The 2020 Domaine Olivier Merlin Bourgogne Blanc is a white Burgundy from La Roche-Vineuse in the Mâconnais, given eighteen months in barrel with thirty to fifty percent new oak, which is the kind of handling most producers reserve for wines several classifications above this one.
Olivier Merlin inherited no vineyards. He studied oenology, spent time making wine in California, and returned to Burgundy in 1987 to lease four and a half hectares from a grower who was retiring. He now farms close to thirty and is widely regarded as the finest grower in the Mâconnais. His reputation rests on a single argument, which is that so-called lesser appellations can produce serious wine when they are farmed and vinified seriously. His sons Paul and Théo joined the domaine in recent vintages, and the family also makes Pouilly-Fuissé at Château des Quarts in partnership with Dominique Lafon.
Bright straw in the glass with a watery rim. Ripe pear and peach sit over honeycomb and bacon fat, with crème brûlée and wet stone underneath. The palate carries rich pear and dried honey threaded with almond and wet slate, full and creamy in texture, closing fresh and long. At six years of age it is drinking now rather than waiting.
Ben's Recommendation:
At Wine More Cellars, this is the bottle we use to show that the label on a white Burgundy tells you far less than the name of the grower. Serve at 10–12°C and give it twenty minutes in the glass. Drink now or hold for another two to four years. Excellent with roast chicken, scallops, creamy pasta, grilled white fish or aged Comté.
