2017 Domaine Des Valanges Macon - Prisse "Le Clos"

The commune of Davayé is located in the southern part of Burgundy, in the heart of the Mâcon wine country near Cluny and west of Mâcon.  This small winegrowing village is nestled at the foot of the Roche de Solutré and the Roche de Vergisson.

The beautiful view of steep slopes from Les Valanges is like a picture post card of the Mâcon region.

Domaine Valanges was created in 1980.  At the time, all the vineyards were in the commune of Davayé, and totalled 2.5 hectares.  For the last 30+ years they have worked tirelessly to expand the estate.  In addition to this they have also built a new facility where the wine is made, stored, and prepared for shipment, which also houses a barrel cellar.

Little by little, they acquired several plots with just the right terroir, and the vineyards now cover 11 hectares in Davayé, of which 8 are entitled to the Saint Véran appellation.

The family has always been passionately attached to this land, faithful to the terroir, and committed to making unique wines from the limestone soil.

Their 11 hectares of vines are located halfway up the slope in climats, or vineyard sites, that are among the best in the Mâcon region.

Sun exposure is south by south-east and the soil in all instances clay-limestone (mostly limestone).  Most of the vines grow at an altitude of 200-300 metres.

This terroir is wonderful for Chardonnay, producing very expressive, mineral, floral wines with a great deal of fruit.

Domaine des Valanges has always tended my vines in a spirit of respect for the environment, and in view of making fine wine.

The focus here is on traditional methods that reflect the terroir in order to produce wines of character.  Furthermore, they feel it is important to let the vines find a natural equilibrium within their ecosystem. Therefore they intervene as little as possible in both viticulture and winemaking to retain each cuvée’s personality, as well as vintage character.

They decided to introduce supervised pest control based on observation, reflection, respect for the terroir and environmental protection.  They also do their utmost to obtain the best from each vine, also thinking about keeping the soil healthy and alive by ploughing and adding organic fertilizer only as necessary.

The quintessence of Chardonnay, the Domaine Valanges wines reflect differences in soil, sun exposure, microclimate, etc. in the various vineyard plots from which they are produced.  It is still fun for Mathieu and Camille Paquet, the sons of Michel Paquetto to study the unique personality of each plot and each terroir. After spending many years acquiring an intimate knowledge of the domaine, blending wines with different characteristics, and experimenting with several winemaking methods, they have learned a fundamental lesson: there is no such thing as luck when it comes to making great wine, or a successful blend. Straightforward, well-focused, mineral, and expressive wines can only result from a harmonious marriage between wine from different plots.

Here is a lengthy description of the latest release from Burgundy the 2017 vintage taken out of Decanter Magazine.  “It's been a rollercoaster, but 2017 could be the biggest overall crop since 2009. Can quantity combine with quality? William Kelley gives his initial view on how the Burgundy 2017 vintage looks after spending September in the region and following the harvest.

Along the Côte d’Or, the sound of honking horns and cheering pickers announces that the Burgundy 2017 harvest is coming to an end.

After a succession of meagre years, beset by hail, rot and frost, nature has finally answered growers’ prayers, delivering a plentiful crop to equal or surpass the volumes achieved in 2009, the region’s last abundant vintage. After the gloom of 2016, a year ravished by the worst frosts since 1985, spirits this year are buoyant and the atmosphere cheerful.

The vintage’s signature: a heavy crop of Pinot Noir in Volnay Santenots. Credit: William Kelley.

At domaines with empty cellars and correspondingly depleted coffers, 2017’s bounty may prove of truly existential importance.

‘We’re thankful’, confesses Cyril Audouin, whose Marsannay vineyards were ravished by frost in 2016. ‘Everyone in the Côte d’Or is smiling this year’, agrees Véronique Drouhin: ‘it’s so nice to have full fermenters!’ Moreover, with such an abundance of wine now waiting in the wings, it is to be hoped that the pressure to increase prices for the 2016 vintage will be less keenly felt.

A complex growing season may be briefly summarized. When frosts threatened in April, growers determined not to relive the heartbreak of 2016 banded together, burning bales of straw to ward off the cold.

Only Chablis was less fortunate. As William Fèvre’s Alain Marcuello told Andrew Jefford, ‘the problem in Chablis is that the frost went on for 15 nights. Most growers ran out of frost candles after five days; there were none left anywhere in Europe by the end.’

Hot weather followed hard on the heels of the April chills, in some instances disrupting flowering, as Jacques Carillon reported in his Puligny-Montrachet premier crus. The summer’s heat also stressed the vines, sometimes shriveling berries and retarding physiological ripening.

Hail on 10th July, its impact largely confined to Morey-Saint-Denis, damaged grapes. Then, in late August, much needed rain brought relief, helping vines to bring their fruit to fuller maturity.

Burgundy 2017 harvest report

Grand Echézeaux, Echézeaux and the Clos Vougeot after a light shower during harvest. Credit: William Kelley.

By late August and early September, harvesting had begun. Arnaud Ente in Meursault, generally one of the region’s first to pick, started on 25 August, and by 1 September the Chardonnay vintage was well under way in both the Côte de Beaune and the Mâconnais.

With rain forecast at the end of the week, the first reds were picked around the same time, Charles Lachaux of Vosne-Romanée and François Millet of Chambolle-Musigny’s Domaine Comte de Vogüé both beginning on 2 September. Others chose to wait, Sebastien Cathiard only beginning two weeks later, and the Domaine Ponsot finally getting underway on 19 September.

As ever, deciding when to harvest was a delicate matter: rain did indeed transpire on 9 September, continuing on-and-off for the following week. ‘If we could have counted on good weather, I’d have waited’, reflected Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac.

Some of those who did wait were bullish, others regretful. At many addresses, difficulties in finding pickers brought further complications: ‘the French don’t want to do the work anymore’, was a common complaint.

Frédéric Lafarge presses his Volnay Clos du Château des Ducs the old-fashioned way. Credit: William Kelley.

Along the Côte d’Or, the crop was plentiful and generally healthy. Vines touched by frost the year before tended to give especially generous, sometimes excessive, yields: rumors of 100 hl/ha in parts of the Côte de Beaune, well in excess of the appellation limits, should give pause.  Skins were thick, thanks to the summer heat, and generally well-developed, reminding Cécile Tremblay of 2010, but seeds and stems were more unevenly ripe. Sugars, diluted by rain, were seldom especially high, and many producers will need to chaptalise.

Further north, growers in Chablis seem delighted with the grapes that were spared by the April frosts.

What can we expect from the wines? It’s too early to have much sense of their character, and on the red side of the ledger, the vintage suggests comparatively few analogies, the cool harvest weather, punctuated by showers, having put paid to any premature comparisons with 2009.

It will be distinctions between producers that make all the difference

Some, including Jadot’s Pierre Henri Gagey, tentatively invoke the red wines of 1999.  It certainly seems probable that the 2017 vintage, like 1999, will test the compatibility of quality and quantity. Low yields, argues Loïc Dugat-Py of Gevrey-Chambertin, were the secret to attaining full ripeness and retaining acidity, a contention that was frequently seconded along the Côte.

Over-cropped Pinot Noir may be supple and easy drinking, but it is unlikely to be either profound or age-worthy. If 2016 was a vintage where the weather drew stark contrasts across the Côte d’Or, ravaging some appellations but sparing others, 2017 has been even-handed: it will be distinctions between producers that make all the difference.

Chardonnay, more tolerant of high yields, is likely to prove a more forgiving medium than Pinot Noir, and expectations for the 2017 whites are high.  With its early start, the year presents easier analogies, superficially evoking 2015. ‘On paper, the two are similar’, admits Jacques Carillon, ‘but I suspect the wines will be very different’.

Vincent Dancer of Chassagne-Montrachet sees signs of ‘the volume of 2015 with the acidity of 2014’, a happy union, pointing to the musts’ good levels of malic acidity.

Further south, Vincent Dureil, Rully superstar, is similarly gratified by the wines’ early balance.  ‘A very special vintage’, concludes an optimistic Pierre Yves Colin—and indisputably, we may add, a timely one."  Decanter

OUR TASTING NOTES:  This wine is made from 25-year-old vines and spends 7 months in stainless steel on the fine lees.  It has a very precise and focused nose with light perfumed citrus and honeysuckle floral hints, very forward and seductive.  A very fresh wine on the palate almost a little spritz on the tongue, a fine example of modern day Macon, fresh tree fruits a vibrant citric finish accompanied by spice and a hint of floral notes at the end.  Finish 35+ TASTING DATE 8/29/19