2022 Benedicte & Stephane Tissot, Arbois Chardonnay, Les Bruyeres

Stéphane Tissot has been the driving force at his domaine since he joined his father André in the late 1980’s. Tissot is a benchmark estate for us. From the beginning, Stéphane has pushed to innovate and improve the property, initially by introducing smaller barrels for fermentation and aging (this Burgundian technique was a radical step in the 1990’s!) and then converting their 50-hectares of vines to organic and biodynamic farming. This isn’t to say Stéphane glosses over the traditions of the region. When he purchased the land surrounding the Tour du Curon in 2001, he painstakingly restored the vineyards in the most old-fashioned way: with extremely dense plantings of Chardonnay vines individually staked rather than trained on wires. Stéphane’s tireless efforts to explore and understand this terroir has allowed him to produce some of the most soulful and thought-provoking wines in the region. Tissot’s wines are still values, worth every penny—these are noble, complex wines entirely deserving of a Michelin-starred, white-tablecloth dining experience. From a single, south-facing vineyard in Arbois planted on clay from the Triassic period (before the Jurassic). This wine is rich and expansive on the palate but in perfect equilibrium. Striking, smoky aromatics explode out of the glass.