Do you know the way to Vezelay? Well, it leads to a great wine discovery in France and I, pumped up like a new WSET level 4 “expert,” was about to invite you to come along in the journey, only to be brought back to reality. As I learned from a little research. My discovery road trip was 40 years too late. I found that out when I opened a favorite book from my wine library.
In 1988 in his Adventures of the Wine Route Kermit Lynch described Vezelay as a then “freshly minted AOC capable of producing distinct, world-class Chardonnay.” Just to rub it in a little further, my discovery was a 2022 wine made by Domaine Montanet-Thoden. Kermit’s reference was to Vezelay wine “especially in the hands of a vigneron as talented as Valentin Montanet.” Same family of winemakers, just different generations.
Well, better late than never, or whatever cliche AI might use. Another point brought home to me when browsing through the Kermit Lynch book is how mechanical, predictable and boring a lot of wine reviews have become these days. Here’s how Lynch described the Vezelay Chardonnay: “This climate, a clay-and-limestone soil, and stainless-steel vinification are the pillars of Valentin’s Galerne Blanc, a divine rendition of pure, chiseled Chardonnay, bearing notes of orchard fruit, citrus, and oyster shells.”
a divine rendition of pure, chiseled Chardonnay.
Yep, he described the wine as “a divine rendition of pure, chiseled Chardonnay.” If this has caught your attention, you should try to get hold of the latest edition of Adventures of the Wine Route which is available from Amazon.
The writing style is so different from today’s wine ramblings. It was not only written in a different era in which Lynch was not shackled by the 100 point rating system but it is also written from the point of a view of a wine retailer, a wine merchant. A self-taught wine merchant who approaches visiting wine regions as an “adventure” no less. Not a SOMM, not a WSET holder, not an influencer.
Returning to Vezelay
And now back to Vezelay and what I learned. It is located south of Chablis and its winemaking goes back for centuries. The medieval village was an important resting place in pilgrimages. And of course, good pilgrims likely enjoyed the local wine. But the vineyards were pretty much wiped out by phylloxera, and it was not until the late 1970s that replanting was underway.
By 1985, the vineyards were still growing and they were merged into the Burgundy AOC. A few years later they were upgraded to the regional AOC of “Bourgogne-Vezelay.”
Montanet-Thoden, the producer that I “discovered,” was founded in 2000 by Catherine Montanet of Domaine de La Cadette in collaboration with Tom Thoden. Around that time they planted 6 hectares of Chardonnay and farmed them organically in Vezelay. Largely due to their efforts, Vezelay was granted AOC status in 2017.
The soils are said to have more clay than Chablis, but they still have a good amount of limestone for their minerality. Most of the Vezelay vineyards are planted along the higher elevations of the region. Montanet-Thoden Bourgogne Vézelay Blanc Le Galerne is the wine’s full identity, and “Le Galerne” refers to the wind that also helps define this appellation.
In a review posted in winereviewonline.com I gave Domaine Montanet-Thoden Bourgogne Vézelay Blanc Le Galerne 2022 which sells for $39 with a rating of 93.
Now I realize how impersonal any score is. But I did describe the wine as having oyster shell minerality, and wish I could have come up with “divine, pure chiseled Chardonnay.”
Norm Roby's Unfiltered Guide to Savvy Wine Shopping 