Domaine de la Chappe Thérése 2023

Domaine de la Chappe Thérèse is a natural, organic Chardonnay from Tonnerre, in the north of Burgundy, made by Vincent Thomas, who took over the family estate in 2003. Tonnerre was long considered a marginal, cold corner of Burgundy, but a warming climate has revealed its potential, and its Kimmeridgian soils, the same limestone and clay marl found in nearby Chablis, are full of ancient marine fossils that give the wine a stony, saline minerality. The cool northern climate keeps acidity high and the fruit precise. This wine spends eight months in barrel, a moderate élevage in which lees contact and slow oxygen exchange build a creamy texture and gentle nutty depth without burying the fruit. It is farmed organically and made with a natural, low-intervention approach. In the glass it shows a bright pale gold, with white peach, pear and citrus on the nose moving into vanilla, hazelnut, honey and a fresh-dough, lees-derived tone. The palate is creamy and rounded but framed by that cool-climate, chalky acidity, finishing clean and mineral. Serve at 10 to 12 degrees in a white Burgundy glass.