DOMAINE
FRANÇOIS CARILLON

This new addition to the Carillon line-up comes from vines in the village of Mâcon-Igé, where Domaines Leflaive also makes a wine. An appealing aromatic nose of white flowers and peach blossom. The mid-palate is juicy and giving, with a reassuring richness, coming to a nice point on the taut finish.

La Bergerie is the name of this parcel, in Montagnac, near Nîmes. Really lovely yellow flower and apricot perfume, leading into a juicy, zesty palate which is both fresh and rich. This has the Carillon magic – a wine of succulence and presence. It spends a year in old oak, then is blended and bottled after a further period in tank. If vinified in situ, this would be a Costières de Nîmes, but as it is made in Puligny, it is a Vin de France. 

Made from the Aligoté doré clone, this wine is a selection from 50-year old vines in Puligny-Montrachet. The two plots are Les Petits Poiriers and Riaux, both in Puligny. Green-gold in colour, with aromas of orchard fruit, pastry and orange blossom. The palate is crisp and clean, with flavours of apple skin and stony minerality. This stays on its lees in 500L and 600L barrels for around a year, with a small proportion (less than 10%) of new oak.

This is the fifth vintage of the C&B-François Carillon ‘partnership label’, which was the first of its kind and is offered as a C&B stamp of approval for a wine we believe is an outstanding example of its type. It now bears the elevated designation of Côte d’Or Chardonnay. As previously, it comes from five hectares, spread over various plots in Puligny-Montrachet. Aromas of pastry, hay, white peach and pear lead into a crunchy palate of lovely luminosity. 13.5% abv. 15% new oak.

This is a selection, in which specific plots and then barrels are isolated from the regular Bourgogne Chardonnay. It tends to be riper in profile, which is reflected in the 2022’s greater aromatic intensity. The palate is juicy and corporeal, finishing focused and salty-mineral. Lovely wine. 15% new oak.

Back after an absence in 2021 due to frost, this is a new wine for our UK customers. Fine and mineral, with a subliminal richness, as Adam called it, in which the southern aspect and limestone soils of this lieu-dit will play a part. That Saint-Romain acidity provides a nice straight backbone.

This vineyard overlooks the grands crus of Puligny-Montrachet and is over the road from Les Champs Gains. Francois says this is closer in style to Chassagne than Puligny. The name refers to the vineyard’s stones being as sharp as dogs’ teeth. 2013 was François’ first vintage from this 0.67 hectare parcel. A wine of stony, flinty minerality, with a lightly reductive strictness picking out the peach fruit. Great purity and tension.

The domaine’s village Puligny-Montrachet is an absolute classic, and a flagship of the estate. It is made from four hectares of vines, spread over seven lieux-dits: Derrière la Velle, Reuchaux, Corvee, Aubues, Tremblots, Les Noyer Bret and Les Rousselles. The eighth plot, Levrons, is being replanted. Suave and finely textured, with that frisson of chalky Puligny terroir. So open too – you could almost drink this now. 10% new oak.

Just behind the village of Puligny-Montrachet, this small monopole of 0.8 hectares is a warm, sheltered site with deep clay-limestone soils. It has particularly mild nighttime temperatures, perhaps contributing to a certain exuberance of style. Due to this high natural ripeness, it also tends to be the first parcel to be harvested – in 2022, it was picked in mid-August. A flash of flamboyance and then it hunkers down to the classical Carillon style of definition, drive and a focused, salty finish.

Beneath Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, Enseignères is a village vineyard which can hold its own against the premiers crus. Such is the case here, where we immediately into serious wine territory. Juicy apricot, lime zest and cedar aromas lead into a salty-mineral palate, with a gratifyingly fleshy core. Beautifully weighted. A long-lived wine, thanks to the high proportion of small millerand berries from these nearly-60-year-old vines.

The domaine’s holding in Champ-Gain is a steeply sloping two-hectare plot, planted with 50+ year old vines, high on the slope alongside St-Aubin Murgers des Dents de Chien. The soils are reddish in colour, rich in limestone and dotted with small pebbles. Stony-mineral aromas, with an open and disarmingly lovely stone-fruit purity. We showed this at our UK tastings in January 2024 – that second chance to taste brought home the winning combination of fleshy fruit and chalky-mineral bedrock.

The domaine has 0.4 hectares of Folatières, the most flamboyant of the Puligny premiers crus, which Francois called l’enfant terrible du village. It is planted with half-century-old vines on a steep slope. This plot is beside Leflaive’s holding. The wine opens strict and taut, with honeysuckle and orange blossom emerging behind. Still in its embryonic phase when tasted in November 2023 but the calibre is evident in the refined, focused carapace.

The domaine’s 0.8 hectare Combettes holding was planted in 1992. The brown sub-soils are deep and stony, and the grapes tend to ripen earlier. Powerful and rich, this is a step up on anything tasted so far. Elegant and chalky-mineral, highly classical. Vinified in 300L ‘cigars’ and 350L barrels, with 15% new oak. Adam’s favourite (unsurprisingly…)

François has 0.74 hectares of Perrières, spread over two plots, one of which was planted in 1973. Intense wet-stone minerality on the nose, with bright citrus and green melon aromas. The palate is citric and precise, with fleshy white peach fruit on the mid-palate providing a counterpoint to that trademark mineral definition. Wonderful. 15% new oak.

This comes from Les Voillenots, on the Puligny-Montrachet side of the appelation. The 0.7 hectares here are split accross an older vine parcel and a younger one. Broad and textured, this is a relatively early drinker of energy and verve. Good length, with a white flower perfumed delicacy to the finish.

This is a blend of two Chassagne-Montrachet 1ers Crus- Chenevottes and Clos Saint-Jean, which are sometimes bottles individually. The Chenevottes parcel is a tiny 0.2 hectares in size, beside Macherelles, whilst the mineral-rich Clos Saint-Jean is high on the slope, just beneath Chassagne's barren Grande Montagne. The total production was just over 600 litres in 2022: two barrels were made. Rich and flinty, with bright, joyful peach and pear fruit.

Macherelles is on the northern (Puligny-Montrachet) side of the village, from a similar terroir to Puligny's Perrières, according to François, with very little soil above the bedrock. A white chalky-mineral nose leads into bright citrussy fore-palate which opens onto enticing flavours of green melon, white peach and orange blossom. Zesty and highly impressive, this is one of the stars of the domaine.

The sole red wine in the offer comes from old vine (60+ years old) in Puligny-Montrachet and Corpeau, planted on classic clay-limestone soils. Hand harvested and 100% destemmed, it spends 12 months in 10% new oak barrels. A wintery wine of dark forest fruit, with a cosseting, warming core of resonant bitter cherry fruit and plums.