2017 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Romanee"

The 2017 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Romanée is more reserved than the Caillerets, unfurling in the glass with notes of pear, crisp melon, white flowers, beeswax and crushed chalk. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, elegantly satiny and multidimensional, with lovely purity, a tight-knit core and a long, mineral finish. As usual, Cécile Fontaine had bottled her 2017s just before harvest 2018, so I had the pleasure of tasting finished wines that will be entirely representative of the bottles that readers can buy. Succulent and defined by site, it's a lovely vintage at this address—which I've been visiting since my student days—and one that plays to the strengths of the domaine's pure, elegant and aromatic house style. Thanks to the generous crops of 2017 and 2018, plans are afoot to extend the domaine's cellars, opening up the possibility of longer sur lie élevage. Perhaps more space will permit other refinements of technique, too? My suggested drinking windows for these wines err on the side of caution, as in the past Fontaine-Gagnard has suffered from the scourge of premature oxidation, a problem that Céline is the first to acknowledge, but they are beautifully balanced wines so in a perfect world they might well mature in the cellar for quite a lot longer. (WK)