Etienne Sauzet, Puligny-Montrachet 2017

Consistently fine from year to year, with trademark richness and elegant class, the wines of Etienne Sauzet are some of the most sought after in Puligny-Montrachet.

It was established by the eponymous Etienne Sauzet when he inherited some vines in the early 1900s; he added to these in the 1920s, and bought vines in several premiers and grands crus vineyards in the 1950s. In 1974, the year before his death, he was succeeded by his granddaughter Jeanine and her husband Gérard Boudot, and they have recently been assisted by the fourth generation of the family to be involved, their daughter Emilie and her husband Benoît Riffault.

In the 1990s, Jeanine shared her inheritance of the domaine with her two brothers – Henri and Jean-Marc Boillot – both of which have their own domaines. Jean-Marc decided to remove his share of the vines from the domaine, prompting Jeanine and Gérard to acquire several new premiers crus and grands crus [either premiers and grands crus or premier and grand cru sites] , and also to launch a négociant business so they could buy in grapes. Bought-in fruit still constitutes around a third of the blend, and includes grapes sourced from three premier cru vineyards. As they assemble the fruit of their own domaine and bought-in grapes, they have to choose either to label the wines separately as domaine or négociant, or to mix them both. They choose the latter course so cannot claim domaine status.

Etienne Sauzet now owns 10 hectares of vines (including a small amount in Chassagne-Montrachet), farmed organically since 2006 and which have been biodynamic since 2010. The family has seven vineyard sites in Puligny-Montrachet as well as 6 premiers crus.

Of these, La Garenne has the crispest acidity thanks to high altitude and poor soils. Le Champ Gain is lower down, and has deeper, redder soils, resulting in softer and rounder wines. Wines from Les Referts are bold and ripe, and next door, Les Perrières has younger vines planted on stonier, better-draining soil, but its wines are still powerful. Further up the hill are the domaine’s final two premier cru vineyard sites, Le Champs Canet and Les Combettes, whose excellent balance of clay and chalk soils are reflected in the quality of their wines.

Grapes are pressed in whole clusters using a pneumatic press, before being fermented in casks on their lees, with yeast added only in the most difficult years. Since 2000, a lower portion of new oak has been used for ageing: for premiers crus this is between 20 and 33%, whereas grands crus age in 40% new oak. The wines spend a year in oak then a further six months in stainless-steel tanks, remaining on a proportion of their lees, before the village wines are bottled in December and January, followed by the premiers and grands crus in February and March.