Chablis

Domaine Adhémar et Francis Boudin

Adhémar, now 90, is a known 'personnage', never short of a story. He was in the leading group of the pioneering growers who cleared scrub and planted some of the original Chablis vineyards. It was hard, and he only stopped keeping cows alongside ('if you didn't have a cow or two you died of hunger') in the mid 1950s. It is astonishing to think that the Premiers Crus were only defined in 1975. Francis Boudin continues to make wines that are, for Chablis, rich and yellow gold, fatly concentrated, unoaked and pure, with a mildly buttery edge rounding out that minerally, stony ethereal Chablis character. These are wines which can be consumed with enormous pleasure in their first year after the harvest, or kept (even the simple Chablis) for several years. The 2010s are still on the opulent house style, but as always there's a streak of stony mineral that is so Chablis, creamy yet pure, with an extra energy and minerality in the 'Homme Mort'. Adhémar was the first to bottle this macabrely-named Premier Cru separately, (it is usually sold as part of la Fourchaume) after a geologist confirmed his belief that it closely resembled the soil structure and exposition of the Grands Crus. The name is as a result of the discovery, when the vines were originally planted, of the body thought to be that of an English soldier from the hundred years’ war.

Full nose, open and with a creamy suppleness, then the mineral kicks in. Mildly saline feel, fresh and expressive.

Very full, as well as bright and mineral. Sappy and long with real weight and compact texture.

Côte Chalonnaise

Domaine Paul et Marie Jacqueson

The adventurous and sportif Paul Jacqueson makes wines of impeccable quality, when not climbing in the Himalayas, close indeed to their much more expensive cousins on the Côte d'Or. His daughter Marie now looks after much of the winemaking. We have a particular fondness for the whites, and especially the Pucelle, which is a model of what a great Rully can be year after year.

From vines planted in 1992 and 1993. A mixture of limestone and clay. This is just so delightfully sleek. Smoothly, stonily mineral with delightful strain of sweet fruit. As always it is Puligny-like. Excellent.

Côte d'Or

Domaine Hubert Lamy

Olivier Lamy, a gifted winemaker, has built on the solid foundations his father Hubert prepared with twenty years and more of work in the vineyards. The reputation of the domaine is now made, but the Saint Aubins, both red and white, remain some of the bargains of Côte d'Or, and challenge the supposed superiority of the grander villages on a regular basis, both in terms of young and mature wines. His winemaking style and preference is to privilege the fresh and the mineral side of his wines, and he is now down to a mere 10% of new wood, and that is with the wines in 600 litre demi-muids rather that the classic Burgundy fût.

Filtered the day before I tasted, but not really showing any ill-effects. Very pale, very fresh and pure, a sense of more limestone power, dry and with serious intent. Quite a cool crystalline expression, with a tiny touch of bitterness which adds interest to the structure.