Bourgogne Blanc is dangerous. It's the gateway drink that leads you to more pernicious addictions, so be careful. Before you know it, you will be craving ‘village’, then shelling out for ‘premier cru’ and it's only a matter of time before you are performing all manner of unmentionable acts just to get a fix of ‘grand cru’. This fantastic 'entry level' white Burgundy might be the solution. It's so good that you won't feel the need to move onto the hard stuff. It has tremendous fruit intensity, zingy acidity and a creaminess that is perfectly allied to the brightness of the stone-fruit and pithy citrus flavours and the sparing use of oak. This could easily pass itself off as a village wine, such is the concentration, the purity of flavour and the clear articulation of time and place. We couldn't ask for more from a Bourgogne Blanc.

One of the reasons why people are tentative about buying red or white Burgundy is the price and I don’t just mean how expensive they can be, I mean the fact that it’s so hard to work out what you should be paying. Should a ‘premier cru’ from a moderate producer in a great vintage cost more than a ‘village cru’ from a great producer in a moderate vintage? Should an ordinary ‘lieu dit’ from a famous village cost more than a famous cru from an ordinary village? It’s a minefield of variables and one of the reasons why we love finding a good Bourgogne Blanc is that it’s more of a level playing-field (most producers make one) and a good producer will use it as the amuse-bouche to whet your appetite for the rest of their range and as such, they can overdeliver. If you read between the lines of any of the respected wine journalists, you will notice that they score generic Bourgogne Blancs in the 80 to 89 point range, simply because they need to leave plenty of headroom for all of the same producer’s village, premier cru and grand cru wines, so it’s very respectable for a Bourgogne Blanc to score 87-88 points (see below). Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2028.

Organically farmed

The Wine Advocate: “Fine-boned and precise, the 2021 Bourgogne Chardonnay offers up aromas of pear, citrus oil, white flower and clear honey, followed by a medium-bodied, vibrant palate. This year, it will see longer maturation on the lees, which will likely deliver more texture.” (87-88) points