93-95

Stephen Tanzer

Vinous

(the Moreaus have two 350-liter barrels of this wine, one of them new): Bright, light yellow. Classic high-pitched Chevalier-Montrachet aromas of lemon, lime, pear, white peach, lavender and white pepper. Densely packed but weightless, offering sharp definition and outstanding class to its flavors of lemon zest, crushed stone and mineral salts. This very dry, intense wine is quite tight but not hard, and its subtly mounting salty finish is hard to scrape off the palate. Alexandre Moreau will wait until at least next March to bottle this beauty. 06/2018

93-96

Jasper Morris

Inside Burgundy

In barrel. Pure green infused lemon yellow. A beautiful weight of fresh yellow fruit on the palate which becomes purer and whiter to the back. Shows quite a lot of oak, attractive, more weight at the front than back. Tasted Nov 2018.

97

William Kelley

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate

The 2017 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru is showing brilliantly, soaring from the glass with a lovely bouquet of lemon oil, white flowers, crushed chalk, orange zest, green apple and blanched almonds. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, with an incisive spine of acidity, superb tension and back-end grip and a long, mineral finish. This is a magical Chevalier that realizes all the promise it hinted at in barrel. Alex and Benoit Moreau began their harvest on August 30, afraid of waiting too long given the warm conditions, and reported finished alcohols between 12.15% and 13.3%. This was a large crop for the domaine, even for its premiers crus and old vines: Chenevottes, for example, yielded fully 62 hetoliters per hectare, its most generous in 20 years. Most of the domaine's white wine fermentations lasted into June-July 2019. As usual, I made Domaine Bernard Moreau one of my last stops during my time in Burgundy to catch the wines at their best, and the young 2018s showed superbly: it's a more immediate vintage than 2017 but beautifully balanced. Indeed, it's hard to think of a better address to which to direct readers looking to take a tour of some of Chassagne-Montrachet's most interesting terroirs. I also revisited the superb 2017s in bottle, wines that number among the vintage's finest. What are the rudiments of this 14-hectare estate's success? As I wrote last year, the domaine represents a loose division of labor between two brothers: Benoit, who concerns himself with the vineyards, and Alex, who oversees the cellar. In the vineyard, they use only organic fertilizers and no pesticides. In the cellar, Alex Moreau appreciates long fermentations and extended sur lie élevage without stirring, the wines finishing their maturation in stainless steel where they generally see a light fining. New oak, largely from François Frères, is judiciously chosen. Beautifully balanced and differentiated by site, these are some of the most compelling white Burgundies being made today, and I once again warmly recommend them to readers. 01/2020