Puligny-Montrachet
Puligny-Montrachet is one of the world’s great white-wine appellations and, together with neighbouring Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet, forms the heart of the Côte de Beaune’s finest Chardonnay terroirs. The village is almost entirely devoted to Chardonnay and is renowned for wines of exceptional precision, finesse and longevity. At its highest level, Puligny produces some of the rarest and most prestigious white wines in Bourgogne.
The vineyards rise above the village on predominantly east and south-east facing slopes, generally between 230 and 350 metres altitude. Limestone-rich soils, often relatively thin and stony on the upper slopes, provide excellent drainage and contribute to the mineral tension associated with Puligny. Subtle differences in marl, clay, altitude and exposure give the individual climats remarkably distinct identities.
Puligny-Montrachet has 17 Premier Cru climats and shares four Grands Crus: Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. Montrachet itself, shared with Chassagne-Montrachet, stands at the pinnacle of white Bourgogne and is among the most valuable and celebrated white-wine vineyards in the world.
Puligny-Montrachet typically combines citrus, white flowers and orchard fruit with fine texture and pronounced mineral tension. Compared with Meursault, the wines are generally associated more with precision and linearity than breadth. The finest Premier and Grand Crus possess extraordinary depth and can develop beautifully over several decades.
