2020 Bourgogne Blanc

“It was quite dry compared to 2021, and an early season,” Benoît Bachelet explained when I dropped in at his winery, currently undergoing expansion, in the village of Gamay. “We started picking on August 27, the earliest we’ve ever started, and we finished on September 2. That’s nearly a month’s difference compared to 2021. For the first time, we started with the reds, whereas we usually pick them in the middle or at the end [of picking]. The Pinot Noir had already reached ripeness. Although there were dry conditions, the yield was fine – around 45hl/ha for the white and 35hl/ha for the reds. We were not expecting that much juice. All the reds are de-stemmed as usual, and the entire range spends two winters in barrel (most of the Premier Crus between 20% and 25% new oak), gets transferred into vat in February or March, and is then bottled around August. We use natural cork, and each cork is tested for TCA.” These are typically fulsome wines that always undergo a long barrel maturation – not only the two winters, but then also usually not bottled until the summer months. So this is not the place to look for “lean and mean” white Burgundies. These tend to be more voluminous, a little richer in style, but consistently well crafted and benefiting from bottle maturation.