Maison Roche de Bellene, Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru, Les Folatieres, Burgundy

An introduction to Maison Roche de Bellene, Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru, Les Folatieres, Burgundy

The well-regarded Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Les Folatières is situated mid-slope, facing east, at the same elevation as the Grand Cru Le Montrachet. Although Pinot Noir is permitted in the vineyard, wines are always 100% Chardonnay. With a network of growers across Burgundy’s best sites, Maison Roche de Bellene decides which parcels to use in each vintage, sometimes selecting fruit from more than one plot. With an emphasis on sustainable and organic farming, the fruit, or base wine come from old-vines, planted on east facing clay-limestone soils at an elevation of 280m producing wines that are deeply perfumed with a chalky minerality. With a tendency to be slightly austere in youth, wines are approachable after a few years in bottle and reward mid-term cellaring of up to ten years. The Production of Maison Roche de Bellene Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières is limited and often less than 1,000 bottles.

Performance

Understanding Maison Roche de Bellene, Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru, Les Folatieres, Burgundy

This Chardonnay is hand-harvested, wild fermented and aged for around 12 months in oak barrels (between 30% and 50% new oak) during which time the wine completes full malolactic fermentation. Usually bottled filtered but unfined (vintage dependant), the wine is notable for the balanced use of oak, allowing the minerality to shine through. According to Burghound, the 2014 Roche de Bellene Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières ‘is quite simply terrific and well worth your attention’. Tim Atkin MW said about the 2018: ‘Perfumed, elegant and focused, this is like licking a piece of chalk, such is its freshness and minerality’.

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