Domaine Jaeger-Defaix Rully Blanc 1er Cru ‘Les Cloux’ 2022

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Rully’s Les Cloux vineyard is located just south of the village, with south-easterly exposure on the sirloin cut of Rully 1er Cru overlooking the plain of Saône. Les Cloux is home to Defaix’s oldest vines, planted in 1944 on the classic clay/limestone mix found across the best sites in Burgundy. Since 2009, these old vines have been managed organically. Within Rully, Les Cloux is known for its ability to balance elegant and mouthwatering flesh with tangy grip and fine length, and 2022 delivers in spades. This 100% Chardonnay fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in older barrels (up to seven years old) for 12 months before settling in stainless steel. It’s a silky, textural wine, long and focused with a delicious salty-savoury close. Simply, a delicious and fine-value white Burg.

About Jaeger-Defaix

While it’s an inevitable truth that certain appellations are more fashionable than others, it is equally true that the elite wines, from great producers, from Burgundy’s less-heralded satellite regions, have all the attributes to outclass many of the loftier names of the Côte d’Or.

The vineyards lie just a short drive, minutes from Beaune, and share a similar aspect and soil type with some of the most famous Côte de Beaune appellations. Yet here, on the fringes of what Eric Asimov has called the ‘molecular obsession’ with the Côte d’Or, you can still source fine, 1er- Cru- level whites, with singular personalities, for less than the cost of a Bourgogne Blanc from a well-known producer further north.

Given the family connection, it won’t surprise you to hear that this small Domaine is run in the same earth-to-glass spirit as Didier’s family Estate in Chablis, Domaine Bernard Defaix.

In recent years, the reputation of the wines from the best producers of the Côte Chalonnaise has blossomed; a testament to the commitment of growers like Jaeger-Defaix. For those new to this fine grower, Jaeger-Defaix is the family Domaine of Hélène Defaix, wife of Didier Defaix (of Chablis producer Domaine Bernard Defaix). Most of the Domaine’s vineyards are Premier Cru and brilliantly situated. All the vineyards are managed organically.

The connection to the land here is strong and goes back three generations; the great-grandfather of Hélène, Henri Niepce, was instrumental in achieving and promoting Rully’s AOC status in the 1930s. The first vintage under Hélène & Didier’s full control was 2004. Since then, they’ve built a strong reputation for cool, refreshingly elegant Chardonnay and sweetly scented, juicy Pinot Noirs, which cost appreciably less money than wines of similar quality from the Côte D’Or. Looking for outstanding value, quality Burgundy? Then the best wines of Rully should be at the very top of your list.

In the Vineyard

Vineyard practices are organic and biodynamic. Seeking constant improvement, Defaix continues work replanting exhausted vines, managing vine disease and frost, and working to understand the soils and ecosystem. The Defaix’s organically managed Rully domaine is now 6.5 hectares, a fraction of the size of the Chablis estate for which the family is better known. The family farms more land in the Chablis 1er Côte de Léchet than they do spread across six vineyards in the south of Burgundy.

In the Winery

Things are pretty simple. For the whites, wild ferments in a combination of tank and barrel depending on the vineyard with lees stirring to add body and complexity as necessary.

For the reds, the grape goes on 2 successive sorting tables in order to keep only the best grapes. Then the harvest is destemed. A cold maceration begins during few days, followed by the alcoholic fermentation. During this time, we make regular pumping-over. After the devatting, the wine is aged 12 months in oak barrels, not new for the AC Rully and partly new for the 1ers crus.

The wines are bottled about 18 months after harvest, with a very light filtration.

Our target is to preserve at the most the characteristics of each terroir and to let them express themselves on our precise and pure wines.

The 2022 Vintage at Jaeger-Defaix

“It’s a strong vintage,” he says as we taste a set of wines that tell the same story. “It didn’t go through good or not-so-good phases—it was always showing well. Probably one of the top three vintages in the last 10!”Jancis Robinson MW has written that the wines from this site “offer proof that the Côte Chalonnaise can now field wines of serious interest to those raised on Côte d’Or wines.”

After the very difficult season 2021, we all hoped a more serene and generous year. Our wishes were fulfilled…

This year again, the winter was quite mild with very few real days of frost. And, once again, the budburst started early.

We had a small frost alert in early April with very little damages as it happened one week earlier compared to 2021. We have also confirmed the efficiency of pruning in 2 steps in order to delay the budburst. And we have tested our new heating cables installation, it worked well.

The beginning of the season has been racing with a quick and regular growth. The weather was great with few rainfalls at the right time. And the flowering took place without any trouble.

At the end of June, we have received 80 mm of rain which was very positive for the soil reserves and so for the rest of the season. We have thinned out the leaves on one side of the row at the end of the season to have a good aeration nearby the grapes and avoid a possible spread of diseases.

The harvests started at the end of August in Rully and early September in Chablis. So, it is still a very early vintage. Thanks to the excellent sanitary state of the vineyard, we were able to wait for the perfect maturity for each parcel. In general, in 2022, we are back to normal volumes without excess.

The whites are showing a nice balance, and a great structure in the mouth; the Rully’s with a beautiful aromatic palette and the Chablis’ on the minerality.

On the reds 2022, we are back to an important phenolic potential. So, the challenge was to extract not too much in order to preserve the fruit and the fineness we love so much.

Where in the World is Jaeger-Defaix?

Jaeger-Defaix is the Rully Domaine of Hélène and Didier Defaix in the Côte Chalonnaise to the south of the Côte de Beaune. Hélène and Didier also own the Domaine Bernard Defaix in Chablis.

You can see Rully just below the line demarking the border between the Côte de Beaune and Côte Chalonnaise