WTN: Chevillon, Marcoux

[Jenise]

Three nights ago with a dinner frittata:

2018 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits St. Georges Blanc Vieilles Vignes Chardonnay
Rich amber gold color immediately earns an 'uh oh' on pouring. One of the ripest white burgs I've ever had and though the vintage difficulties were understood on purchase, at the Chevillon quality level this degree is still surprising. Not decanted and drunk over two hours, the second hour was better firmer fruit, such as it was, and more spice evident. Would recommend a one-hour decant to anyone still holding these as well as to approach with lowered expectations.

Last night, with a bean and cabbage soup:

2004 Domaine de Marcoux Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhone Blend
Excellent mature CdP in full tertiary splendor, but this is the end of the road. Dried fruit, leather and potpourri, great nose and finish for the first hour with noticeable decline in the second. Nice way to go out, though!

[David M. Bueker]

Chevillon is not exactly renowned for their Blanc.

[Jenise]

I love the reds, presumed I'd love the white.

This ain't it.

[David M. Bueker]

Nope. It isn’t.

Had some Marcoux but drank it up as it seemed to be developing more quickly that anticipated.

I'm concentrating on comparative tastings of 94 and 95 CnduP but note that I have a half dozen 2004 wines - will move up the schedule on them to at least try them

I don't think I've ever had (or heard) of Chevillon NSG blanc. I assume Pinot Gouges not Chard?
I think I did once have a Chevillon Aligote.
But as you note 2018 is an atypically ripe white Burg vintage.

[Jenise]

Dale, Chevillon's website is noncommittal, they say chardonnay "or" pinot blanc, and the golden color and "honey" and "brioche" elements are typical of all vintages. To be honest, when I ordered this wine, I thought I was getting the rouge which also exists; so this blanc was a surprise on several levels.

That's interesting. I missed that CT listed has it as Chardonnay, and fascinating the Chevillon website says Chardonnay or PB- don't they know? I just assumed white in NSG would be Pinot Gouges, a white sport of Pinot Noir (which some would argue is Pinot Blanc). Confusing but fascinating.

[Jenise]

Had some Marcoux but drank it up as it seemed to be developing more quickly that anticipated.

I had four of these and no two were alike. At least one of the earlier bottles seemed OTH, one was good and another iffy. I opened this expecting to find it dead, so did myself of opening it so I could toss the bottle and move on. Instead, it was the best of the lot.

Pinot noir is notorious for its genetic instability. Genetic analysis shows that both pinot gris and pinot blanc are point (single nucleotide) mutations, though not the same one. Pinot Gouges is yet another instance of a mutation disrupting the normal pigmentation process for the grapes that has been isolated and cultivated separately. This sort of thing must drive the appellation authorities bonkers. Here we have a vine consistently producing white grapes that was grown from a cutting taken from a vine that is manifestly and unarguably pinot noir.

The AOC rules for Nuits-St.-Georges says either chardonnay or pinot blanc are allowed for the white wine. I don't no where pinot Gouges fits into this picture as it is neither chardonnay nor is it pinot blanc. Perhaps white wine from pinot Gouges is a simple Bourgogne blanc rather than a villages wine.

For what it's worth, the Kermit Lynch website says that the 2017 Chevillon Nuits-St.-Georges Blanc is 100% pinot blanc.

Chevillon makes wonderful reds. Sorry to hear that the white is disappointing.

-Paul W.

Perhaps white wine from pinot Gouges is a simple Bourgogne blanc rather than a villages wine.
.

The Gouges bottle their white as 1er cru, NSG Les Perriere . I guess the AOC defaults it to Pinot Blanc.

I found this paper describing gene sequencing analysis of pinot noir, pinot gris, and pinot blanc. I was wrong about these being point mutations. They are due to deletions of rather hefty parts of a region of chromosome 2 involved in the synthesis of anthocyanins (purple pigmentation). In pinot gris there is a single deletion present in the L2 cell layer of the plant. In pinot blanc there are deletions in both the L1 and L2 cell layers. I have not found any genetic analysis of the white pinot noir mutation that Gouges corralled in the 1930s.

-Paul W.