Chevalier Montrachet 2017

This intense white offers smoky aromas and flavors, along with citronella, lime blossom, hazelnut, peach and buttered brioche notes. Creamy, featuring an aftertaste that lingers in a subtle, ethereal way. Best from 2021 through 2030. Michel Niellon has over 50 vintages of winemaking experience in Burgundy. Today he, along with his son-in-law Michel Coutoux and grandson Mathieu Bresson, manages 18 acres of vines in Chassagne-Montrachet. I find a particular floral character in his Chassagnes, and this is even more evident in the Domaine's Chevalier-Montrachet, a wine of great finesse and intensity. Its creamy texture and delicate flavors are never overpowered by new oak, and though this 2017 is harmonious enough to enjoy in its youth, the balance suggests it will repay 10 to 15 years in the cellar.

Score: 97

Bruce Sanderson, Wine Spectator Maturity: 2021-2030 13 November 2019

There are five barrels worth of the 2017 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru, a brilliant wine that unwinds in the glass with a complex bouquet of Meyer lemon, dried white flowers, beeswax, pear, toasted nuts and fresh mint. On the palate, it's full-bodied, satiny and strikingly concentrated, with a bright line of succulent acidity, a textural but weightless profile and a long, lingering finish. Vintage 2017 is a great success at Domaine Michel Niellon, where Niellon's son-in-law Michel Coutoux and his grandson Mathieu Bresson, now working in a new cuverie in the Zone Artisanale, are routinely producing wines of impressively consistent quality and style. Coutoux describes the vintage as "classic but charming, in the best traditions of Burgundy," a summation that I'm happy to endorse. The house fingerprint here is distinctive, with a touch of toasty oak from Saint-Romain's Tonnellerie Gillet marking each cuvée, and the wines dependably distinguishing themselves with lovely texture and concentration. These aren't the most incisive wines in Chassagne—I'd generally describe them as succulent rather than tangy—but they are beautifully balanced and hard to resist. Greater attention to dissolved oxygen and bottling practices bodes well, I hope, for their evolution in bottle. In 2017, the Clos Saint-Jean is a particular highlight, and the Chevalier-Montrachet is glorious: I purchased both for my own cellar. Readers expecting notes on the Bâtard-Montrachet will be disappointed, as the vines were ripped up after the 2015 vintage and the parcel is lying fallow, awaiting replanting. While I didn't taste the domaine's reds on this occasion, as they hadn't yet been bottled, I would be remiss if I didn't note that they're excellent examples of the appellation that are well worth seeking out by shrewd insiders: the 2015s, if you can still find them, are sure bets. In conclusion, this is a domaine in fine form today, and readers who have fallen out of touch with the wines are advised to reacquaint themselves with this excellent producer.

Score: 96

William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2020-2035 04 January 2019