Domaine Blain-Gagnard Grand Cru ‘Criots-Batard-Montrachet’ 2020

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Montrachet, or Le Montrachet, the most famous grand cru white burgundy and is considered the apogee of the Chardonnay grape produced from a single vineyard in the Côte de Beaune district of the Côte d’or.

Just under 8 hectares, Le Montrachet straddles the borders of Puligny and Chassagne, two communes which have annexed the famous name to their own. Part of the secret lies in the limestone, part in its perfect south east exposition, which keeps the sun from dawn till dusk. Curiously, the vines in the Puligny half of the vineyard run in east–west rows, those in Chassagne north–south, reflecting the contours of the land.

Covering 11.86 ha, the Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru vineyard is located on the slope beneath Le Montrachet and spans the two communes (Chassagne and Puligny). Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet (1.57 ha) is a rarely-seen extension of the Chassagne section of Le Montrachet. Like the grand cru is shares its name with, it is known for rich and full-bodied whites.

Learn more about Le Montrachet, Chassagne and Puligny in our Wine Bites article Getting Your Head Around Burgundy Part 4.

About Domaine Blain-Gagnard

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.

In the Vineyard

The vines are farmed traditionally, using lutte raisonée (literally “reasoned fight” in French) to control pest and disease pressures as they arise in the vineyard.

In the Winery

“Claudine’s grandfather said that perfectly ripe Chardonnay should smell like fresh almonds, so when she smells fresh almonds in the juice, she’s very happy,” says Jean-Marc Blain.

Following pressing, their Chardonnay fruit is inoculated with selected cultured yeast and fermentation takes place in barrel. The lees are stirred once a week until late December or, in some vintages, until February. White wines are aged in various percentages of new oak with 10-20% new oak for the village wines and up to 30% new oak for the premier and grands crus.

For their Pinot Noir, the fruit is de-stemmed and the grapes are cold soaked for three to four days followed by fermentation with native yeasts. Red wines are aged for 18 month in used barrels.

The 2020 Vintage at Domaine Blain-Gagnard

Just as he did for the last year, the shy and modest Jean-Marc Blain offered a mixed view of the 2020 vintage, observing that “it gave us excellent quality but unfortunately, quantities were lower than usual, even if it was a bit better than what we obtained in 2019. While it was variable, I would put our overall volume at about 75% of a normal crop with the reds coming in much lower than the whites. We picked from the 21st of August and brought in exceptionally clean fruit with very good sugar levels as the chardonnay was right at 13% and the reds a bit higher. We chose to do a very soft vinification for the reds, which given how thick the skins were was probably the right choice. As to the wines, I really like them and particularly how clearly the underlying terroirs express themselves.” Blain noted that the in-bottle reds were put there between December 2021 and February 2022 without fining or filtration. Lastly, fans of the domaine should note that there is no longer a Morgeot rouge as the parcel was gifted to Blain’s son Marc-Antoine. Blain further remarked that more and more of the domaine will progressively pass to his son. 

Allen Meadows, Burghound

Where in the World is Domaine Blain-Gagnard

Domaine Marc-Antonin Blain is located in Chassagne-Montrachet in the Côte de Beaune. The appellation is famous for its white wines, although half of its total plantings are in red.

As well as their Grand Crus, Blain-Gagnard’s holdings in Chassagne-Montrachet include the red premier crus of Clos Saint Jean and Morgeot, and the white premier crus of Morgeot, Boudriotte, and Cailleret. In addition to the Grand Crus Bâtard-Montrachet and Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet, in 1999 they received a parcel of Le Montrachet from Jacques Gagnard. From 2000 onward, Le Montrachet from this parcel is made at and bottled as Domaine Blain-Gagnard.

Additionally, the domaine holds premier cru parcels of Volnay Chanlin, Volnay Pitures, and in the Pommard lieu-dit La Croix Planet les Combes.