The lost village of Blagny, up in the hills between Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault in the Côte d’Or in Burgundy, is home to Domaine Comtesse de Chérisey. You may have heard the name “Blagny” before, attached to a bottle of premier cru Meursault-Blagny, or perhaps even a bottle of the increasingly rare Blagny rouge. This almost magical, lost-in-time corner of the world boasts a unique microclimate, with a slightly different average temperature, exposition, and soil than the rest of Burgundy. Vigneron Laurent Martelet creates the most evocative Chardonnays that emerge from this terroir. Comtesse de Chérisey is named in honor of Laurent's wife Hélène’s mother, who inherited their vines and passed them on to Hélène, who works side by side with him.
Production of 2019 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chalumaux is just around 200 cases annually and comes from vines located between the famed vineyards of Truffières and Meursault-Perrières. If you were a Chardonnay vine, it wouldn’t be a bad place to put down your roots. The wine is loaded with white limestone and gives a very fine, intensely focused white Burgundy, with explosive minerality. It doesn’t have the renown of its neighbors, but it should.
The 2019 Meursault-Blagny 1er Cru La Genelotte which Laurent and Hélène are sole proprietors, is from a vineyard just north of Blagny, high on the slope above the village. Old Chardonnay vines give a deeply concentrated, yet finely chiseled Meursault with toasty notes of gunflint and hazelnuts, culminating in a finish with terrific mineral extract. This is a truly electric Chardonnay whose track record of aging makes it a great cellar candidate, but it can be savored today, especially if given some time in a decanter. The wine is a powerful, classic, long-lived Meursault.