"Unfortunately, given their popularity among the sommeliers of France's best restaurants, these bottlings aren't easy to find ....
It took me time, I confess, to understand the wines of Domaine Guillot-Broux. These are tightly wound, concentrated whites, framed by chalky dry extract from low yields and intelligent pressing, and they take their time to evolve in the cellar. That's a far cry from the stereotype of the northern Mâconnais — honeyed, facile, giving — but when you visit the vineyards, you understand. Rocky, sloping, enclosed sites at the forest's edge — some recently recovered from its encroachments — are planted with old vines of Chardonnay, Gamay, and Pinot Noir, and they've never seen chemical farming. Of course, opening old bottles also helps make sense of these wines: complex, mineral, and sapid, it's clear that 20 years is the minimum rather than the maximum at this address. But the rewards of patience, as so often, are considerable; and when you get to know them, it's hard not to argue that these number among the region's finest exemplars.
As I've written before, Emmanuel Guillot's grapes are harvested by hand, with the whites pressed to barrel directly and the reds fermented in small tanks, often with more than a little whole-cluster inclusion. With the 2019 vintage, taking advantage of market dislocation occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, Guillot opted to extend élevage: so most of his whites, having spent a year in barrel, saw an additional six months in tank. Whether or not it's the inherent quality of the vintage, or the fact that those additional six months really seem to help these structured wines flesh out and unwind, the 2019s are the most impressive young wines I've tasted to date at this address, and everything reviewed here comes warmly recommended."
William Kelley, Wine Advocate |
