2011 Chevalier Montrachet
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Tasting notes
Tasted blind at the Burgundy 2011 horizontal tasting in Beaune. The Chevalier-Montrachet 2011 from Philippe Colin has a tight bouquet that is not particularly expressive at the moment – touches of lime flower and chalk dust. The palate is crisp and focused with quite sharp acidity, subdued at first, but it eventually gathers the breeding and authority one expects from a Chevalier-Montrachet. It will need another 2-3 years to fully coalesce.
Critic scores
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Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Bright medium yellow. Pure, subdued nose hints at peach, honey, clove and white flowers. Then almost electric in the mouth, with bracing crushed-stone minerality to the flavors of lemon and grapefruit. Densely packed, tactile and intense yet almost magically light on its feet. The vibrant finish features a slowly building whiplash of fruits and minerals. I'd give this six to eight years in the cellar before pulling the cork. I find this more typical of its terroir than the 2012 version, which is almost too rich.
(13.7% alcohol; three of five barrels are new): Bright, pale lemon-yellow color. Peach, brown spice and vanilla aromas are given punch by a strong rocky quality. Suave and fine-grained on entry, then intense and penetrating in the middle, offering an exhilarating combination of fat and energy. This really saturates the palate. The rising finish features peach and saline qualities. Displays real character in a year in which many wines lack personality. Colin noted that he vinified whole clusters here and for the Demoiselles owing to the small size of these two cuvees; normally he crushes the fruit first.