This is one of the finest white Burgundy estates, where the wine-making involves minimal interventions. It is run by Jean-Marc Blain and his wife Claudine, the daughter of Jacques Gagnard-Delagrange. The family owns some of the village’s greatest hillsides. New oak barrels are never used to excess, being subtly spread amongst the different cuvées, so that spicy oakiness is never perceptible here. Blain is also prudent with stirring-up of the lees (known as bâtonnage) which, if used to excess, may result in heavy wines which taste mealy. Here, on the contrary, the finished wines have great purity of fruit, with balanced acidity and long, clean flavours which clearly evoke the wines’ precise origins.
A markedly cool nose, particularly so in the context of the 2019 vintage, reflects notes of the essence of red berries, lavender, tea, and a hint of newly turned earth. There is more refinement if not density to the utterly delicious medium-weight flavours that exude a refreshing salinity on the balanced, youthfully austere, and solidly persistent finish that is quite firmly structured. This is relatively fine for Champans and a wine that should age gracefully.