Alix de Montille (Burgundy)(3)
By Bertrand Celce 2009-3-3 11:32:26
Willy, topping-up the casksThe magnificient cellars under the winery held a pivotal role in their decision to come settle here (it was a rental at the beginning). This vasr 17th-century cellar is among the deepest ones in Meursault, because the rivière des Clous, a stream/river flowing through Meursault makes it difficult in most of the village to dig deeply without reaching the water. Where she lives in another part of the village, there are only two steps to reach the cellar, and she adds that in Puligny it's even worse, there aren't any deep dug cellars.
After walking down a few worn-out steps, we enter a beautiful vaulted cellar with dark moulds on the walls. Several adjacent galleries in the cellar, full of casks. There's a young worker busy topping-up the casks. Willy is usually more on the vineyard side, taking care of the organic/biodynamic farming and tasks. Alix shows us the two consecutive cellar galleries that hold the last-vintage whites from both the Domaine and the Négoce (they needed, and got, the autorization of the French Customs to keep these Négoce & Domaine wines under the same roof). Another cellar gallery full of casks holds the 2007 whites which will be bottled sometime in the near future. They erected a physical partition to keep the 2007 and the 2008 apart and avoid any undesired yeast migration between the two vintages.
Pouring wine from the caskAlix de Montille works on wines from different origin for her 22 white cuvées, some from Côte Chalonnaise (Montagny, Rully), Maconnais (Pouilly-Fuissé), and others from Auxey-Duresses, Saint-Romain, Saint-Aubin, Pernand-Vergelesses. These latter wines, which are moderate in price and have a more humble status compared with other Burgundy Appellations, make up two-thids of her Négoce. She considers that these up-and-coming Villages-Appellations can yield beautiful results when farming and vinification are well done. On the upper side, she works on Meursault, les Grands Charrons, Casse Tête, les Tessons, les Narvaux, les Rougeots. Usually every year she makes 3 or 4 Meursault Villages, plus a few Meursault 1er Cru, like les Bouchères, les Poruzots and les Charmes (click-enlarge on the map at the bottom of this Meursault page to locate the climats). She also makes Puligny 1er Cru, la Garenne and Champ Gain (see this list of Puligny-Montrachet climats with surfaces), plus 3 Grand-Cru wines : Batard-Montrachet, Corton-Charlemagne and Chevalier-Montrachet. She says that the downside with the Négoce is that from one year to the next, you're never sure to keep the contracted vineyards because for whatever reason the grower sometimes may change his mind and keep the grapes/must that he previously sold. For example in 2008 she lost two Meursault plots plus her red Chambolle Villages (which was for a long time her only red cuvée - now she makes also a generic-Bourgogne red). So she's always looking for another opportunity that might show up.
Alix de Montille pouring her whites
From wineterroirs.com
