Bottled early September using screwcap, this has a fine pale colour with a faint green tint. It is soft and round yet with good acidity, very cheerful this year, a touch of pineapple, plump and agreeable. 
Jasper Morris, MW Burgundy Wine Director

Coming from the slightly less prestigious Hautes Côtes, this white Burgundy offers delicious value. There is a chalky, yoghurt-y edge to the nose, filled with citrus, greengage, honeysuckle and hints of green apple. A medium weight to the palate, there is refreshing acidity and a zesty finish.

Good energy levels here, there is vivid fresh fruit which hovers between white and yellow; a plump, rounded body; excellent length; and enough acidity behind. It finishes with a particularly good aftertaste, sunshine in a glass. Drink 2018-2020.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

With prices in Burgundy still rising, even if often for understandable reasons, the appellations Bourgogne Blanc and Bourgogne Rouge are great places to look for affordable wines. You get the opportunity to drink wine from a top winemaker, from vines which are adjacent to the famous villages, and which will be accessible earlier. The 2005 Bourgognes Rouges are still delicious and youthful more than 10 years later, but most wines have been drinking well for a few years now. 

From just over a hectare of vines above St Aubin, this is a lovely, energetic, mineral wine. The vineyard was untouched by frost (but did not escape in 2017). It’s refreshing, skinnier than a Chassagne, but Caroline’s composed hand is evident. Drink 2018-2020.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

Caroline Lestimé took over from her father, Jean-Noël Gagnard (b. 1926) in 1989, since which time she has fine-tuned the holdings, increasing the number of white wine cuvées by separating out each different vineyard. She has also planted new sites in the Hautes Côtes de Beaune to complement her range of Chassagne-Montrachet (including nine white and two red Premiers Crus) and Grand Cru Bâtard-Montrachet. Chassagne was badly hit by the spring frosts, especially in the vineyards above the village and towards Puligny. Nevertheless, this is an impressive result for Caroline and she was in ebullient form, despite the relative emptiness of her cellar, perhaps after the fecund volumes of 2017, just harvested. There is an amplitude about her wines this year, which matches the freshness of the vintage very well. Sadly, there is no Masures this year due to frost.

An impressively deep and brooding wine, this is made using whole bunches and without sulphur during vinification. Mid-purple in colour, with a brambly, juicy nose, this is very appealing. There is thick, ripe fruit on the mid-palate, black cherry, and – as always – a slightly smoky aspect. Powerful, brooding Burgundy.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

From their own vines, this year a blend of Cras and Avaux which yielded just 7hl/ha. The deep, dense purple colour gives a hint of the concentration of this wine, while 50 percent whole-bunch fermentation gives the fruit aromas a floral lift. It’s open and juicy, with ripe fruit and a hint of dark chocolate bitterness to the finish. Drink 2020-2028.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

In January 2002 Maison Camille Giroud was bought by an American consortium led by banker Joe Wender and winery-owner Ann Colgin, and a new chapter began. David Croix was installed as the winemaker/ technical director and tasked with a major revamping of the winemaking facilities and especially replacement and renewal of the old barrels to make wines in a much purer, more modern style. The company also owns 1.2 hectares of vineyards in and around Beaune. The 2016 vintage was a collaborative effort between the outgoing David Croix and his replacement, Carel Voorhuis, formerly of Domaine d’Ardhuy. The transition is a smooth one, with Carel’s gentle touch following on seamlessly from David’s elegant style. Carel described the 2016 vintage as lighter than 2015, with more elegance and better balance. It is clear he has a preference for 2016, highlighting the expressive, aromatic characteristics of the wines and calling them “ethereal”. He explained that it was important to avoid over-ripeness by picking in good time, and emphasised the value of gentle extraction to prevent obtaining hard tannins.

Orchis mascula is a type of orchid; all the wines in Claire's original low SO2 range carry the name of a flower. This has a wonderful delicate colour and a lovely floral scent. To preserve those floral notes from the whole-bunch pressing, there is no pumping over and hardly any punching down during fermentation, which also explains the light colour. This is not a powerful wine on the palate, but the delicacy of the fruit carries it. Drink 2019-2023.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

Since 1994, Claire Naudin, one of Henri Naudin-Ferrand’s three daughters, has been in charge of this small domaine based in the Hautes Côtes at Magny-lès-Villers, a village that sits astride the dividing line between Hautes Côtes de Beaune and Hautes Côtes de Nuits. Claire is relatively susceptible to sulphur and uses the product as little as possible. Her most exciting wines are those which are vinified with whole bunches (all the stems) and without sulphur, though some SO2 is added at bottling to ensure that the wines remain stable thereafter. Claire’s theory, which her wines bear out admirably, is that there is none of the harshness sometimes evident when the bunches are vinified with their stems if sulphur is not used. Instead a magical floral perfume emanates from the wine. Claire Naudin’s farm and winery may look ramshackle, but there’s an attention to detail here which is admirable. The rather old-fashioned look of her tanks and equipment seems to hark back to gentler times, and her wines certainly reflect that. The frosts were drastic here, and Claire lost 70 percent of her crop, and two 70-year- old parcels of Aligoté were completely destroyed. Previously Claire has made two ranges, one with more standard winemaking, but this year everything is made with low SO2.