Puligny-Montrachet

The wine

At the heart of the Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet reigns over what Burgundian growers consider the world's greatest Chardonnay. The appellation, created by the decrees of July 31, 1937, covers two hundred and fourteen hectares, nearly half of them Premier Cru, and holds four Grands Crus whose names ring like a coronation: Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet, and Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. The clay-limestone soils of the Bathonian and Callovian stages, shallow and well-drained, lend the variety — 99.6 percent of all plantings — an airy, mineral expression. The wines pour a brilliant gold, woven with floral notes of hawthorn and acacia, citrus aromas threaded with hazelnut and honey, deepened by vanilla and noble wood from cask ageing. Serve at eleven to thirteen degrees, drink within eight to ten years, alongside roast lobster, poultry in cream, or aged Comté.