2023 Jean-Claude Bachelet, Saint-Aubin, 1er Cru Le Charmois

Benoît and Jean-Baptiste Bachelet manage their Saint-Aubin holdings with rigorous high-density planting and biodynamic viticulture, achieving formal organic certification with the 2023 vintage. Their technical approach centers on an extended 24-month élevage in large-format 456-liter barrels, a regimen designed to foster structural stability and deep-seated phenolic integration rarely seen in the appellation. Le Charmois, an east-facing site bordering Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chaumées, features shallow clay-on-limestone soils that dictate a lean, mineral-driven architecture. To balance the 2023 season’s solar intensity, the Bachelets utilized a light crushing of the fruit to extract a structural, bitter-phenolic nerve that anchors the wine’s concentrated mid-palate. This technical decision, paired with the site’s naturally cool exposure, results in a wine defined by vertical tension, saline persistence, and a focused, chalky finish.