Bourgogne Blanc

Once again we have worked with our trusted friends Jean-Luc Terrier and Christian Collovray to create this delicious expression of mineral Burgundian Chardonnay. With delicate floral aromas, the palate abounds with vibrant citrus and peach fruit, finishing on a subtle, smoky note thanks to well-judged oak. An excellent aperitif, a fresh, crisp profile makes this an ideal match for salads, seafood and lighter meat dishes.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

This year there is 30 percent village wine in the blend. Clear and bright in colour, it has a few attractive lemony notes. There’s some soft fruit but it’s nicely balanced, a more interesting wine than before. It displays high quality fruit and excellent nervous tension. 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. 

The Bourgogne Les Sétilles is always an excellent example of classic white Burgundy from a top name in Puligny-Montrachet. The sunny 2015 vintage has added a touch more ripeness to the restrained stone fruit flavours, which are a perfect match to this wine’s chiselled, elegant profile. Juicy apricot and white peach flavours are interwoven with chalky citrus notes and hints of subtle, smoky, vanilla oak.
Something of a calling card for Olivier Leflaive, Les Sétilles makes up around a third of the production of the estate. It is produced from around 60 plots spread over 35 hectares, located mostly in Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet, with a small amount of Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Hautes Côtes de Nuits and Côte Chalonnaise to add freshness and energy. Two thirds of the wine was fermented in oak barrels and matured in oak, a small amount of which (15 percent) was new. The remaining third was fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks to preserve freshness. After 10 months everything was transferred to tanks to marry together and add some tension.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

Although it has vines up to 80 years old, the vineyard used to be an orchard, so cannot claim Puligny village status. The fruit was harvested on 18th September, then went into 600-litre barrels (10 percent new) and stainless steel. The resultant wine carries the village character with minerality over body or obvious fruit – austere in an appropriate way. A neat and purposeful wine. Drink 2019-2021.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

The Château de Puligny-Montrachet was a slumbering force until finally being awoken by the arrival of Étienne de Montille in time to oversee the 2001 vintage. Under Étienne, yields have been drastically reduced and the wines are handled much more sympathetically in the cellar so that the quality of the fruit dominates the oak. In 2012 Étienne and investors purchased the property and have radically reformed the estate, dropping unsuitable vineyards, converting to organic (and indeed biodynamic) farming, and further improving the winemaking. It was a successful vintage here in terms of quality, under the eye of cellar master Brian Sieve. He recounts how the lower slopes of Puligny-Montrachet and the Bourgogne Blanc vineyards on the plain escaped nearly all the frost, but the lower Meursault vineyards were almost entirely affected. For Château de Puligny-Montrachet, this is a good vintage – maybe lacking the flesh of a truly great year, but equally delicious in its accessibility. Not all the vineyards suffered, but there were, nevertheless, some serious reductions in certain sites.

From vineyards below Meursault and Puligny, In bottle since September. This is completely beautiful, a lovely expression of fruit, with just the right amount of flesh, absolute precision, very electric. It’s hard to envisage a better example.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director This is sourced from vineyards below Meursault and Puligny, and has been in bottle since September. The wine is completely beautiful – a lovely expression of fruit, with just the right amount of flesh and absolute precision. It’s electric. It is hard to envisage a better example.

Production of the Dominique Lafon wines has now moved to large cellars at the Château de Bligny, providing much better working conditions than previously. As a result of the hail, there is unlikely to be any village Volnay or Beaune Épenottes for us to offer. However, Dominique has found an excellent source of Beaune Vignes Franches this year to make up part of the shortfall. This cuvée apart, all the vineyards are managed by the Les Héretiers du Comte Lafon viticultural team, using the same methods. Starting this year, the wines will all be bottled using Diam30 corks.

Lovely, pure, fine colour, this is much more elegant than Patrick’s Les Forgets cuvée. It is a wine of grace and definition, but still with suitable flesh. Really fine balance, the 2014 is terrific. Very persistent indeed.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

From vines below Meursault and Puligny, this is bottled before the next harvest. Pale in colour, the wine has fine, crisp, energetic fruit. Medium-bodied, with white fruit and greengage, this is a tribute to Benjamin’s exceptional skills. 
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

Two-thirds comes from below Puligny and the rest from below Meursault. This is a refreshing 12.5 percent alcohol wine with very pretty floral notes yet still some flesh on the bones. It’s light on its feet yet very persistent. Drink 2017-2019.
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. 

Grown in two plots, half below Meursault and half below Puligny, the wine has a fine, pale lemon colour. It’s very elegant and stylish, with pure and delicious fruit. Good fresh acidity; poised and balanced. Drink 2018-2019.
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. On these two pages we offer a selection of our favourite Bourgognes.

Bright, pale yellow. Lemon, lime, white flowers and minerals on the musky but pure nose. Dry but ripe and easygoing, offering good clarity to the supple flavors of apple and white flowers.
Stephen Tanzer - Vinous, May 2015

This cuvée is a tribute to Olivier’s uncle, Vincent Leflaive, and made exclusively from vineyards in Puligny, 80 percent of which are domaine -owned. A wine of real energy with wonderful finesse and purity, it is no exaggeration to call this a mini-Puligny. There is a sizzling, crackling freshness to this wine, along with a remarkable complexity which points to a promising future. Drink 2018-2022.
Adam Bruntlett, Wine Buyer

After studying at business school, Olivier Leflaive headed to Paris to live a rather bohemian life during the 1970s, working in music and television. He returned to Burgundy in 1981 to manage Domaine Leflaive with his uncle Vincent and later his cousin Anne-Claude. Having long-aspired to work for himself, he set up his own négociant business in 1984 and, upon leaving the family domaine a decade later, he gave 15 years’ notice that he would take back his share of the family vines from 2009. Experienced winemaker Franck Grux now makes between 85 and 90 different cuvées, vinifying the equivalent of 120 hectares, of which 17 are estate. The focus here is on elegance and finesse over power. Winemaker Franck Grux is very pleased with the quality of the 2016 vintage, although he explained that the frost damage caused grapes to ripen at different times, which required a great deal of patience and necessitated extending the harvest to three weeks, as opposed to the normal two. The Puligny vineyards were relatively lucky in terms of frost damage, giving good yields. Franck explained that he carried out more lees stirring in 2016 than in 2015 to give the wines more weight, feeling that 2016 is a vintage with comparatively modest body and ripeness. Unless otherwise stated, all wines are domaine.

Blended from vineyards below Meursault (old vines) and Puligny, this superb White Burgundy has a lovely perfume, more Puligny than Meursault in style. Really heightened exciting aromatics and fruit which dances across the palate. Marvellous wine from a master winemaker.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

The 2013 vintage was another very difficult vintage to manage, with a heavily reduced crop after the hail, but unlike in 2012 Dominique has at least been able to make all his appellations. The wines were at a backward stage when tasted in October but with really exciting potential.

Dominique has produced a vibrant, bouncing, exuberant Bourgogne Blanc with great energy, lovely yellow plum fruit, in perfect balance. All in all a superb Bourgogne Blanc.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

2012 is the fifth vintage of Dominique Lafon’s own private domaine. As elsewhere quantities are tiny – indeed we shall have no Premier Cru Volnay Les Lurets to offer this year, as the small production has gone back to the owners to cover their fixed rent according to the fermage agreement. We only have a handful of cases of the other wines, excepting the superb Bourgogne Blanc, which escaped the hail. We anticipate a redesigned label for the 2012 vintage.

Presenting itself with a fine clear and pale colour, with just a little touch of oak on the nose, this wine shows exceptional class throughout. There is plenty of fresh acidity here but it is seamlessly integrated into the flesh of the fruit.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

Arnaud Ente is always one of the first to pick. His meticulous vineyard work and low yields encourage early ripeness, so in 2010 he could start on 15th September. The yield is much the same as 2008 and Arnaud notes similar acidity readings, but with much more flesh on the palate and finer aromatics. The label has also been fine-tuned this year and is now exceptionally handsome. Overall, these are breath-taking wines.

With a lovely suave nose, this exemplary Bourgogne Blanc is undeniably pretty, yet shows very good weight for a generic Burgundy. It is very pure and possesses an excellent, fine long finish too.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

Antoine Jobard started picking on Sunday 19th September and hurried through so as to finish before the rains, announced for the following Friday, arrived. The wines have the same concentration as in Franois Jobards time but a greater purity. There is little emphasis on new oak, with an average of 20% new barrels across the range, leaving the wines to speak for themselves. Everything was fully ripe in 2010 but nothing exceeded 13.3% alcohol, so the balance is certainly there.

Dominique has supplemented his own vineyard fruit with carefully selected purchases this year, as while the Puligny plot was relatively unscathed, his vines in Meursault were badly frosted. This is nice and juicy, with good citrus freshness and a pleasing thread of acidity which gives surprising length and complexity. A lot of bang for one’s buck. Drink 2018-2020.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

From 2008 Dominique Lafon decided to make a few wines under his own label, separate from the family domaine (Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon). Though this new company has the official status of a négociant, almost all the wines are in fact domaine bottlings from vineyards which Dominique either owns or has the contract to farm. The wines are now vinified, matured and bottled in extensive cellars at the Château de Bligny-lès-Beaune. Dominique is delighted with the quality of the wines in 2016, praising their elegance, quality of tannins and fresh fruit profile. In his opinion the wines are as good as, but different to, 2015, explaining that – analytically – many of this year’s wines are no higher in acid than last year, but the slightly less rich character gives them a fresher feel. Unfortunately volumes are disappointing for many cuvées and there are only two commercially available red wines this year due to the frost, meaning that Dominique owed the vineyard owner more in grapes than he produced.

From the Puligny side of the generic land, which was frosted, but not heavily, this carries 35 percent new oak and has a defined, clear Puligny style, with tight fruit and a kernel of nuttiness. Neatly made, it has substance for a Bourgogne Blanc – indeed, it’s as good as a village Puligny at other addresses. Drink 2019-2021.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

The Javilliers have been involved in the wine business for generations as courtiers. When Patrick started out in 1974 this was the main source of his income, alongside which he worked three hectares of vineyards. His courtier days are now long behind him, and his domaine covers nine hectares. Recently, Patrick has been joined by his daughter Marion and her brother-in-law Pierre- Emmanuel Lamy. Patrick is not far away from 50 vintages; Marion is now making the estate’s red wines, and Pierre-Emmanuel largely does the whites – not that Patrick is taking a back seat. As always, conversation with him is peppered with observations; indeed he has been closely involved in the discussions to create a new generic Côte d’Or appellation, a move that would appear to now just need a rubber stamp. There wasn’t too much frost damage here and harvesting began on 20th September; Patrick observes that the character of the vintage is one that can take a bit more bâtonnage than usual.

Around half of the crop was lost to frost, so once again there is significant concentration here. The fruit is arguably of a riper profile than the straight Bourgogne, with more white peach; although there is a really saline acid backbone to the wine which gives the sort of austerity favoured by Burgundy purists. An excellent wine which needs time. Drink 2019-2024.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

Fichet’s big step forward came in 2000 when he moved the whole operation to splendid cellars at Le Creux du Coche by the Hôpital de Meursault. Jean-Philippe is looking for purity in his wines. He deals mostly with lieux-dits in Meursault with just one Premier Cru in Puligny. Constantly experimenting and refining, his wines have real definition and individuality, with the individual terroirs clearly exposed. The wines are raised in barrel for the first year, using larger demi- muids for the lesser appellations, then assembled in tank. A maximum of 30 percent new oak is used on any cuvée. It is hard not to be infected by Jean- Philippe’s enthusiasm and positivity. Despite being 40 percent down in 2016, he remained upbeat, explaining that he sees the variability of vintages as part and parcel of a vigneron ’s lot. The losses could have been much worse, but the domaine is equipped with candles which protect against frost and they work hard in the vines to keep grass low to reduce the risk of frost damage. He declared himself happy with the quality, but feels it is a vintage which will require patience on the part of the consumer, as many of the wines will be more austere in youth than those of 2015.

This comes from the five hectares immediately in front of the château, a park until it was planted in 1986. Brian did not use any SO2 until after the malolactic fermentation, and the wine is only aged in minimum 500-litre barrels. The whites are very good at this address this year, with this a lovely, juicy and pulpy introduction to the range. Drink 2020-2024.

Winemaker Brian Sieve draws comparisons between the white wines of 2017 and 2014, explaining that the texture, weight and freshness are very similar in both years, although 2017 has perhaps a little more fruit ripeness, along with excellent tension and persistence. He believes that this same freshness and brightness in the reds will provide ageing capacity, pointing out that they worked hard to restrict the yield of Pinot Noir to achieve riper grapes. Overall slightly less whole-bunch fermentation was used as Brian felt the stems and fruit were not as ripe as in richer vintages.

Volumes are about half of last year’s, as the plot in Meursault suffered from frost, with just one barrel made from 0.6 hectares. The wine has a gorgeous, marine character to the nose, while the palate is nicely balanced between juicy citrus fruit and fresh, restrained minerality that gives a saline finish.  Drink 2019-2022.


After the famine of 2016, this year is something of a feast, at least in the case of the reds. Sadly, the whites, which Dominique praises as having excellent clarity, are in slightly smaller volumes than 2016. The good news is that the full range of red wines has been made, and in good volume too. Dominique is effusive in his praise for the 2017 reds, describing them as appealing, with beautiful balance, a lightness of touch, refined tannins and a floral character with stunning red fruit.

The blend for this wine is typically an equal split of vineyards below Meursault and below Puligny, but frost damage in Meursault means the balance is closer to 70:30 in favour of Puligny. The resultant wine has a good weight of citrus fruit and pleasing saline minerality. The predominance of Puligny seems to give greater finesse and tension to the wine. Drink 2020-2022.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

The Bouzereau clan is widespread in the village of Meursault, with Domaine Michel Bouzereau at the forefront. Jean-Baptiste Bouzereau, Michel’s son, is now in sole charge. He moved to a purpose-built winery in 2009 which has made the winemaking a great deal easier to manage and has enabled Jean-Baptiste to refine his style towards greater purity as well as more substance. The wines are racked after 11 months, with the better village Meursaults and all the Premiers Crus being returned to barrel for additional ageing, before bottling early the following year. Jean-Baptiste explained that frost was more of a problem in the lower-lying Grands Charrons vineyard than Tessons and the Premiers Crus which sit on the slope. Overall he is around a third down on a normal year, mainly in the lesser appellations. Harvest began on 22nd September for the whites, and took place in good conditions. He feels that 2016 is a vintage which will appeal to Burgundy lovers, and one which shows each terroir with great clarity.