Bourgogne Côte d'Or "La Monatine" AOC 2023

A Chardonnay built on transparency: clean contour, vibrant energy, salty depth. Nothing about this wine is masked — the reduction remains a subtle background note, leaving the fruit to take centre stage.

The domaine is based in Meursault and farms 12.6 hectares with parcels in Meursault, Volnay and Pommard, expanded in the 1960s by grandfather Hubert. Ageing takes place in historic 18th-century cellars originally built for the Hospices de Beaune. Pierre-Henri Rougeot's credo: "There can be no good wine from bad soil."

Single-varietal Chardonnay. The grapes are hand-harvested, with tractors used only minimally in the vineyard. Fermentation starts spontaneously with native yeasts, and ageing takes place in 228-litre Burgundy barrels with a deliberately low proportion of new oak. Pierre-Henri Rougeot forgoes both bâtonnage and the addition of sulfur during ageing; the decision on sulfiting at bottling is made depending on the vintage. The wine is neither fined nor filtered.

Green apple and ripe lemon carry the opening, underpinned by a chalky minerality. The acidity keeps the wine taut, with a long, salty finish.

With pan-fried turbot in lemon butter, scallops, oysters, or poultry breast in morel cream sauce.

In 2016, Pierre-Henri Rougeot ended his father Marc's supermarket wine business and redirected the domaine toward quality wines, biodynamic farming and sulfur-free ageing. The trigger was recurring premox in certain parcels. The diagonally striped labels identify these cuvées.