2011 Louis Latour Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Maltroie 750 ml

2011 Louis Latour Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru “La Maltroie”

Since 2010, Burgundy’s Côte de Beaune has suffered through five consecutive short harvests. On the calcareous hillsides above Meursault, Chassagne-Montrachet, and Puligny-Montrachet where the finest Chardonnay in the world is grown, allocations have never been smaller — or prices higher — as demand for Grand Crus and top Premier Crus far exceeds supply.

While there are just three vineyards bearing the Grand Cru designation, there are about 50 Premier Cru parcels. Of those 50, just a few merit consideration as Grand Crus: La Romanée, Caillerets, and La Maltroie.

La Maltroie is all of 28 hectares — incredibly divided up among 32 proprietors. Perched just south of the village (adjacent to Les Champs Gains and a Willie Mays toss from Caillerets), enjoying perfect southeastern exposure, this low slope is filled with limestone, much explaining the chiseled structure of the vineyard’s Chardonnays.

Burgundy’s 2011 growing season can best be described as “extreme.” The season got off to a fast start with an unusually warm, dry spring, accelerating the vegetative cycle, making for successful flowering and a healthy fruit set. On May 26th, 2011, we checked into Le Montrachet in Puligny for a one-week stay. On our first cellar visits, growers were predicting one of the earliest harvests on record. But on the night of May 31st, the temperature plummeted nearly 20 degrees, ushering in a cold, wet weather pattern that would persist until late August.

With the exception of a flash heat spike at the end of June, the summer months were pretty miserable. Vineyards in the flats, near the RN74, particularly suffered, as the more clayey soils became saturated, the vines speckled with mildew. But, for reasons that few claim to fully understand today, the Grand Cru vineyards and the very best Premier Crus skated through. At Louis Latour, the call to harvest was made in the first week of September so as to preserve natural acidity. Careful sorting was done in the vines and again on the sorting table, making for a Chassagne-Montrachet “La Maltroie” that Louis-Fabrice Latour insists outpoints the fabulous 2010. Monsieur Latour will get no argument from us.

The 2011 Louis Latour Chassagne-Montrachet “La Maltroie” Premier Cru is straw-green. Piercing and marvelously crisp aromas of apple, pear, and quince, tinged with orchard-pit minerality. The attack features a plush mix of apple and white peach. Compact, finely layered, and delineated, the finish is long and intense, arguing cogently for another 5-10 years of cellar slumber. Decant for 15-20 minutes before serving at 56 degrees.

$80 on release. $59 today — a drop-dead bargain for this perfectly aged Premier Cru Chassagne Montrachet from one of the village’s three greatest vineyards. Shipping included on 4. WineAccess Exclusive, direct from the cellar.