2023 Domaine de Montille - Chassagne Montrachet (750ml)

Domaine de Montille has been rooted in Volnay since 1750, and the family's approach to winemaking was reshaped by an accident of history: after tasting his own 1959 Volnay "Taillepieds" twenty-five years on, Hubert de Montille realized the barrels that received less sugar had aged far more gracefully. That lesson, restraint over richness, defined his fifty-year tenure and still guides the estate today under his children, Étienne and Alix, who began converting the vineyards to organic farming in 1995 and later adopted biodynamic principles, earning certification in 2012.

This Chassagne-Montrachet is blended from two parcels, Champs Derrières and Les Houillères, the latter sitting right on the Puligny border below Bâtard-Montrachet on semi-limestone soil. That site lends the wine a finesse and minerality closer to Puligny than to the richer, more honeyed style typical of Chassagne. Fermentation and aging take place in a mix of 228 and 600-liter barrels, only five to twenty percent of them new, using lightly toasted Allier oak. The sunny, balanced 2023 vintage and an early harvest kept the wine fresh.

Expect yellow stone fruit, white flowers, and citrus on the nose, with lemon rind and grapefruit carrying through to a mineral finish. Try it with roasted halibut, crab cakes, or a triple crème cheese.