2007 Chassagne Montrachet Les Embrazees

The Morey 2007 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Embrazees features both scents and flavors of ripe pear, peach, and nut oils, tinged with brown spices and glazed with honey. There are chalky and primary fresh fruit characteristics here, but slightly less well-integrated on its lush palate than is the case in the Baudines (grown just above it). A broad finish incorporates significant bitterness and a persistent hint of under- and over-ripe bifurcation. I wonder whether I saw this at an awkward stage? After inheriting his share of his father, Bernard Morey’s domaine (split with his brother Thomas, on whose wines I have reported separately in this issue), Vincent Morey and his wife Sophie (whose family are wine growers in Santenay) have now combined acreage and produced their first wines out of the Morey family facilities. They began harvesting Chardonnay already at the end of August, achieving potential alcohols that varied by as much as 1.5% over their five days of harvest, and chaptalizing up to a degree to arrive at 13-13.5%. He performed a light clarification and stirred the lees regularly to fatten-up the wines. As a group, this year’s collection was a bit obviously – at times obtrusively – marked by its oak (typically around 30-40% new), and richness seemed sometimes to have been bought at the price of refreshment, clarity, or site-distinctiveness. Like his brother, Vincent Morey reports that he is too short of cellar space to consider a barrel elevage that lasts longer the one year, but he supports the trend toward a longer, watchful stay in tank before the assembled wines are bottled. Importer: Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 334 8191 and also imported by Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802