2021 Bachelet-Monnot Maranges La Fussiere Rouge 1er Cru, Burgundy

A more elegant and admirably pure nose freely offers up its aromas of red cherry, plum and violet along with a more subtle touch of earth. There is again excellent vibrancy to the beautifully delineated medium-bodied flavors that flash both a subtle minerality and a beguiling finesse on the balanced finale. This is a really lovely effort that makes one feel like drinking it now, though it too has the stuffing to repay a few years of aging. Worth considering. Drink through 2026+.

90 points Allen Meadows burghound.com

The 2021 Maranges La Fussières 1er Cru Rouge was very complex to pick, the 5.5-hectares with ten different types of ripening depending on vine age and terroirs. It has a very mineral-driven bouquet, beautifully defined with more black fruit than the Clos de la Boutière. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp red fruit, a little leafy in style and sapid with a slightly peppery finish that might fool you into thinking there were stems in the blend (when in fact, they were too green to include this year). Drink 2024-2038.

91-93 points Neal Martin vinous.com

They now have an extra hectare in fermage, not pruned when the frost came so they made a full crop there. Rich powerful purple. The nose takes a little time but is predominantly a darker raspberry. A quality bouquet in fact, and a lovely very pretty raspberry and cherry fruit behind. Good persistence too. Drink from 2025-2028.

89-91 points Jasper Morris MW insideburgundy.com

La Fussière is the largest climat of Maranges (at the very south of the Côte de Beaune, next to Santenay), covering an area of almost 35 hectares. It has a south-facing exposure--directly facing the start of the Côte Chalonnaise--and lies on the slope at an altitude of between 290 and 400 metres. The Bachelet's vines cover 2.2 hectares with an average age of 60 years and eleven different parcels are blended to make this cuvée. This wine spent roughly 12 months in used casks and was then racked to cement vats where it rested for roughly six more months. The soils of this site are particularly rich in limestone and this gives the wine a lot of freshness and powdery grip, which beautifully balances the generous texture and fruit flavours of sweet plum and ripe cherry and anise. 

The Bachelet's aim has always been to craft finer, more aromatic reds from the Côte's southern reaches and the introduction of whole bunch vinification (20% in this cuvée) has helped. This has good structure but also plenty of delicious, fleshy fruit; it's absolutely outstanding for the commune and that makes it a total bargain.