This is exactly the kind of wine all of us will wish we’d snagged a few more of a couple years from now.  Here we are treated to that special ’17 charm, the controlled energy and poise that characterizes so many creatures of the vintage. The ’17s are more approachable, less hyperactive than the superb ‘14s, somehow gentler and more dulcet yet still saturated with energy.  Above all, ’17 is a vintage of transparency, very much in evidence in this textbook example of Chassagne.  Niellon has produced a villages with a cheerful generosity to the fruit and lovely suggestions of spring flowers that widen as the wine opens.  A meal-worthy wine, in fact tonight’s meal: Crab spaghetti with gremolata. - Jason

Michel Niellon is one of the great masters of Chassagne, working in his own distinct style. The wines certainly have a checkered past with prem-ox incidence but it seems we are clearly beyond that and are free to enjoy these delightfully hedonistic wines without fear. These are not whites for the faint of heart- they are boldly reductive and evince more than a little attractive new oak. No matter the vintage, with the domaine's old vines and low yields, the wines display a generosity of fruit and dry extract without lacking minerality or tension.

Chez Niellon fermentation begins in stainless steel before the wine is transferred to barrel with its lees for malolactic fermentation and maturation, seeing 20-30% new oak. There is no batonnage and no racking until bottling, typically leading to pronounced but pretty reduction. The 2017 Niellon Chassagne comes from parcels across the village and leads with orchard fruit and concentrated lime zest. There's immediate opulence on the palate with pear flavors around an energetic mineral core. This is Chassagne of the hedonistic and dramatic bent, and along with the brisk energy of '17 it is delectable. - Spencer

Vintage 2017 is a great success at Domaine Michel Niellon, where Niellon's son-in-law Michel Coutoux and his grandson Mathieu Bresson... are routinely producing wines of impressively consistent quality and style.  These aren't the most incisive wines in Chassagne—I'd generally describe them as succulent rather than tangy—but they are beautifully balanced and hard to resist. The 2017 Chassagne-Montrachet Village Blanc exhibits an attractive bouquet of green orchard fruit, toasted nuts and white flowers, followed by a medium to full-bodied, satiny and succulent palate with bright acids and a generous core of fruit. It's a lovely Chassagne that will drink well for a decade or more. - William Kelley, "The Wine Advocate"