Monthélie "Les Toisieres" 2022

The Monthélie "Les Toisieres" 2022 is a dry Chardonnay from the Côte de Beaune that favours clarity over fullness. In his white wines, Pierre-Henri Rougeot seeks a transparent line: little oak, plenty of tension, and a saline length that carries the wine.

Domaine Rougeot Père & Fils is based in Meursault and farms 12.6 hectares with plots in Meursault, Volnay and Pommard, holdings that grandfather Hubert expanded in the 1960s. The estate works biodynamically and entirely by hand, with only minimal use of tractors. "There can be no good wine from bad soil" is the winemaker's credo.

100% Chardonnay. Fermentation starts spontaneously with the estate's own native yeasts, and ageing takes place in the historic 18th-century cellars, originally built for the Hospices de Beaune. Rougeot uses 228-litre Burgundy barrels sparingly and keeps the proportion of new oak low. There is no bâtonnage, no filtering and no fining, and throughout ageing the wine remains without added sulfur; only at bottling does the winemaker decide, depending on the vintage.

Dry and lean in structure, with lemon zest and green apple to the fore, alongside a delicate floral note. The acidity sets the direction, the richness stays saline rather than creamy, and the finish is clean and long.

Well suited to pan-fried pikeperch on braised lentils, trout meunière, Bresse chicken in cream sauce, as well as mature Comté and goat cheese.

In 2016, Pierre-Henri Rougeot ended his father Marc's supermarket business and shifted the estate towards quality wines. Since then, the diagonally striped labels have marked the cuvées aged without sulfur.