2010 Domaine Michel Niellon Chassagne-Montrachet Clos de la Maltroie 1er Cru
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Tasting notes
Pale yellow. Very pure nose combines pear, underripe pineapple and spring flowers lifted by a lemony note. Sweet white peach and floral flavors turn explosive on the back half, saturating the palate with classic minerals, wet stone, flowers and botanical herbs. With its terrific intensity and cut, this really tickles the taste buds on the very long, scented, echoing finish. Very rich and very young: I would not be surprised if it merited an even higher score five years down the road.
Critic scores
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Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2010 Chassagne-Montrachet La Maltroie is a rich, seamless wine with no hard edges and terrific overall balance. Everything is in the right place. The Maltroie doesn't have the energy or minerality of the Clos St. Jean, it is more open, supple and giving at this stage.
The 2010 Chassagne-Montrachet La Maltroie is a rich, seamless wine with no hard edges and terrific overall balance. Everything is in the right place. The Maltroie doesn’t have the energy or minerality of the Clos St. Jean, it is more open, supple and giving at this stage. Anticipated maturity: 2012+. Michel Niellon told me the key to the vintage was choosing the right picking date, especially after a thunderstorm in Santenay on September 12 forced many growers to pick a few days earlier than they had originally expected. Yields are down 15-30%, depending on the appellation, mostly because of the irregular flowering. The domaine’s parcels had a high percentage of coulure (shatter) and millerandage (shot berries). According to Niellon, it is the uneven size of the berries that marks the vintage, as the smaller berries gave concentration, while the larger berries contributed acidity. As was the case throughout the region, the malos were quite slow to develop, and a few of these wines were bottled a little later than usual, something that is now possible because of Niellon’s huge warehouse facility in an industrial section of Chassagne a few kilometers from the old, historic part of the village. The 2010s were aged in barrel until just before the 2011 harvest, at which time Niellon bottled the Chassagne-Montrachet, Champ Gains, Vergers and Chaumees. The Clos St. Jean, Maltroie, Chevalier and Batard (which I did not taste) were bottled in October and November 2011. Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (707) 299-2600
About the producer
From the heart of Chassagne-Montrachet, Domaine Michel Niellon embodies generations of craftsmanship and Burgundian finesse, producing elegant, terroir-driven wines from just 8 hectares.