Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Hameau de Blagny" AOC 2024

A Chardonnay without make-up: saline, taut, with precise citrus fruit and a fine chalky texture. No buttery toast, no clouds of vanilla, just transparency and a consistently dry pull.

Hameau de Blagny is one of the Premier Crus of Puligny-Montrachet; Domaine Thomas-Collardot farms a total of 2.5 hectares there and in the village. The plots trace back to Jacqueline Collardot's grandfathers, Henri Chavy and Maurice Thomas. Her father Pierre Thomas farmed them until 1992, after which they were leased to cousins. In 2010, Jacqueline Collardot reclaimed the vineyards, trained at the CFPPA Beaune, and bottled her first vintage in 2015; her son Matthieu has worked alongside her since 2018. Annual production is around 10,000 bottles.

Pure Chardonnay. Gentle pressing, 24 hours of settling, then sixteen months on fine lees in used 228-litre barrels that have seen two to four previous fillings. The wine is not fined, only lightly filtered, and the estate largely forgoes the use of added sulphur.

Pale straw yellow in the glass, with lemon zest and white blossom over chalky minerality. The wine stays lean and linear, the texture fine-grained, the finish long and saline. 13.0% vol., dry.

With turbot and sole, with scallops and cauliflower, veal in white sauce or chicken with morels. Aged Comté and Chaource also pair well with this wine.

The family has vinified the wine themselves since 2015; before that, the grapes went to négociants. The work is done with a light touch and in small quantities; the bottles sell out quickly among connoisseurs.