Even though Kermit advertised a bottle of Meursault-Blagny in his very first newsletter and has championed this appellation in the five decades since, for a long time, the hamlet of Blagny, high on the hill above Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet, never quite garnered the same attention as the exalted sites along these villages’ lower slopes. A few decades ago, only some of the most curious vignerons made wine from Blagny’s vines, bordering the forest at the top of the hill. The grapes up there ripened later and less reliably than those down below. And as Kermit wrote about Jobard’s Meursault-Blagny in 1980, “It has some of the austerity of Chablis, and is always firmer, more reticent than other Meursaults when young.” Today, however, the tables have turned, and these vines are among the most coveted in Meursault and Puligny. This is in large part thanks to Blagny’s greatest proponent, Laurent Martelet, who has put the hamlet on the map over the last three decades. His domaine, Comtesse de Chérisey, is the specialist in Blagny’s incredible terroirs, serving most notably as the sole steward of the Genelotte premier cru.
     We are extraordinarily fortunate that such impressive land has fallen into the hands of such a rigorous and painstaking vigneron as Laurent. In the past few years, Laurent and his daughter Laurette, who recently joined him at the domaine, have performed extensive terroir studies, converted the domaine to be carbon-neutral, experimented with fava planting for better soil retention, committed themselves to sourcing wood for their barrels and vineyard stakes from the Bois de Blagny just above, and built birdhouses among the vines t0 foster more biodiversity. It is impossible for me to imagine better stewards, and of course all of this thoughtfulness translates to awe-inspiring whites and reds.