Bourgogne Blanc

Just as you can learn much from a restaurant’s house wine, you should also be able to judge a wine merchant by its own-label bottles, and we wouldn't put our name to anything which wasn't delicious to drink. Our range of Highly Dependable wines is just that: a marque that stands for reliable good value and taste.

A beautifully warm, dry summer enabled Jean-Luc Terrier and Christian Collovray to start picking their 2015 vintage exceptionally early. They have skilfully maintained a fresh approach to the fruit, which is full, vibrant and exciting this year. With white peach and summer flower notes, this classical White Burgundy is a delight to drink on its own or with a wide range of poultry, fish or lighter meat dishes.
A beautifully warm, dry summer enabled Jean-Luc Terrier and Christian Collovray to start picking their 2015 vintage exceptionally early. They have skilfully maintained a fresh approach to the fruit which is full, vibrant and exciting this year. With white peach and summer flower notes, this classical White Burgundy is a delight to drink on its own or with a wide range of poultry, fish or lighter meat dishes.
Jasper Morris M.W. - Wine Buyer

Fine, clear colour, this has a beautiful perfume right from the start. With light peaches, this is a seductively appealing Bourgogne Chardonnay.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

Pale lemon and lime in colour, this is attractively perfumed. There is lovely weight from the start, excellent acidity, lively and lovely. Very good length too, this is a great start to Mr Fichet’s line-up. 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. On these two pages we offer a selection of our favourite Bourgognes.

Half comes from below Meursault, Sous Lavelle and En Magny, half from Puligny, below Corvée des Vignes. Pale yellow, real concentration, very lively peach and fresh apricot. This fills out beautifully in the glass. 
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Jean-Baptiste reports hardly any hail damage in 2013 but the crop was nonetheless limited by cold damp weather at the flowering. He began picking on 26th September, with all the whites picked before the wet weekend. Malolactic fermentation took a little longer than usual but no real problems in the cellar. The wines will be bottled in December, or January for the Premiers Crus.

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. 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

Its fine, bright colour heralds an elegant bouquet: a perfect mix of fruit and gentle oaking. This is exuberant – perhaps even beguiling. Some old vines form the backbone of this cuvée, helping to provide the lovely mineral thread.

The progress we noted with the 2013 vintage here has been further developed with an excellent range of 2014 wines. Extra details apparent this year are the enhanced use of lees after racking and the minimal use of sulphur without risking oxidation. The Château de Puligny rises a further few notches up the ladder. Étienne de Montille notes that, in 2014, “there was super clean fruit and we could pick at leisure”. Fine and bright in colour, this has a lovely, elegant bouquet, a perfect mix of fruit and gentle oaking. Exuberant, perhaps even beguiling, some old vines form the backbone of this cuvée, helping to provide a lovely mineral thread.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

This is Javillier’s flagship cuvée of generic burgundy, bottled in October. It has an impressively fresh nose, with good weight of white and yellow fruit on the palate. Middleweight, lively acidity, very attractive.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

Patrick chose to begin early around 26 September in order to pick while the grapes were still healthy, the relatively high acidity encouraged him to stir the lees a little more than usual and the wines were racked into tank just before the new harvest, apart from the Corton-Charlemagne which is back in barrel.

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.

Fine and pale colour, expressing elegant and noble reduction. With lemony notes on the palate, and some lime blossom, this will develop beautifully over time. First class Bourgogne Blanc.
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer

There have been some changes in vinification this year, making the wines a little more Jean-Marc Roulot in style: the grapes are now crushed before pressing, there is less settling of the juice, very little new wood is used and the wines are racked into tank after a year but still kept on their lees. The grapes were picked during the last week in September. Overall, this is an excellent result for the team at Château de Puligny.

Ignore the frosted glass bottle, a misguided attempt by a traditional Burgundy grower to offer modern presentation. The wine inside is a delicious white Burgundy with immediately pleasing fruit supported by a touch of well judged oak.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer

From various sources in Beaune and the Hautes Côtes, this has a fine, pale colour, with a slight green tint. The nose has lovely, deliberate reduction woven in. There is attractive energy here, the fruit building very nicely to the back, with good, chiselled, crystalline verve. Excellent. 
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

The produce of 48- to 52-year-old vines and more importantly from the best plots on stony and marly soils, this has an impressive dramatic tension, mineral and linear with fresh lime notes at the back. Proper job. Drink 2018-2022.
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 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

The older vines here date back to 1937. A fine, pale colour with the faintest green tint, this has a juicy, grapey luscious nose, a real treat. With good acidity, it has a little bit of heat but stays fresh behind thanks to some racy lime-juice notes. 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. 

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.