Clément Lavallée Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre Grand Roche Blanc 2022

Clément Lavallée is part of the young natural wine movement working the northern edge of Burgundy, here in the Côtes d'Auxerre near Chablis. This Chardonnay comes off the cold, damp limestone country of the Yonne, where Kimmeridgian and Portlandian marls, rich in fossil oysters, give the wine its chalky cut. Farming is organic and the winemaking is natural, with low intervention and minimal added sulphur. There is no oak here. The wine is made and raised to be drunk young, which keeps the fruit direct and the mineral character to the fore, the cool climate and high natural acidity doing the structural work that oak might otherwise supply. The northerly latitude and short growing season hold sugar and alcohol in check, so at 13% the wine stays taut and linear. Expect a bright pale colour, a nose of green apple, lemon, almond and wet stone, and a lean, energetic palate with citrus, orchard fruit and a saline chalk finish. Serve chilled at 9 to 11 degrees.