Yields are about half the usual across the domaine, and similar results for Puligny-Montrachet in 2024. The 1er Cru les Folatieres in En la Richarde, a lieu-dit of Les Folatières, from Domaine Sauzet was no exception and with which was cool and rainy, and thus carried a high risk of mildew, resulted in significant fruit loss in vineyards on flat terrain. However, the Côte de Beaune region was able to weather the situation well thanks to slightly drier conditions and better flowering. Resulting in the 2024 vintage achieving good ripeness where Benoît Riffault chose not to chaptalize the 1er and Grand Cru wines.
Vibrant citrus aromas and notes of ripe orchard fruit are immediately apparent, with stony nuances underlying them. Silky smooth yet firm, with a rich yet solid structure, it leaves a clean and long finish. It is best enjoyed between 2030 and 2040, and it is more suitable to let it age in the cellar rather than serving it young.
Benoît Riffault oversees a 15-hectare vineyard and crafts the wine, practicing organic cultivation in the vineyards. The harvest is done by hand. No chaptalization was performed on this wine, which is significant given that this level of ripeness was achieved in a cool year. Aging takes place in 228-liter Burgundian oak barrels and larger vessels, including foudres, so the oak aromas subtly permeate the wine in the background rather than dominating the profile. The Premier Cru and Grand Cru wines are racked to tank in July or August before the new vintage, where they age on the lees for up to six months prior to bottling.
Robert Parker (94)
The 2024 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières En la Richarde opens in the glass with a generous bouquet of ripe citrus fruits, peach, toasted nuts and honey. Medium- to full-bodied, satiny and suave, it's deep and layered, with a pleasing sense of completeness and a long finish.
Benoît Riffault presides over this 15-hectare Pulingy-Montrachet reference point, and his 2024s have turned out very nicely. Opting not to chaptalize, with the exception of the Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune, the wines are pure and precise, with increasing texture and density as one ascends the appellation hierarchy. But what are the rudiments of winemaking at this address today? Hand-harvested fruit is pressed without crushing, the press cycle lasting around three and a half hours and performing "quite a few" rotations to crumble the marc. The must is sulfited at the end of the press and settled for 24 hours, but Riffault retains most of the lees, fermenting in wood with ambient yeasts. Larger formats, including foudres, now complement 228-liter Burgundian barrels. The wines are racked to tank in July-August before the new vintage, whereas the premiers and grands crus spend as much as six months on their lees before bottling. All of Sauzet's wines are bottled with high-quality unbleached natural cork.
Vinous (95)
The 2024 Puligny-Montrachet les Folatières En la Richards 1er Cru was an absolute knockout last year. This vintage is definitely impressive with fine tension and mineralité
Sauzet was one of my first visits during my six-week “marathon” of tastings. “The 2024 vintage is the opposite of previous hot vintages," winemaker Benoît Riffault told me in their swish tasting room overlooking a sea of yellow and ochre leaves across Puligny. “The hardest thing was fighting the mildew and keeping the cover crops under control amidst the rain. We are organic in the vineyard, so it is more challenging. It is a cooler vintage like in the past. It has purity. The wines are medium-bodied and I am pleased with their freshness. It was crazy during the season as we lost a lot of fruit in the flatter areas due to mildew. We began picking on September 12. It is close to half a normal crop, around 28 hl/ha with around 12.5% potential alcohol. I didn’t want to hold off the picking as I felt it was ripe, plus I wanted to preserve purity of fruit. There was a very little amount of chaptalisation on the regional wines but none for the Puligny cuvées. The wines are raised in used barrels, foudres and some 600-liter barrels as usual. Though it was a different kind of growing season, the resulting wines are not dissimilar to the 2023s and they seem to have natural balance.”
Jasper Morris (95)
Pale colour with a faint lime streak. Plenty of tension, more a limestone feel, perhaps less ripe, evidently a little stricter. Quite generous fruit on the palate, even a suggestion of bacon fat, and notable length. This is one of the more backward wines in the stable, but with potential. Needs time.
