Saint-Romain "La Combe Bazin" AOC 2022

A dry Chardonnay at 13.0% ABV that favors clarity and tension over fullness. The fruit stands unadorned, the acidity carries the wine in a direct line, and salinity lingers in the finish.

Saint-Romain lies on the cooler slopes of the Côte de Beaune, and the microclimate of this side valley preserves freshness in the grapes. In this appellation, the domaine farms vines planted in the 1920s. Pierre-Henri Rougeot took over the family's 12.6 hectares in 2016, ending his father Marc's supermarket-supply business in favor of quality wines: biodynamic farming, manual work in the vineyards, tractors barely used. His credo: "There can be no good wine from bad soil."

Pure Chardonnay. Fermentation begins spontaneously with the estate's own yeasts, and the wine is aged in 228-liter Burgundy barrels with a low proportion of new oak and no bâtonnage, in 18th-century cellars originally built for the Hospices de Beaune. No sulfur is added throughout the aging process; Rougeot decides on a possible addition at bottling depending on the vintage. Neither filtered nor fined.

On the nose, green apple and lemon, followed by a cool mineral note. On the palate, focused and lean, driven by taut acidity, with a salty length on the finish.

With pan-fried pikeperch on lentils, scallops in butter, or Poulet de Bresse with morels. Also with mature Comté and goat cheese.

The domaine's diagonally striped labels identify the cuvées aged without added sulfur. The switch to this practice was prompted by recurring premature oxidation in certain parcels.