Meursault Les Chevalières AOC 2023

A Meursault built on precision rather than richness: cool fruit, a taut line, and a minerality that no toasty note ever covers up. At village level, Les Chevalières delivers a wine with real depth that needs time to open up.

Les Chevalières is one of the lieux-dits from which Rémi Jobard draws his village wines, alongside Sous La Velle, Narvaux and En Luraule, each plot with its own profile. In total, the domaine farms nine hectares in Meursault, a little over two and a half of them at village level. Synthetic fertilisers and pesticides disappeared from the vineyards in 1994, herbicides in 1998. The rows are worked by hand, cover-cropped and left unfertilised, and cordon pruning keeps yields low.

Chardonnay. Pressing takes at least six hours, up to twelve for grapes picked in the afternoon, capturing only the finest must, free of bitterness and harsh phenols. The wine then ages for around 15 months in 600-litre barrels from the Austrian cooper Stockinger, built from French, Austrian and Slavonian oak: a larger volume means less wood contact per litre and a slower oxygen exchange. Only about a fifth of the barrels are renewed each year. This is followed by a rest in tank, and the wine is bottled unfiltered, with stability coming from two winters of ageing.

Taut and clearly defined, carried by vivid acidity and a fine texture. Green apple and lemon, alongside white flowers, hazelnut and a hint of brioche. The finish is long and saline, with the oak spice staying in the background.

Sole in beurre blanc, coquilles Saint-Jacques or lobster, as well as light poultry in creamy sauce, mushroom risotto and aged Comté.

13.5% vol., dry. Two large-format presses allow for the long pressing times at minimal pressure, with ageing taking place in the domaine's historic vaulted cellars.