Santenay En Foulot 2023

This white Santenay comes from a one-hectare plot nestled in the Combe de Saint-Jean, in the lieu-dit En Foulot, in Santenay, the village that closes off the Côte de Beaune to the south. Its clay-limestone soil, scattered with small stones, and its east-facing exposure bring together ideal conditions for grapes of great precision. This singular terroir gives the wine freshness and complexity, under the influence of the combe, which cools the nights at the end of summer.

Winemaking begins with a gentle pressing in tank, with no sulphur added at this stage, to preserve the authenticity of the grapes. Alcoholic fermentation takes place entirely in French oak barrels, a third of them new, to bring richness and depth. Ageing continues on fine lees for 12 months, refining the cuvée and revealing all the finesse of its terroir.

This wine reveals notes of lemon, grapefruit, pear, white peach, white flowers, fern, hazelnut, toasted bread and roasted coffee. The pale yellow colour, bright and radiant, heralds a precise nose. The palate is balanced and deep, and the finish, with fine persistence, leaves an elegant and flavourful impression.

The cradle of wine culture in Western Europe, France owes its first vines to the Greeks of Phocaea, who settled around Marseille some twenty-six centuries ago, before the Romans spread viticulture along the Rhône and the Garonne and as far as Champagne. In the Middle Ages, Cistercian and Benedictine monks cleared the slopes of Burgundy and patiently mapped out the climats, laying the foundations of the notion of terroir. The 19th century brought the glory of the classifications, then the disaster of phylloxera, which wiped out the vineyards before they were rebuilt on American rootstocks; the creation of the appellations d'origine contrôlée in the 1930s then set the rules that would inspire the whole world. Today, France vies every year with Italy and Spain for first place in world production by volume and remains the ultimate benchmark of the Old World, as much for its age-worthy wines as for its winemaking models. Vineyards cover almost the entire country, from the cool north of Champagne and Alsace to the Mediterranean shores of Languedoc and Provence, by way of the oceanic climates of Bordeaux, the Loire and the South-West, continental Burgundy, the steep slopes of the northern Rhône and the high-altitude valleys of Savoie and the Jura. This mosaic of soils – limestone, schist, gravel or rounded pebbles – explains the extraordinary diversity of styles. As for grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate Bordeaux and produce structured reds, Pinot Noir is the signature of Burgundian finesse, Syrah of the depth of the Rhône, while Grenache, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Mourvèdre cover every register, from easy-drinking wines to wines for long ageing. Among the whites, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin, Riesling and Viognier offer expressions ranging from lively and mineral to unctuous, all the way to great sweet wines. A land of benchmarks and constant discoveries, France remains the compass for wine lovers the world over.