Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Hameau de Blagny

When Jean-Marc Boillot withdrew his share of the Sauzet vineyards in the early 1990s, the family was forced to rebuild through new acquisitions and a deliberate négociant arm — the Hameau de Blagny cuvée exists precisely because of that post-1991 reconstruction, blending estate-grown fruit with purchased Premier Cru grapes to maintain quality consistency across short-crop vintages. Hameau de Blagny sits at the northern edge of Puligny-Montrachet, where the slope climbs toward Meursault and the argilo-calcaire soils carry a higher proportion of active limestone, lending the wine a chalky, tensile minerality distinct from the richer clay-dominant plots lower on the hill. Fermentation proceeds in French oak casks at 18–20°C, driven by indigenous yeasts in most years; Premier Cru cuvées receive 20–33% new oak and spend approximately 12 months in barrel, followed by a further six months on lees in stainless-steel tank before bottling in February–March. That 18-month total lees contact — unusually long for Puligny — builds textural weight without surrendering the site's structural precision. The transgression here is structural: Sauzet cannot legally label this wine Domaine because of its négociant component, yet the quality discipline applied is identical to its fully estate-grown cuvées. The 2015 vintage delivered exceptional natural ripeness and concentration across the Côte de Beaune; at Premier Cru level, the wines carry the density to reward cellaring well into the late 2020s.