Derived from a steep, clay-rich slope of 28% gradient just outside the Butteaux premier cru, Patrick Piuze’s 2023 Chablis La Butte "O" is showing well and soaring from the glass with aromas of acacia, peach, toasted nuts and pear. Medium to full-bodied, it’s giving and textural, laden with bright acidity and concluding with a long saline finish.
Domaine Patrick Piuze is a recently founded but highly rated négociant business in Chablis, Burgundy, producing wines from numerous quality level with the local and ubiquitous Chardonnay grape.
Patrick Piuze was born in Quebec, Canada, but from the age of 18 (and after a chance meeting with Marc Chapoutier in Banff ski resort) travelled around the world working in vineyards in Australia, South Africa and Israel. After a couple of years owning and running a wine bar in Montreal, he travelled to France and began a winemaking career, which included making Chablis for Olivier Leflaive and stints at Maison Verget and Jean-Marc Brocard.
His own winery was founded in 2008. Although no vineyards are owned by Piuze, fruit is purchased from contract growers, many with old vines, who are advised by him regarding viticultural processes. All fruit is harvested by hand, and, unusually, a vertical press is used rather than a pneumatic one.
Unusually Piuze produces multiple "village-level" Chablis AOC/AOP wines from different sites. These wines are mostly fermented and aged in tank.
Eleven Premier Cru wines and six Grand Crus are also released; these are fermented and aged in used oak barrels – avoiding wood first used in a warm vintage in case it adds tropical notes to the wine. Wines are bottled with a gentle clay filtration. In all 110,000 bottles are produced per year.
