2021 Benedicte et Stephane Tissot Arbois Chardonnay La Mailloche
  • 95
  • Biodynamic

2021 Benedicte et Stephane Tissot Arbois Chardonnay La Mailloche

$199. 00
Bottle
$2388.00 Dozen

Stéphane Tissot is a tireless and vigorous promoter of individual sites and natural wines. He brings technological experience from his work in Australia and South Africa, and combines this with his ruthless yield reduction philosophy and very serious 'small batch' winemaking which is carried out as naturally as possible. Tissot plants mostly on clay and limestone, all sites are farmed biodynamically and yields are kept low, averaging only 30 h/l per hectare. Ferments are allowed to commence naturally and the still wines are bottled without filtration and little or no SO2 is added across the board. Vibrancy and fruit presence is a signature across all his wines. Given Stéphane is constantly experimenting and obsessively seeking improvements; he is at the forefront of the Jura revolution and produces terroir-driven wines of depth, intensity, interest and undeniable quality.

La Mailloche has a gentle east aspect and very degraded soils of Liassic clay. Another wine with good firmness and seductive weight with some nice bitterness.

Other Reviews....
The bottled 2021 La Mailloche Chardonnay, from a vintage that was challenging for the grape, showed really well. It has a moderate 13% alcohol and is very clean, with no reduction. It was cropped from a very cold year with small yields and aged for two years in barrique. It has vibrant acidity and a citrus character, sharper and fresher. As a comparison, he uncorked a bottle from 2005, which showed a profile of older Chardonnay, with a golden color, reductive and flinty, very stony, super austere and chalky. It is incredibly savory and delicious, with the bitterness that gives freshness, even in a warm vintage. It's still fresh. Drink 2024-2032.
95 points
Luis Gutiérrez - Wine Advocate (Aug 09, 2024)