Chanson Père et Fils - Saint-Véran 2016

Bettane & Desseauve

About the wine:

The winery’s best wine from the Mâconnais region and a serious rival to the village wines of the Côte d’Or. With a precise nose—ranging from lemony honey to yellow fruits and ripe grapes, without any of the trendy green notes—the only thing it lacks is a slightly more sophisticated aging process.

About the estate:

Founded in 1750 by Simon Verry and acquired by the Bollinger Group in the late 1990s, the oldest of the Beaune houses owns 45 hectares of vineyards located in the premier cru vineyards of both slopes. The house’s red wines are primarily made from purchased grapes, vinified by the house to maintain stylistic consistency with the estate. Brilliantly managed from a technical standpoint by Jean-Pierre Confuron (since 2001), this estate has become a model of viticulture, with the introduction of plowing, the elimination of soil amendments, and the adoption of organic viticulture. Chanson’s wines retain a very high proportion of stems during both white and red vinification. The guiding principle is balance within tension. The whites are racked with a maximum of lees to ensure a reductive character throughout a 14- to 20-month aging period in barrels (20% new oak). The reds, whose Pinot maturity is pushed to the optimum, retain a vibrant tannic and acidic structure and are adorned with a fleshy fruitiness with underlying notes of sweet spices and licorice. These are wines that deserve a few years of patience in both styles.

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the estate:

Founded in 1750 and owned by Bollinger since 1999, this classic Beaune-based house has now fully established its identity and style. It rivals the best in the industry with its precise and pure wines, both white and red. Vincent Avenel has taken the reins of the house, succeeding Gilles de Courcel, to whom we owe its revitalization. A state-of-the-art winery and the expert guidance provided through June 2020 by Jean-Pierre Confuron—both in the vineyard and in winemaking—explain the clarity of expression across the estate’s broad range up to the 2019 vintage, a vintage in which we detect subtle aging notes in certain cuvées, though it falls slightly short of previous vintages. We will wait to taste the 2020s in bottle to judge whether this great estate is moving in the right direction with its new team.

Jancis Robinson