Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune, blanc AOC 2023

A Chardonnay from the heights, built cool and linear. Lime zest and cool herbs set the tone, underpinned by knife-sharp freshness and a dry, saline pull. At 13.0% vol., the wine stays light on its feet, with nothing about it aiming for opulence.

The Hautes-Côtes de Beaune lie on the heights west of the Côte de Beaune, and it's precisely this cooler elevated position that defines the wine. The Domaine Thomas-Collardot itself sits right in the middle of Puligny-Montrachet and farms 2.5 hectares, run by Jacqueline Collardot and her son Matthieu. The vines trace back to Jacqueline's grandfathers Henri Chavy and Maurice Thomas; her father Pierre Thomas worked them until 1992, before Jacqueline Collardot reclaimed the plots in 2010.

Gentle pressing, 24 hours of settling, then ageing in used 228-litre barrels that have already seen two to four fills. The wine rests for ten months on fine lees. Filtration is only light, no fining is carried out, and sulphur additions are kept to a minimum. Here the oak serves maturation, not flavour.

Lean, dry, with citrus peel and fine grain. The finish stays chalky, saline and long; buttered toast or vanilla are nowhere to be found.

Around 10,000 bottles a year from a cellar that has only been vinifying its own wine since 2015. Before that, the grapes were sold to négociants. Matthieu Collardot joined the estate in 2018.