2014 Domaine des Terres de Chatenay Viré-Clessé Quintaine 750 ml

65-Year-Old Vine Vire-Clesse — Enologist Jean-Claude Janin

He didn’t do it for money. There was almost no hope of recouping the investment in any reasonable period of time. He didn’t even do it for the freedom. He’d enjoyed almost every minute of his 18 years heading up the enology team at the cooperative in Viré. No, the reason Jean-Claude Janin walked away from security, even an occasional weekend of fishing, was to raise the bar of the appellation he’d worked so long and hard to champion — to follow the torch lit by André Bonhomme over 50 years ago.

The most precious hillsides above Viré-Clessé were the first slopes to be planted to vines by the monks of Cluny hundreds of years ago. To say the least, the men of the cloth knew what they were doing. As in Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault, the slopes are east-facing, strewn with chunks of bleached limestone.

But unlike the great Chardonnays of the Côte de Beaune, down here, just a few miles north of Mâcon, winegrowing families were late to bottle under their own labels. The investment in cellar excavation and equipment was daunting. The risk, particularly when farming the best low-yielding old-vine parcels, was deemed too great.

As a result, when we first heard about Jean-Claude’s gamble from Gilles Corsin, the winemaking wizard of Saint-Véran, we were intrigued. Janin had spent years crafting surprisingly solid Chardonnay at the cooperative, working with fruit drawn from poorly farmed vineyards above Viré. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Jean-Claude packed up and gave notice. A couple of days later, the local rumor mill was humming. In a move that surprised most, Janin joined his wife at a tiny 9-acre estate, comprised of a patchwork quilt of 40- to 65-year-old-vine parcels, resolving to farm each by hand, eschewing all use of chemical herbicides and pesticides. If Jean-Claude did what he was capable of doing, Corsin told us, Janin’s Viré-Clessé was about to give many in Meursault a run for their money.

We visited the Janins for the first time on August 15th, 2011. We toured the small but precisely designed new winery, what Jean-Claude called his laboratoire. We listened as the enologist told us how he’d finally worked up the nerve to roll the dice, giving up his fishing rod for pruning shears, his weekends in a canoe for Sundays in the seat of a tractor. But it wasn’t until we walked the Chardonnay patches above the hamlets of Chazelle and Quintaine, where 65-year-old vines beam under the summer sun, that we really understood the magnitude of the opportunity at hand.

Despite the brutal hailstorm that all but decimated Meursault and Pommard in late June, the Mâconnais was largely spared. The summer remained cool with frequent showers. By late August, even the old vines of Quintaine were behind schedule. The vintage would be “made or broken,” Jean-Claude told us, in the first weeks of September. The morning of September 1st was glorious. Daytime highs crept back into the 80s under gorgeous blue skies, conditions that would last for the better part of two weeks. Sugars spiked as acids remained firm. When Janin made the call to harvest, yields were down nearly 30% from the norm, making for a total production of just 10 barrels of one of the most stunning under-$25 white Burgundies you’ll ever sip and swirl.

The 2014 Terres de Chatenay Viré-Clessé Quintaine is drawn from 65-year-old Chardonnay vines. Brilliant greenish-gold in color, infused with piercing aromas of ripe apple and pear, tinged with new-wood vanilla. Rich, and luscious on the attack, yet still marvelously crisp and vibrant, the core is Meursault-like, juicy and high-toned, the finish firm and penetrating. Finished pH of 3.2 argues for a long rest in the coolest of cellars. Drink now — if you insist — or do as we’re doing, and lay down one of the more brilliant white Burgundy bargains in years until the mid-2020s.

Last call! The remaining 25 cases are up for grabs. Only $20/bottle — today on WineAccess. Shipping on 6.