Jean-Louis Chavy Puligny-Montrachet AC 2021
The Wine
From ten small parcels of 20-60 year old vines. Les Tremblot, ("more Puligny in character, as the soil is argileous," says Jean-Louis); Les Meix, Les Levrons (more rounded wine for there are more stones and gravel here and it is not so heavy), Corvée des Vignes and Les Reuchaux. These small vineyard holdings are all just below the premier cru’s close to the village and cover the diversity of Puligny from north to south. Just 20% new oak for this wine which always shows excellent balance and drinking pleasure from an early age!
“This domaine is a very dependable source.”
The Great Domaines of Burgundy, Remington Norman
The Details
Variety - Chardonnay
Country - France
Region - Burgundy
Sub Region - Puligny-Montrachet
Extra - Cork
Year - 2021
Volume - 750ml
About the Wine Maker 
Whilst Chavy’s have been living in Puligny Montrachet for over 200 years it was not until 1986 that Gerard Chavy started to estate bottle his own wine (previously the wines were sold to negotiants).
The estate of Gerard Chavy was split into 2 separate estates by his sons, Jean-Louis Chavy, and Alain Chavy following the retirement of Gerard around 2005. Jean-Louis who has built a spacious brand new wine-making facility and a deep temperature controlled cellar at the bottom of the village where Jean-Louis can work comfortably with needing to move the wines in his cool temperature controlled cellar.
Vinification is classic with whole bunch pressing and 24 hours of settling with temperature control and only natural yeasts used for fermentation. Jean-Louis has not used any battonage on any cuvees for some years now. The average age of vines at this estate is impressive with most vineyards now aged between 20 to 40 years old though some in Folatieres and Clavoillons are more than 60 years old.
For the elevage of the wines the use of new oak is restrained with the village Puligny seeing only 15% new oak and the 1er cru’s just 25%. Recent years have seen a move towards 350 litre barrels for ageing to have less oak influence. Unfortunately, there are no Grand cru vineyards among his holdings, however his 1er cru’s are located very close to some of the best vineyards in the heart of Puligny.
Jean-Louis’ wines are effortless and unforced showing fine fruit purity and crystal clear terroir definition for each 1er cru. These are wines of classic style that age and develop gracefully. Quantities are always very limited and these wines sell out very quickly on arrival.