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Chassagne-Montrachet starts with a flourish, announcing its arrival with three grands crus – two, Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet shared with neighbouring Puligny, and one, the tiny Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet , entirely within Chassagne-Montrachet. This is a large commune covering red and white wines. There is a veritable patchwork of soils; limestone debris, clay, gravel and chalk, over a limestone bedrock, which has re-emerged from the Côte de Nuits . The differences are clearly visible, darker reddish soils towards the bottom of the slope and lighter soils, with more chalk, higher up. Although much of these soils are more suited to Pinot Noir than Chardonnay , it is the whites which really sing. The style of the Chassagne-Montrachet Chardonnays, very generally, lies some way between those of Puligny and Meursault.

Chassagne-Montrachet – white wines

Chassagne-Montrachet white wines lack the very clear precision and finesse of Puligny-Montrachet and they are not as rich as Meursault – yet they have elements of both. They balance steely minerality with supple fruit, white flowers with hazelnuts and pastry shop notes. Simply put they can be real crowd pleasers, suiting both palate and pocket.

In addition to the three grands crus , there are many premiers crus , most of which occupy the slopes. The lower-lying land tends to be more suitable for red production although Olivier Leflaive ’s 1er Cru Abbaye de Morgeot derives a particularly appealing personality and distinctive minerality from the iron-rich limestone.

There are also some very attractive, well-priced Chassagne-Montrachet villages wines to be had at a good price. We recommend Bachelet-Ramonet and Olivier Leflaive 's Chassagne-Montrachet .

One wine deserves special mention due to its extraordinarily fortuitous location – Chassagne-Montrachet Les Blanchots . This virtually touches grand cru Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet and, to our mind, is of similar pedigree. It provides superb value for money.

Chassagne-Montrachet – red wines

The red wines can be good, honest translations of Pinot Noir , slightly burly and chunky but perfectly decent. Red wines were in the majority until the new plantings post the phylloxera attack, when Chardonnay won the day, Pinot being the victim of changing fashion.