Albert Sounit Bourgogne Blanc – Les Vignes de la Roche 2022 75 cl.
Bourgogne, Côte Chalonnaise – France
Les Vignes de la Roche, as the wine is called, lies beneath the distinctive rock outcrop on a relatively steep slope in a natural extension of the Montagny 1. Cru fields, just a few hundred meters to the north.
The grapes are harvested from the chalky plots of La Cassine, La Guiche and Les Pinacles – the latter being Montagny Villages, which are de-classified to increase the quality of the house Bourgogne Blanc.
Vinification: Approx. Aged for 10 months in French oak barrels.
Tasting notes: es Vignes de la Roche has a floral bouquet with mineral notes and a nice crisp acidity.
Recommended for: Rating: Fatty fish, Shellfish, Oysters, Asparagus
The wine is made from 100% Chardonnay, which is handpicked. After pressing and settling, the juice is poured directly into French oak barrels, where the wine ferments and is stored for approx. 10 months. During storage, the sediment of the wine is stirred regularly, which gives it more body and becomes richer in aroma. This process is called “batonnage”. Les Vignes de la Roche has a flowery bouquet with mineral tones and a nice crisp acidity. The wine is beautiful, glossy and light golden. The fragrance is characterized by white flowers and a touch of citrus and apricot. The dish is very nicely integrated into the taste, which ends with a dry and clean aftertaste and a fine richness and elegance.
The winery was originally called Domaine Bernollin, and with its 14 ha of vineyards in Montagny and Rully was bought by Knud Kjellerup and his Bourgogne house Maison Albert Sounit in 2005. Immediately after the purchase, production was restructured in respect of the environment. Today, production takes place according to the rules covered by the Agriculture Raisonée, with a view to being organically certified in the coming years. Thus, only natural and organic fertilizers are used on the fields.
Maison Albert Sounit buys grapes from several appellations in the Côte Chalonnaise. These grapes are harvested as widely as possible by the domaine’s harvest team, and all the grapes are vinified on the farm in Jully-les-Buxy according to the same philosophy as Domaine Albert Sounit’s own grapes. All grapes for Crémant de Bourgogne as well as the grapes for white and red Burgundies are harvested by hand. During fermentation, only the grapes’ natural yeast is used. Bottling of the house’s white and red Burgundies takes place without filtration.
The wines from the municipalities of Rully, Mercurey, Givry and Montagny have previously stood in the shadow of the more well-known appellations from Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits, but precisely because of this there are particularly good buys to be made from here. In many blind tastings, the quality has proven to be on a par with even great wines from the Côte d’Or, and the prices are in a much more sympathetic range.
