From: Saint-Aubin, Burgundy, France
Varietal: Chardonnay
Taste: Murgers des Dents de Chien (Walls of the Dog’s Teeth) is one of the most outstanding Premier Crus of Saint-Aubin, located just up the slope from Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru to the east and Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru “Champ Gain” to the north. Jérôme farms a tiny, south-facing 0.75-hectare parcel of 35-year-old vines in this prestigious Saint-Aubin Premier Cru. Asian pears, apple blossoms, toasted macadamias, and cardamom move in and out of the foreground as the nose develops in the glass. The wine is round and full-bodied on the palate, with refreshing impressions of Jonagold apples, salted lemon, and mouth-watering acidity, buffered by intense limestone mineral extract and a lingering, persistent finish. The 2017 vintage shows a flinty reduction on the nose that opens to these more golden tones, lithe minerality, and lemony lift on the finish that’ll continue to improve as the wine opens in your glass. Delicious.
Pairing: When in doubt, go the mushroom route. Mushroom ravioli, risotto, lasagna, sautéed and served next to roasted chicken, on toast, or with gnocchi. It’s all delicious. Other successful options include serving this alongside dishes like Flounder with Herb Blossom Butter (check out the recipe below), scallops with sorrel butter, clam linguine, pasta with lemon, herbs, and ricotta, and braised chicken with rosemary and lemon.
Flounder With Herb Blossom Butter
By David Tanis
About. The Fornerot family has been practicing viticulture in Saint-Aubin for five hundred years. For many years, the family has also operated a nursery specializing in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay plants for European wine producers. The current domaine was formed in 2004 when Jérôme Fornerot purchased his first parcels in Santenay and Maranges.
In 2018, on his father's death, the family's holdings in Saint-Aubin were transferred to Jérôme. Today, the estate covers 16 hectares in the three appellations. Harvests are by hand with complete de-stemming for the reds. The fermentations occur with indigenous yeasts, and the whites see some battonage to add complexity.
In the second century AD, well-established viticulture was already present in Burgundy and likely predates the arrival of the Romans. By the late Middle Ages, the influence of the monastic orders had organized wine growing in Burgundy as nowhere else in Europe. The monks recognized that certain individual vineyards consistently produced distinctive wine. Land reform came with the French Revolution, and the Code Napoléon abolished primogeniture, establishing that all inherited property be shared equally among siblings. As a result, many of the finest vineyards are fragmented, with some growers owning just a few vines in many different vineyard sites. Just south of Santenay (with which it shares several well-regarded Premier Crus), Maranges is a link between the Côte de Beaune and the Côte Challonaise. The tiny appellation was formally recognized in 1988 and covers the three villages of Cheilly-lès-Maranges, Dezize-lès-Maranges, and Sampigny-lès-Maranges. Nearly all the wine grown is red, based on Pinot Noir.
This wine. Over the last couple of decades, the quality of Saint-Aubin has experienced hockey stick growth. Coinciding with that has been the rise of Jérome Fornerot. Since launching his own domaine in the early ‘00s, his whites have become some of Burgundy's best sources of value. Fornerot makes this bottling from a high-elevation growing site bordering Chevalier-Montrachet, yielding a precise, mineral-driven white wine.
