Bader Mimeur Bourgogne Dessous Les Mues Blanc 2021

Way back when, every little town in Burgundy had a duke. And of course, if you were a duke, you needed a chateau. And if you were a French, Catholic, duke (they go hand in hand in this locale) you’d also need gobs of wine. But not just any wine – the best wine from the best parcels in your town so you can impress all your little neighboring lordlings. So what do you do?

Historically, the dukes of Burgundy would ask the monks or peasants, “Who is farming the best vineyards and making the best wine?” Once this information was in hand, the dukes would appropriate that land for themselves, enclose it in a stone wall, and put a chateau at the top of the vineyard. Hence, almost every town in Burgundy has (or had) a “Clos du Chateau” vineyard. Literally an enclosed vineyard – Clos – with a Chateau at the top. And usually, it was once of the best vineyards in the town. Which brings us to today’s winery, with its long name and delicious wine.

Through a long line of good fortune, mishaps, peculiarities of French inheritance law and marriages, this family, the Bader-Mimeurs, farms vineyards in Chassagne Montrachet, including 98% of the Clos de Chateau Chassagne Montrachet. Just to make this story more complicated in a very French manner, curiously enough, someone else owns the Chateau du Chassagne Montrachet. Because someone else owns the chateau, they get to call their wine Clos du Chateau, even though they farm only 2% of the vineyards within the Clos! Yep, Burgundy is complicated.

What I am driving at with this epistle: If you’re willing to fight through all the complications, there is great wine to be had. The Bader-Mimeur family is deeply respected in Chassagne Montrachet for the farming work that they do. They farm the Clos du Chateau, one of the most respected vineyards in Chassagne Montrachet. And now here comes the Waterford switcheroo – this vineyard, the Dessous les Mues, lies just a stone’s throw away (across the street, essentially) and through and through is top-quality Chassagne Montrachet:

Aromas of mayflower, acacia, and honeysuckle blend with verbena, hazelnut, honey and ripe pear. On the palate, it shares the broad shoulders and dense texture of Chassagne with a fleshy attack and energetic drive. Its finish offers a profound sense of persistence and flinty minerality. This is an utterly serious contender, and it deserves your attention.

We got a tiny parcel of this wine for the first time in Wisconsin. Don’t miss it!