Monthelie 1er Cru Les Champs Fulliots AOC 2023

A Chardonnay poised between two poles: mineral austerity and sublime complexity. In the glass, pale straw yellow with green highlights. The nose remains reduced at first and seems almost stony and rugged, then reveals layer upon layer of green apple skin, lime zest, nashi pear, anise and wild fennel, framed by a saline breeze.

Les Champs Fulliots is a Premier Cru site in Monthelie. The vines stand at a relatively high altitude, around 250 to 300 meters, facing southeast. Domaine Rémi Jobard in Meursault has forgone synthetic fertilizers and pesticides since 1994, and herbicides since 1998; the rows are worked by hand and cover-cropped, and cordon pruning limits yields.

Pure Chardonnay, carefully hand-harvested. Pressing is slow and carried out at the lowest possible pressure over many hours: at least six for grapes picked in the morning, often twelve for those harvested in the afternoon. Fermentation starts spontaneously with native yeasts. The wine matures for around twelve months in wood, half in barriques - twelve percent of which are new - and half in large, older foudres. This is followed by six months in stainless steel tanks, and the wine is bottled unfiltered.

Juicy, ripe fruit with a creamy richness meets austere salinity and a sharply drawn acid edge, overlaid with an almost dusty phenolic grip. High vibrancy over a rich base of yellow fruit with a hint of powdered sugar. Powerful, with a solid backbone and sharply drawn contours.

With sole in beurre blanc, pan-seared turbot with fennel vegetables, chicken in lemon-thyme jus, risotto with green asparagus or Comté.

13.5% vol., dry. Stability comes from two winters of aging rather than technical intervention, hence the unfiltered bottling. This wine needs time and air to reveal its layers.