Vinous: 96 Points
The 2021 Château-Grillet is a more subtle rendition compared to the surrounding vintages. Swirling the glass unlocks linden blossom lime flesh apricot white peach and discrete cedar tones. This is a refined Château-Grillet with precisely sculpted aromas and flavors. Like in 2020 the fruit is just ripe which helps to retain a wonderful sense of freshness. Offering a seamless mouthfeel and a saline touch on the elegant finish the 2021 is utterly delicious. Made from grapes that were harvested between the 21st and 23rd of September only 2300 bottles were produced. - By Nicolas Greinacher on October 2023 I spent a full morning at Château-Grillet with the knowledgeable Jaeok Chu Cramette. Born in 1980 in Seoul Cramette initially studied English literature. Her diverse journey included working as a croupier in a casino attending bartending school and a brief California internship in sales and marketing. Returning to South Korea she entered the fine wine trade eventually bringing her to Burgundy. After completing several winery internships and obtaining her National Diploma of Oenology in 2014 Cramette who previously interned at Artémis-owned Domaine d?Eugénie embarked on crafting her own wines using equipment from various wineries and custom crush facilities. In 2019 an opportunity arose at Château-Grillet due to changes within the Artémis group. Alessandro Noli then winemaker at Château-Grillet moved to Clos de Tart creating a vacancy. Cramette was offered the position and first set foot on the property in 2019. Nestled in its own 3.5-hectare AOC the tiny estate grows vines on 102 meticulously marked terraces with sandy-textured biotite granite soils. Strolling or better climbing through the vineyards is like entering a steep south-facing amphitheater. ?All the different parcels are attended to individually and we also harvest them at separate times. Some of the parcels bring more roundness to the blend others more body and those on the east side near the forest where there's a little stream contribute freshness? Cramette explains. Harvesting times are critical and demand accurate judgment as the fruit must reach full ripeness to express its characteristic floral and stone fruit aromas. Allowing the grapes to linger too long results in flavor and acidity loss while rapidly increasing sugar levels yields unbalanced wines that often lack flavor. ?We usually pick all the grapes within five days. We can't go faster because we also have a pressing capacity restriction so we need to be patient? Cramette adds. Sorting is carried out in the vineyard and direct pressing uses only whole clusters. ?This allows the stems to facilitate the drainage. With no space between the berries a total absence of stems would make the must too compact. In 2022 it took almost five hours to press one lot! If this process takes too long though it may extract too much potassium from the stems causing precipitation of free acids - mainly tartaric acid - leading to increased pH and ultimately lower acidity. That's why I modified this process a little bit. In 2023 direct pressing took around three hours.? Fermentation starts in small tanks before the fermenting musts are transferred to various-sized oak barrels always maintaining around 18°C (64.4°F). New oak is used but never exceeds 15%. After fermentation finishes the wines mature for around one year in barrel before being moved to larger stainless steel tanks where they remain on their fine lees for another six to eight months. Malolactic fermentation is always carried out. ?I don?t like malic acid for Château-Grillet. It?s way too aggressive? Cramette admits. Looking at the current portfolio three wines are produced here. First the flagship: Château-Grillet. Yields vary significantly from year to year from just nine hL/ha in 2021 to 23 hL/ha in 2022 and then a solid 31 hL/ha in 2023. The main reason for this variation is the risk of poor flowering and fruit set to which Viognier is especially prone. Given the strict selection process grapes that do not make the Château-Grillet blend are used to make a Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc. Since the 2017 vintage the estate has also produced a wine called Condrieu La Carthéry which is vinified from grapes grown in the Condrieu appellation adjacent to the historical boundaries of Château-Grillet. Our tasting started with the delicious 2021 Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc and then focused on the four recent Château-Grillet vintages: 2022 2021 2020 and 2019. While the super ripe flamboyant 2019 and the more laid-back elegant 2021 both showed very well the 2020 knocked it out of the park. Built on mindboggling finesse and intensity the 2020 is a quintessential Château-Grillet with remarkable inner energy and verticality. Whether or not the 2022 can reach the same heights as the 2020 remains to be seen but I wouldn?t rule it out at this point.
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