Château de la Maltroye

Château de la Maltroye is a family estate in Chassagne-Montrachet, an eighteenth-century house with a Burgundian glazed-tile roof and fifteenth-century vaulted cellars beneath it. The property has been in the same family since the 1940s. Jean-Pierre Cornut, an engineer at Dassault Aviation before he came to the vines, took over from his father André in 1993 and has been owner and winemaker for every vintage since. The estate farms around fifteen hectares, thirteen in Chassagne-Montrachet and two in Santenay, about seventy per cent of it premier cru.

Bâtard-Montrachet, two barrels a year, sits at the top. Below it the estate is unusual in the village for its reds, which account for some forty per cent of production. Clos du Château de la Maltroye is its monopole, a walled premier cru vineyard wrapped around the château itself at the western edge of the village; Clos Saint-Jean lies on the slope above and to the north; La Boudriotte sits south in the Morgeot sector, where the clay gives the firmest of the three. Village Chassagne-Montrachet comes in both colours, and the Santenay premier cru La Comme, also in both colours, comes from the estate's parcels at the southern end of the Côte de Beaune. Ten Chassagne premiers crus are bottled in all.

The vineyards are ploughed, treated only when necessary, picked by hand and held to strict yields. Reds are fully destemmed and given a cold maceration of ten to fourteen days before a cuvaison of about a month and some fourteen months in barrel, which is why they carry more structure and ageing capacity than red Chassagne is usually credited with. Whites begin fermentation in stainless steel and go to barrel mid-ferment, then rest on their fine lees, aimed at freshness and mineral tension rather than weight. Arcana Cabinet lists eight wines from the estate: Bâtard-Montrachet grand cru; the Chassagne-Montrachet premiers crus Clos du Château de la Maltroye, Clos Saint-Jean and La Boudriotte, all in red; village Chassagne-Montrachet in both colours; and Santenay premier cru La Comme in both colours. The range also includes the Chassagne premiers crus Dent de Chien, La Romanée, Les Grandes Ruchottes and Morgeot in white, and a Bourgogne Aligoté.