Always easy to pick out blind, and always a cut above the rest of the lineup, the peerless "Clos du Chateau de Montaigu" is the exception that proves the rule : in its uncanny Cote d'Or-like elegance, it both stands apart from the rest of Mercurey and reveals the heights the appellation is capable of at its apex. Oddly, the site faces northeast, in defiance of the usual prerequisites for greatness in Burgundy-but this less-sun-drenched exposition allows for a longer ripening cycle, and ensures a complexity and lift that sets it apart from its often more foursquare and plump Mercurey brethren.