2024 Bachelet-Monnot Maranges La Fussiere Blanc, Burgundy

The 2022 Maranges Blanc La Fussières 1er Cru comes from a parcel conjoining the Santenay Blanc on deeper soils. The well-defined bouquet offers yellow fruit, lanolin and light sea spray aromas. The palate is taut and fresh with a twist of sour lemon on the entry, quite precise and focused with a sapid finish urging you to take another sip.

90-92 points, Neal Martin, Vinous

This plot has always been white at the domaine, planted by their grandfather. Alex and Marc reckon that the upper part slopes at the Santenay end of Maranges is where to plant your chardonnay. Mid lemon colour. The bouquet has a certain plummy quality. Then the wine is much more refined on the palate, with character which I don’t always find in white Fussière.

89-91 points, Jasper Morris MW, Inside Burgundy

Brothers Marc and Alexandre Bachelet have done more than most to make Maranges one of the Côte de Beaune’s most intriguing hunting grounds. Based in Dezize-lès-Maranges, they know these southern slopes intimately, and La Fussière is one of their key vineyards. Sitting high above the village on limestone-rich ground, it gives Chardonnay a cooler, more energetic personality than you might expect from this end of the Côte — and offers a particularly clever way into the increasingly elusive Bachelet-Monnot cellar.

The tiny 2024 crop was hard earned, with cool, wet conditions demanding relentless vineyard work. La Fussière’s elevated position and limestone soils suit the resulting style beautifully, bringing freshness and a firm mineral line. The Bachelets’ restrained élevage adds texture and savoury detail while keeping the fruit bright and the wine wonderfully agile.

Pale gold with green highlights, the nose opens with lemon zest, white peach and crisp pear before citrus blossom and fresh almond emerge. With air come grapefruit oil, wet stone, a flicker of flint and gentle brioche. The palate is bright yet finely textured, with crunchy orchard fruit and citrus wrapped around a subtle creamy core. Lemon oil and salted almond build through the middle before a long, mouthwatering finish of citrus peel and crushed limestone.

Cellaring: Drink from 2026 to 2035.