Marsannay Blanc 2020 – Jean-Claude Boisset

The grapes to produce the Marsannay Blanc Jean-Claude Boisset were hand picked and sorted into small, perforated boxes, then pressed over two and a half hours straight into cask, with no settling to preserve maximum lees, for a very long fermentation (up to 10 months) using indigenous yeasts. The wines were aged in less than 25% new oak barrels for 19 months, with no racking or stirring of the lees to retain the mineral character in the wine. The wine was lightly filtered and bentonite fined before being bottled using gravity.

A recent appellation, established in 1988, Marsannay is situated at the northern-most point of the Côte de Nuits, with 147 hectares of red and 27 hectares of white grapes planted. The vineyards are in clay-limestone soil dating back to the Middle Jurassic period. Located in the southern part of the appellation, the vineyard’s eastern exposure along with its small limestone pebbles and numerous faults allow for the production of elegant, pure wines. The 50-year-old vines are planted at an altitude of 230 metres above sea level and yields are low, with just over 3,300 bottles being made.

Jean-Claude Boisset is a family-owned wine company founded in 1961. Jean-Claude’s first parcel of land was located in Gevrey-Chambertin and today the company is based in Les Ursulines, a former convent in Nuits-Saint-Georges, and run by his children Jean-Charles and Nathalie. In 2018, they opened a new state-of-the-art winery, which reflects their modern, technical approach to winemaking. In 2002, Jean-Charles recruited Grégory Patriat, who had previously worked at the legendary Vosne-Romanée producer Domaine Leroy, to revitalise and reinvent the house. He transformed Boisset into a ‘viniculteur’, working closely with the growers, guiding the wines from vine to bottle to achieve the desired quality. In order to create concentrated, beautifully well-rounded wines which are naturally expressive of their individual appellation, Grégory practises minimal intervention winemaking. Each plot is picked separately and hand sorted to ensure optimal maturity. Sulphite levels are low and the wines are fermented exclusively by natural yeasts, with rarely more than 30% new oak used on a wine.