Domaine Frantz CHAGNOLEAU - Clos Saint Pancras 2017
Mâcon-Villages
This Clos Saint-Pancras comes from the blend of 3 contiguous plots, on a rather solar and precocious clay-limestone terroir, each bringing to the wine its characteristic touch: the Clos “En arriving”, with its vines of around twenty years perfectly exposed to the East on a light, rather loamy and well-draining soil; Ditto for the plot of Clos “En bas”, a little less sloping, with a little deeper soil, where the 15-year-old vines produce grapes full of sparkle and sap; finally, the Clos "Haut" presents a much more chalky and stony soil: here the vines of more than 25 years give grapes capable of bringing to the wine an additional freshness and minerality.
Frantz is not a fan of "crushing" grapes, he seeks a pure and faithful expression of the fruit and its terroir of origin. After a very slow and delicate pressing, the Clos Saint-Pancras is then vinified on indigenous yeasts, with very little intervention, then aged on its lees, mainly in aged casks, unlikely to mark the wine. Only 15% of the cuvée is aged in barrels, to give a little extra depth.
From the first nose, we fall under the spell, so much does the wine give off a feeling of harmony and delicacy. The bouquet is airy, floral and springtime: we think of primroses, linden and acacia flowers, gladiolus, we think of the freshness of a body of water, of the flowers and tall grasses that surround it. The fruit is full of sparkle, between apple, vine peach, plum… While fine notes of roasted almonds complete this particularly seductive bouquet.
