villages’ wine. On tasting, as on location, it is very much of a ‘superior’ villages. The wine shows a Puligny-like acid on the finish that cuts through the intense fruit on the palate.