“I have been saying it for years but I will say it again: if you don’t know these wines, you should because the quality is just too good to ignore. The style is intensely classic…”
Allen Meadows, Burghound, July 2009
Quiet, unassuming and media shy, Jean-François Germain crafts some of the most delicious and under-exposed white Burgundies on the Côte. We have been earnestly beating a drum for the quality of this fine Domaine for many years, as we believe Henri Germain to be a benchmark white Burgundy producer of the highest order; up there with the very, very best. Recent years have seen Germain’s star rise in the export markets, due in part to American critics waking up to their senses. But what is perhaps most telling for us, is the admiration that Germain receives on the Côte itself. One of our favourite stories about this producer came from the legendary Bruno Clair, who told us that his brother buys Jean-Francois Germain’s whites each year now and without fail calls Bruno to inform him how much better the Germain whites are than his!his Clair went on to praise the high standard of viticulture practised by Jean-François Germain. Burgundians like Bruno Clair do not offer such praise lightly.
The Germain methods are traditional and considerable effort is put in to reducing yields and maintaining concentration. They favour nature over nurture and keep interference to a minimum. Their cold, deep cellars in Meursault ensure that late malolactic fermentations lead to complex, flavoursome wines and set them up for a long, slow evolution. Clive Coates observes that Germain is always happy to let nature take its course, which explains much about the purity of the wines and their ability to mature gracefully. Prior to 2004, the wines had been excellent; tightly wound, classic and long lived. From 2004, thanks to subtle changes in viti and vini culture, the wines became more textural, more intense, more mind blowing. The vinification is minimalist in the extreme with no added yeasts, no enzymes and not even any bâtonnage (bar extremely austere vintages like 1996). If the lees are sufficiently clean, the wines are never racked and the élevage lasts 18 months for the village wines and a full 22 months for the remaining wines. The wines are rarely fined or filtered. The cold cellars make for a very long, slow élevage, the Malos are always late and the primary fermentations typically take more than three months, sometimes even twelve. Importantly, the wines see little new oak, usually between 20-30%. The 2009 vintage is an excellent one for the best white producers, of which Henri Germain is undoubtedly one. The wines have incredible energy, raciness and length. They are certainly wines that will cellar very well.
Germain's village blend is grown in six separate lieux-dits (named sites), including the excellent Clos de Cromin and Les Pellans. The former, on the Volnay hill brings depth and power, while the... read more
A large number - close to twenty - of Lieu-Dits can be grouped under the Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot appellation which covers close to 148 acres. The finest sites for Morgeot blanc lie in... read more
Another terrific site and a superb white. Typically more mineral and tightly wound than the Chevalieres yet in '06 it is plumper and riper with excellent density and loads of lifted floral and... read more
