Allocated wines

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 and swagger. A truly great Clos de la Roche.

This comes from the very highest point of Mazoyères-Chambertin, which can also be labelled as Charmes-Chambertin. It has sensational volume with a crystalline purity driving through the finish.

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.

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.

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 evolved for many years in bottle.

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

Smooth, silky, bright and incisive. This wine is outstanding. The 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. It shows sophisticated reduction, with limestone bite on the palate and a mineral flourish on the finish. Scintillating.

The vines in Genevrières are over 80 years old, and the wine has a gravitas and presence. It shows 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 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.

La Maltroie is one of the larger premiers crus in Chassagne, and is often one of the most restrained, backward wines in Alex’s cellar. The vines sit right in the middle of the village, opposite the cellar. It has a savoury, smooth length, and a tight, refined power. It feels young, and 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.

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. She’s worked hard on this cuvée, which can tend towards reduction. Switching to concrete tanks for fermentation has helped, and the wine is now meeting its full potential.

Amelie’s 0.13 ha parcel was planted in 1973, and sits up close to Clos Saint Jacques. The famously cooling wind of the Combe de Lavaut helps this parcel through the wet growing season, and the fruit it yielded is really something wonderful. This is highly accomplished.

With a spicy, fresh structure, and a regal quality to the fruit, this is a highlight of the Clair cellar. It shows a suave power, and a cool, controlled, elegance. The Clairs are one of only five producers to share this revered premier cru, that many regard as equal to the Gevrey grands crus, which they refer to as ‘the Prince of Gevrey’. It is steep by Burgundian standards, with clay-rich soil. Just three barrels made in 2024.

This is crystalline and taut, with an astonishingly long finish. Clos de Bèze is a slightly steeper and warmer site than Chambertin next door, and the potential heights of complexity and concentration it can produce are remarkable. Most of the vines were planted in 1912, with the rest in the 1970s - affectionately, still referred to as the young vines.

This is a Bonnes Mares of distinction: it is the only part of the vineyard to fall within Morey-Saint-Denis (the rest is in Chambolle-Musigny). It is opulent and inviting on the nose, with a tender and deeply concentrated core. It is one of the most delicate iterations I’ve tasted from the Clairs, meaning it should open up in bottle ahead of previous vintages. However, its complexity and length assure me it will evolve well over time as well, so no need to rush if you can resist.

Pierre owns the last parcel of Latricières before Chambertin begins, and while attention is usually focused on his Clos de Bèze, this is quickly becoming as in-demand. It is suave, dark, and cool: somehow opulent and restrained at the same time.

This is fast becoming one of Burgundy’s most sought-after wines. The vineyard was planted in 1920, and you can feel the power of the old vines in the glass. It is intense and opulent, with plenty of spice on the nose. The palate is impeccably balanced, with vibrant acidity alongside an impressive mouthfeel. This is powerful, yet retains poise and elegance. It deserves plenty of time in the bottle.

Pierre has just 0.4 hectares in Charmes-Chambertin, which is divided into five separate parcels, two of which are on the border with Griotte-Chambertin, on more stony soils. The wine is always tightly coiled, with some noble austerity in its youth.

Duroché owns a sizable 1.2 hectare parcel of this premier cru, and it is arguably the cuvée that best defines the estate. There’s a coolness here, with dancing tannins and incredible purity. Lavaut balances a freshness, due to its position at the base of the Combe, with an opulence of fruit from the vineyard’s south facing aspect.

These old vines produce a distinctly powerful Gevrey, yet with the tenderness of the vintage to let you in. The parcel sits at the very northern edge of the village, and there is a brambly, grippy character to the structure.