Puligny-Montrachet "Les Climats" AOC 2024

This Chardonnay from Puligny-Montrachet reflects the style Jacqueline Collardot and her son Matthieu have pursued since their very first vintage under their own name: transparency over opulence, precision over breadth. Dry, lean at 12.5% vol., it wins through line rather than fullness.

Domaine Thomas-Collardot farms 2.5 hectares right in the heart of Puligny-Montrachet, with parcels in Les Enseignères, Les Nosroyes and Hameau de Blagny (1er Cru). The vines belonged to Jacqueline'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 took the vineyards back, and in 2015 the first vintage she vinified herself was bottled; before that, the grapes went to négociants. Matthieu joined in 2018.

Chardonnay, guided in the cellar with a light touch: gentle pressing, 24 hours of settling, then sixteen months on fine lees in used 228-litre pièces with two to four prior fills. Unfined, only lightly filtered, with sulphur additions kept deliberately minimal.

Saline and taut, with precise citrus fruit and a fine chalky texture. The grain is fine, the line staying dry and saline through to the finish. No buttery toast, no clouds of vanilla.

The estate's annual production is around 10,000 bottles. Jacqueline Collardot trained at the CFPPA in Beaune before the relaunch; since 2015, vinification has taken place in the estate's own cellar.