The V. & S. Morey 2007 Chassagne-Montrachet Morgeot (in fact from the Boudriotte) shares the hints of caramel and over-ripeness, spice, candied citrus, and honey of so many wines in this collection, along with site-typical jellied red currant. Despite textural creaminess, there is an attractive fresh citrus element supplying vivacity and refreshment here, to which however, once again, the barrel element (including a rather resinous note) and the caramel-side of the wine are not (at least yet) reconciled. Again, too, I’d rather give this the benefit of the doubt and suggest that it might have been having a difficult day when I tasted. There are certainly the raw materials of something impressive here.
After inheriting his share of his father, Bernard Morey’s domaine (split with his brother Thomas, on whose wines I have reported separately in this issue), Vincent Morey and his wife Sophie (whose family are wine growers in Santenay) have now combined acreage and produced their first wines out of the Morey family facilities. They began harvesting Chardonnay already at the end of August, achieving potential alcohols that varied by as much as 1.5% over their five days of harvest, and chaptalizing up to a degree to arrive at 13-13.5%. He performed a light clarification and stirred the lees regularly to fatten-up the wines. As a group, this year’s collection was a bit obviously – at times obtrusively – marked by its oak (typically around 30-40% new), and richness seemed sometimes to have been bought at the price of refreshment, clarity, or site-distinctiveness. Like his brother, Vincent Morey reports that he is too short of cellar space to consider a barrel elevage that lasts longer the one year, but he supports the trend toward a longer, watchful stay in tank before the assembled wines are bottled.
Importer: Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 334 8191 and also imported by Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802