Allocated wines

This is the defining wine of this famous Grand Cru, the one to which everyone looks as the quintessential Corton-Charlemagne. The west-facing aspect of the hill means the vines enjoy the long rays of the afternoon sun, making for rich textures and a sumptuous depth of fruit. It is always exhilarating to taste, with rich layers of exuberant fruit and creamy, lightly spiced notes giving freshness and balance.

Bonnes Mares is a magnificent vineyard, and makes a compelling and beautiful wine in 2023 in Cyprien Arlaud’s hands. It’s got power and drive, also control and depth. This should age wonderfully well.

This is a clear stand-out in the Arlaud cellar. It’s the most dramatic wine in the line up, outpacing the other Grand Cru with its grip, complexity and swagger. A truly great Clos de la Roche.

This always delivers huge complexity from the start. It is so deep, and with such a sustained finish you’ll be thinking about it long after tasting.

This always delivers huge complexity from the start. It is so deep, and with such a sustained finish you’ll be thinking about it long after tasting.

This can often have the broadest shoulders of the Rousseau Grands Crus, and is certainly one that requires some serious ageing.

This can often have the broadest shoulders of the Rousseau Grands Crus, and is certainly one that requires some serious ageing.

Rousseau’s Gevrey might be their least grand cuvée, but it remains nevertheless one of the most sought-after wines, and a window onto their supreme style which can be drunk a little earlier than their Premiers and Grands crus.

Voluminous and with profound length, this is an exquisite wine from the Rousseau cellar, with layers that build up in a subtle, but melodic crescendo.

Lavaux-St-Jacques is a lovely vineyard on the Combe de Lavaux which enjoys the cooling influence of the cold air drawn down the valley. The wine is chiselled and precise.

The Ruchottes always abounds with small red berry fruit, making it a lively and vibrant Grand Cru. It nevertheless has the gravitas of its Grand Cru status, and will evolve for many years in bottle.

Only five domaines own Clos St Jacques, and Rousseau’s wine is frequently the pinnacle. This shows the complexity, suave power, and finesse of a Grand Cru, with incredible freshness.

Smooth, silky, bright and incisive. There is a lot to like here. The Ballot-Millot vines sit at the top of the parcel right next to Lafon’s. This location gives a dialled-up minerality, setting it apart from the richer examples produced further down the slope. As classical as they come in Meursault.

Along with Genevrières, you can rely on Perrières to be a sensational wine from Charles Ballot. In 2023 it shows the most sophisticated reduction in the cellar, with limestone bite on the palate and an expressive, mineral flourish on the finish. Scintillating.

In the Ballot-Millot cellar, Genevrières and Perrières are usually only split by a hair, as is the case in 2023. They are both outstanding. The vines in Genevrières are over 80 years old, and have weathered the hot summers well. The wine has weight and persistence, gorgeous amplitude and fabulous length.

This magnificent wine is only made in tiny quantities. There is superb precision on the palate, which is vibrant, concentrated and mouth watering with a chalky structure. This complexity is no surprise, given that Les Caillerets is one of the finest sites in the village, with particularly stony soils, producing tense, vibrant, acid-driven wines.

Bâtard-Montrachet is never short of showy power, even in youth. It seems to have loved the style of 2023, and thrived in the conditions. It’s expressive, racy and driven, with great weight and texture and a fresh, salty intensity to the fruit. The finish is long, mineral and refined. An incredibly striking wine.

La Maltroie is one of the larger Premiers Crus in Chassagne, and Alex’s vines sit right in the middle of the village, opposite the cellar. The 2023 has a mineral, peachy length, and a tight, refined power. There’s great volume and depth and this will enjoy a long life ahead.

Morgeot borders Santenay at the south end of the village, and is not only the largest Premier Cru in Chassagne, but the largest cru in the Côte d’Or. Alex’s parcel has the benefit of old vines - 50 years old, and their concentration combined with Alex’s practice of long, slow fermentation has resulted in a smoky, textural, delicious expression.

There is a greater richness of fruit from this site, pears and a fleshier citrus touch. A pleasure to taste, with rich, elegant layers of exuberant fruit and lightly spiced notes giving freshness and balance.

The west-facing aspect of the hill means the vines enjoy the long rays of the afternoon sun, making for rich textures and a sumptuous depth of fruit. A pleasure to taste, with rich, elegant layers of exuberant fruit and lightly spiced notes giving freshness and balance.

Coming from a tiny 0.21-hectare parcel of vines planted in the 1930's in the areas called Quartier de Nuits and Treux, this Echezeaux has a deep brooding intensity of dark cherry, subtle incense notes, black tea which gradually awakens in the glass. With some time and air a more floral side opens up with peony and dried violet petals. Quite muscular yet also with no sense of excess this has a sparkling intensity and such length on the finish.

With Richebourg and Cros Parantoux as neighbours, you can expect great things from this vineyard. Amélie has five separate plots across half a hectare (although she gives some of the production back to her aunt, so there is never ever enough to meet demand). The site is so steep and inaccessible that no tractors can reach it, and all work is done by horse or hand. The 2023 has impressive depth, flow and purity to the fruit. She’s worked hard on this cuvée, which could tend towards reduction. Switching to concrete tanks for fermentation has helped, and the potential of quality here is already easy to see tasting from barrel. So persistent, with Vosne’s powerful, velvet-like tannins.

Amelie’s 0.13 ha parcel was planted in 1973, and is not quite central — closer to the Clos Saint Jacques side than it is to the Combe de Lavaut side. She describes it as “fresh for the future”, as it revels in the wind from the Combe de Lavaut. She used 50% whole-bunch in 2023 and the result is elegant and airy red fruit with supple, fine-grained tannins. Accompanied by impressive power and drive through the slightly toasty finish.