These vines are around 60 years old and come from four parcels on the southern side of Chambolle, which Maxime gives a very representative snapshot of the village. This really captures everything you would hope for in a Chambolle, with a sense of charm and delicacy. The wine offers fine, fresh cut summer berries on the nose, with a lift of crushed rose petal on the finish.

Maxime casually shows his Nuits village after his Vosne premier cru when you taste the full line up in his cellar: that says really quite a lot. When you taste it you understand why. This is a sensational Nuits St Georges. Aux Barrièrres is a vineyard on the northern side of the appellation located just above the vineyard of Vosne-Romanée Aux Réas. From the domaine’s own vines, in 2023 Maxime destemmed all the fruit, and the resulting wine is so elegant and fine, with aromatic purity of liquorice and cherry blossom and gorgeous, fluid energy. Very detailed, this is classical Burgundy through and through.

This vineyard is planted with very old vines, and they produce a wine of incredible substance and precision. Using 25% whole bunches the wine shows a certain seriousness, density and texture. A little note of aniseed and violet with exceptionally fine tannin on the palate, this is a wine that shows both the complexity and accessibility of the vintage.

High up on the hill overlooking the village, this is one of Vosne’s greatest premiers crus. In the hands of Maxime Rion, it is an absolute beauty. Dense but supple with notes of blood orange, potpourri, and pomegranate the wine shows velvet textured tannins which clothe the palate with seamless intensity.

The beating heart of the domaine lies in this small monopole vineyard, just opposite their cellars in Premeaux-Prissey. It’s amazing, but undeniable, that in a line up that contains some of Chambolle and Vosne’s finest sites, this is always the highlight of the cellar, the whole tasting seemingly building to the moment you taste it. In 2023 there is around 25% whole clusters used. It has a long, sinewy tension, with remarkable depth. Aromatically so complex with notes of blood orange, violets, white pepper with oyster shell salinity on the finish. A sensational wine.

There can’t be many village parcels with a better position than this. Indeed, the bottom half of the vineyard is premier cru. The top half runs above Les Fuées and meets with Bonnes-Mares at its northern edge. The soil is shallow and in 2023 the grapes were fully destemmed which helps to deliver a real sense of purity and elegance. This is a lively, and detailed Chambolle with notes of rosehip, red cherry fruit and a little white pepper on the finish.

Under the domaine label since 2022 the village Vosne is a blend of three small parcels – around a quarter of fruit coming from Aux Raviolles and La Croix Blanches and the remaining half from Les Hauts Beaux Monts. The average vine age across the three parcels is 50 years. The wine delivers rounded, fleshy dark cherry fruits, with accents of fresh earth and violets, with a caressing texture to the tannins.

This vineyard between Chambolle Musigny and Gilly-lès-Citeaux is one of the best parcels of Bourgogne in the Côte de Nuits. Neighbour Ghislaine Barthod’s Bourgogne Rouge is another exceptional example of this vineyard. It’s a beautifully perfumed Bourgogne with a lacy texture to the tannins and excellent concentration thanks to the vineyard's tendency to millerandages (small berries). Like Ghislaine’s, you can cellar this with confidence.

Although they account for a minute percentage of overall production, the white wines of Nuits-St-Georges have a proud history. Interestingly, Pinot Blanc, as well as Chardonnay, is permitted under the AOC, and this cuvée from the Rions has a little dash in the blend. This is from a 1.21 hectare plot at the top of the slope, close to the domaine, with chalky soils. It’s zesty and fragrant, with peachy stone fruit and white blossom intertwined. With only around 5% new oak, this is a delicious, floral, and saline white which matches the calibre of the estate’s fantastic range of reds.

First released in 1981, the estate celebrates 50th anniversary this year. The wine opens with subtle oak spice on the nose: incense, sandalwood, cedar, nutmeg. So complex on the palate this leads to flavours of wild herbs, wet rocks accents of red berry fruit, liquorice, and violets. There is a sappy mineral core here – with notes of kelp, soy and iodine. While you can see the solar brightness of the vintage there is not too much weight here. Focused and structured with chiselled, this is etched with detailed tannins that grip on the finish. A supple wine but with energy and freshness following through.