Philippe Pacalet Ladoix Blanc 2023

Philippe Pacalet Ladoix Blanc is a white Burgundy from Chardonnay grown in Ladoix, at the northern end of the Côte de Beaune in the Côte-d'Or. Ladoix is one of the appellation's less famous names, sitting on the slopes below the Corton hill, where limestone and marl soils and a cool climate give the wine its bright acidity and stony minerality. Philippe Pacalet works with a natural, low-intervention method, using indigenous yeasts, whole clusters and very little added sulphur, an approach aimed at showing the site rather than the cellar. The wine is aged for 12 months on its lees in neutral vessels, so there is little wood influence. The lees contact adds gentle texture and a fresh-dough note through slow autolysis while the fruit and mineral character stay to the fore. In the glass it is a pale, vibrant gold, with green apple, lemon and citrus on the nose intertwined with white flowers. The palate is fresh and taut, the fruit carried by a firm chalky acidity to a saline, mineral finish rather than a broad or buttery one. Serve at 11 to 13 degrees in a white Burgundy glass.