La Chassornade Sparkling White 2021

La Chassornade Sparkling White 2021

Fréderic Cossard

This beautiful golden yellow color catches the eye; you pour yourself a small glass and suddenly you wake up. It sparkles, it's fresh, it's full of flavor and joie de vivre, and you could consider La Chassornade a festive wine if you didn't have a furious desire to drink it on any occasion, especially without an excuse or a word from your parents. It is, in short, a magnificent expression of the Aligoté grape variety in sparkling mode: floral, citrusy, taut, fresh, and mineral. It's also a natural sparkling wine that demonstrates the creativity of its winemaker. Aligoté was the first white grape variety in Burgundy—well before Chardonnay—and it deserves to regain its former glory. Vinifying it as a natural sparkling wine isn't a bad idea, quite the opposite: the grape's rounded, pleasant, and fruity notes (lemon and white grapefruit) stand out elegantly. Absolutely delicious. The grapes were harvested near Puligny-Montrachet, from vines that are around forty years old. The harvest is directly pressed, and bottling is done in the clear, without disgorging. Fermentation and aging take place in the bottle for around ten months. Native yeasts, no added sulfites, no additives. Remember to keep the bottle chilled in an upright position for twenty-four hours before tasting so that the lees remain at the bottom.

To find out more
Through his entirely natural work, Frédéric Cossard gives voice to the terroirs and Burgundy wines, undeformed by agricultural chemicals. Having observed, during his years of trading, the existence of harmful wine-growing practices, the winemaker used this counter-example to practice unadulterated viticulture. Thus, he produces vintages of purity and elegance without artifice that are among the most sought-after in Burgundy. Frédéric worked for some time as a wine broker before creating the  domaine de Chassorney with his partner Laure in 1996: initially a few ares of vines in Saint-Romain, Auxey-Duresses and Savigny-lès-Beaune, and currently ten hectares spread across the Nuits-Saint-Georges, Pommard, Volnay, Bourgogne-Hautes-Côtes-de-Beaune and Bourgogne appellations. In 2006, he created his own wine trading house and buys organic grapes to vinify, according to his style and convictions, great vintages such as Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, Pommard, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée and several Beaujolais crus. The exercise is not limited to Burgundy, as vintages are made from grapes purchased in the Jura, Languedoc, or elsewhere. At his place, the work of the soil and the vines is done as naturally as possible: regular plowing by horse, no addition of chemical fertilizers or weedkillers. The vines are cared for according to the principles of biodynamics: homeopathic treatments based on essential oils, copper, and sulfur in minimal doses. The harvest is entirely manual, carried out at full maturity, at the end of October. Red or white, classic Burgundies or more atypical or less "regional" bottles, Frédéric's vintages are rare and sought-after wines, which sometimes require waiting.