Domaine Blain-Gagnard Grand Cru ‘Criots-Batard-Montrachet’ 2021

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 2021 Vintage at Domaine Blain-Gagnard

The shy and modest Jean-Marc Blain offered a mixed view of the 2021 vintage, in fact much like he did for the 2020 vintage, by observing that “it gave us excellent quality but unfortunately, quantities were incredibly low due to the frost and intense disease pressure. We did better than many domaines in treating our vines though because they are enherbé (planted with cover grasses), which means that we can enter them with machinery as they don’t slip. We also protected our grand crus from the frost so quantities there were not too bad as they were off ‘only’ 15 to 30%. However, everything else, especially the hillside vineyards, were badly damaged at between -50 to -70%; in fact the only normal yield we had was the Chassagne rouge. We picked between the 18th and 23rd of September and the fruit was really pretty clean with most wines coming in at around 12.5%. As such, we chaptalized a few wines .5% to arrive at 13% though the Criots came in naturally at 13.2%. We did a relatively normal vinification for the reds and we did a bit of lees stirring for the whites. Overall, given the difficulties of the growing season, I am really exceptionally pleased with the quality.” Blain should indeed be happy with the quality as 2021 is arguably the best vintage from the domaine in several years and in particular, don’t miss the Puligny villages as it’s outstanding for its level. Blain noted that the whites were bottled in September 2022. Lastly, as I reported last year, more of the domaine will progressively pass to his son Marc-Antoine and to this end, 2021 will be the last vintage for the Clos St. Jean.

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.