Tasting the 2005 Blain-Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet

Recently, my husband opened this 2005 Blain Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet. The color of the wine was golden yellow in color and given it's age, suggestive of oxidation. On the nose it smelled of citrus and butterscotch. The taste of the wine was one of lemon curd and butterscotch. It reminded me of drinking an aged Kistler.
We had it with blackfish that our hunter gave us. It was the perfect foil for the wine which is now 18 years old.
The last time we drank this wine was in February, 2016, which might have been the perfect time for imbibing this Chardonnay.
In my previous blog, I didn't do any research into the background so this time I thought I would do a little Internet digging. I learned that the domaine ​was formed in 1980 when Jean-Marc Blain married Claudine Gagnard, of the Domaine Gagnard-Delagrange family.¹

On the Burgundy Report, I found this hand written geneology which traces the lineage of the Blain-Gagnard family.²
Currently, Jean-Marc and Claudine run this domaine with the help of their son Marc-Antonin. They now control 20.5 acres of vines in Chassagne-Montrachet, including holdings in three grands crus: Croits-Bâtard-Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet, and Le Montrachet.
The grand crus characteristics include: Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet (elegant, mineral, creamy, good length), Bâtard-Montrachet (broad, thick on attack, but tapering to a fine more taut finish), and Le Montrachet (very fine, detailed, rich, mineral and full, grand but discreet, with fine acidity).
This 2005 has grapes from Chassagne-Montrachet which lies towards the southern end of the Côte de Beaune. Les Caillerets is located at the southern end of the village and sits above Les Champs Gain at an elevation between 250 and 280 meters. The name “Caillerets” refers to the chalky soil found here which contributes to the elegance and finesse typical of wines from this site, and is from vines planted between 1954 and 1987.
My husband says that he has more of this wine so we need to drink it fast!
Reference:
1. Winebow: Domaine Blain-Gagnard.
2. Burgundy Report, Profile: Domaine Blain-Gagnard.
3. The Reserve: Domaine Blain-Gagnard.
4. Domaine Blain-Gagnard.