94pts Wine Advocate – 2017 vintage

From a 1.2-hectare site that’s rich in white marl and catches the evening sun, the 2017 Mercurey 1er Cru Les Champs Martin is a great success, offering up a classy bouquet of fresh peach, dried white flowers, wheat toast and anise. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, broad and multidimensional, with an elegantly textural attack, immense concentration and chalky structuring extract, concluding with a long and chalky finish. It’s planted at a density of 14,000 vines per hectare, which no doubt helps to explain its quality. As I’ve written before, anyone who’s skeptical about the potential of the Côte Chalonnaise should taste this superb cuvée and reconsider their opinion. Bruno Lorenzon’s exceptional wines continue to expand the parameters of the possible in the Côte Chalonnaise, shattering the glass ceiling that’s typically imposed upon the wines of Mercurey. His 2017 portfolio is a worthy successor to his 2016 collection, delivering whites of breathtaking purity that stand out for their weightless concentration and reds that display the effortlessness that only comes with a top winemaker at the peak of his powers. As I wrote last year, Lorenzon’s vines are trained higher than his neighbors’ and farmed organically—something that’s still very rare in this appellation. Yields are routinely a mere fraction of his neighbors’. And in the cellar, attention is paid to every detail to safeguard the wines’ finesse and precision. All that’s the fruit of continuous hard work.

93pts Decanter– 2017 vintage

 Champs Martin is Bruno Lorenzon’s stoniest, most limestone-rich vineyard, planted with a high-density 14,000 vines per hectare. Racy and refreshing, this has aromas of white pepper and citrus that segue into a palate of cinnamon oak spice and tangy acidity. Drinking Window 2020 – 2024