2016 Benjamin Leroux Chassagne-Montrachet Les Embazees 1er Cru
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
(no frost here, according to Leroux): Ripe pear, spiced apple, menthol and stone on the nose. Supple and rich, conveying a touch of sweetness and a suggestion of exotic fruit character. But a lemon-lime quality gives cut and energy to the thick middle palate. This dense, seamless, rather elegantly styled wine finishes tactile and quite long, with an element of salinity.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2016 Chassagne Montrachet les Embrazees 1er Cru has a far more energetic and focused bouquet than the Abbaye de Morgeot. The palate is well defined with a fine thread of acidity, subtle traces of orange rind and dried apricot here with a brisk, slightly saline finish that is understated but very pleasurable.
No new oak. No frost. Lightly toasty nose. Not quite the tension I’d seek but correct. (JR)
(no frost here; 48 hectoliters per hectare produced): Bright medium yellow. Deeply pitched nose currently dominated by clove spice. The palate boasts lovely extract thickness, offering concentrated, saline flavors of lemon and wild herbs, plus some smoky influence from the oak. Finishes firm-edged, with a late suggestion of licorice. Serious juice. (The Chassagne-Montrachet Abbaye de Morgeot, made from frosted vines that yielded just 8 hectoliters per hectare, had just finished its malolactic fermentation and still showed some appley traces. Its very dry and slightly disjointed pepper and herb components made it tricky to assess at this stage.)