Arnaud Mortet has been running the domaine that bears his father's name for nearly twenty years, and the direction has been consistent: more refinement, more precision, the same intensity. Denis was already moving that way when he died in 2006. Arnaud has continued, unhurried, with the same vineyards and an increasingly clear sense of what he is working toward.
Horses plough the Premier Cru and Grand Cru sites rather than tractors, preserving soils that have taken decades to open up. Tractors are gone from all plots. Weed cover, principally chickweed, is encouraged rather than sprayed. Vines are trimmed by hand with clippers throughout the season, a commitment that requires significant labour but keeps each plant in better balance. The results are small-berried, naturally concentrated fruit, harvested into small crates to arrive at the sorting table intact.
In the cellar, the defining work is careful and unhurried. A proportion of each wine is vinified as whole clusters, but Arnaud's real focus is on the individual berries. Using scissors, a team removes the central stem from each bunch, keeping the grapes intact on their short stalks. It is slow, precise work, but it gives the wines an aromatic lift and a fineness of tannin that is difficult to achieve any other way. New oak has been progressively reduced across the range; the wines rest in used barrels for 16 to 18 months before release, unfined and unfiltered.
2023 was a generous season by Mortet's standards, with clean fruit and yields higher than he typically aims for. The range spans the full breadth of the domaine, from Marsannay and Fixin through village Gevrey and four Premier Crus to Chambolle-Musigny. Arnaud's own assessment is characteristically measured: it isn't the best vintage he has ever made, but he finds it hard to resist, particularly for what he calls its "almost irresistible charm."
|