Meursault “Les Durots” 2020

Domaine Bohrmann has come a long way from the moment when Dieter Bohrmann's purchased a wine cellar, barn and 2 hectares of vineyards in Meursault in 1999. Dieter, a businessman with Belgian roots and has an attachment to Burgundy. His daughter Sofie manages the Burgundy estate. Yields are kept very low (even the small Aligote crops at less than 35 ha/hl) and the vineyards are handled with care. Since purchasing additional territory in Puligny-Montrachet, Pommard and Meursault, Domaine Borhmann now covers about 10 hectares of vineyards and work on them in a bio-dynamic way.

Fresh chardonnay shows bright fruity profile and strong body. Chardonnay wines usually have expressed aromatic complexity and usually it happens due to winemaking techniques (particularly the use of oak promote notes of vanilla, smoke and hints of spices) rather than the variety's intrinsic qualities. Also, this variety can develop cream, yeast and brioche bread notes. Because of this high level of winemaker influence, Chardonnay has become famous as the "winemaker's wine".

Mersault is the standard of French Chardonnay and one of the best representatives of "white" Burgundy. The wines are well-balanced, with round fruit notes and a rich fresh butter aroma due to ageing in oak barrels. They are characterized as silky and oily with a strong and long-lasting aftertaste, and become even more intense in the aroma over time, still maintaining their velvety and sensual style.

Burgundy (Bourgogne) can be confusing because of the multiplicity of its appellations - all the small vineyards are divided between multiple producers so it can often be difficult to understand this diversity. However, it is the exact reason why the wines of Burgundy are considered to be the finest in the world. A common topic of discussion, when talking about Burgundy, is the concept of "terroir" - a unique combination of soil and climate conditions that affects the taste of wine in the appellations, making it unique to each village. Winemakers mainly use the capricious Pinot Noir and the classical Chardonnay to create true masterpieces, while Gamay and Aligote are used to make wines of a bit simpler style. Particular attention should be paid to the hierarchy of wines. First there are the regional and village wines, a step higher - the Premier Cru wines and the outstanding Grand Cru - at the top. Due the complex and inconsistent weather that can notably impact wine quality especially in bad harvest years, a very important factor here is the so called millesime - the harvest year of the grapes the particular wine is produced of, because each of these years has its own unique taste. Purchasing Burgundy wines is not easy because there are many details that should be taken into consideration - the class of the vineyard, the assessment of the manufacturer, the age of the vines, the quality of the wine as well as the millesime and, of course, the potential of ageing. The sellers play a big role here - they must be truly passionate about wine and able to offer only the best quality producers with a good reputation. That is exactly the way "Noble Wine" works!