Cellar Favorite: 2004 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Montrachet Grand Cru

BY NEAL MARTIN | MAY 19, 2025

The 2004 Montrachet Grand Cru from Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey is an elusive white Burgundy that amounts to one barrel, perhaps even less. Colin set out on his own from Domaine Marc Colin & Fils in 2005, so this constitutes one of his first vintages, when he bought fruit from the family domaine in order to bottle wine under his own label. Since the 2022 vintage, ownership has been legally separated between siblings, not that this makes a tangible difference in the wine in your glass. A friend from Florida generously offered this bottle of 2004 Montrachet at a casual dinner in Beaune during Hospices weekend last November. At two decades of age, it has a reticent nose at first, typical of many whites that season. It unfurls with red apples, hints of lanolin and dandelion, a little crushed stone in the background, though to be brutally honest, it never quite clicks into fifth gear like many of Pierre-Yves’ wines are prone to do. The palate is more impressive and demonstrates the width and depth one expects from this illustrious Grand Cru. Given the season in question, the 2004 does not quite deliver the complexity of the best vintages that I have encountered, and it’s a tad “curtailed” on the finish. Yet, like all great terroirs, the Montrachet responds to aeration in the glass, touches of chamomile and almond emerging almost timidly with time, so that after 20 or 30 minutes, you are smitten. Sure, it is a lovely Montrachet, though one that I feel has been surpassed by subsequent vintages. 92/Drink 2025-2040