2024 Jean-Louis Chavy Puligny Montrachet Les Perrières Premier Cru, Burgundy

Jean-Louis Chavy comes from one of Puligny-Montrachet’s longstanding winemaking families, establishing his own domaine after the family vineyards were divided in the early 2000s. Today he works alongside his son Paul, producing beautifully understated wines that put Puligny’s great limestone terroirs ahead of winemaking theatrics. Les Perrières is a particularly compelling Premier Cru, its name referencing the old stone quarries and the rocky, limestone-rich ground that gives the wine such striking mineral character.

The 2024 vintage demanded careful work in the vineyard, with a cool, challenging growing season and reduced yields across Burgundy. For quality-minded growers, the reward is freshness, aromatic clarity and beautifully defined wines. In Les Perrières, those qualities meet a naturally stony terroir, creating a Puligny with tension, energy and lovely depth rather than overt richness.

Pale gold with flashes of green, the nose opens with Meyer lemon, white peach and crisp pear before revealing acacia blossom, fresh almond and a subtle struck-match note. With air come grapefruit oil, wet limestone and a little toasted hazelnut. The palate is taut yet beautifully textured, with citrus and stone fruit wrapped around bright acidity and a chalky, almost salty core. There’s lovely energy through the middle before a long finish of lemon oil, crushed stone and roasted almond.

Give this something suitably delicious: butter-poached lobster, scallops with cauliflower purée and brown butter, grilled turbot with lemon, roast chicken with morels or Comté gougères still warm from the oven. I’d be very tempted by the scallops — that combination of sweetness, brown butter and the wine’s salty limestone edge could be rather indecent.

Cellaring: Drink from 2027 to 2040.