Louis Latour Bourgogne Chardonnay

When the 5th-generation Louis Latour replanted phylloxera-devastated hillsides on the limestone summit of Corton with Chardonnay after 1891, he effectively authored the Corton-Charlemagne appellation — the same house philosophy of oak-driven, textural white Burgundy flows downward into this Bourgogne Chardonnay. Sourced across the Côte d'Or as a négociant-éleveur expression, the wine draws on the house's 225-year-old understanding of Burgundian limestone and clay-gravel soils, where chalky subsoils drive the characteristic tension that prevents richness from becoming flabby. Fermentation begins in stainless steel without settling, then the must is transferred hot into 228-litre French oak barrels — made at the Louis Latour in-house cooperage from air-dried French oak — to complete both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. No lees-stirring is practised, a deliberate house signature that preserves primary fruit clarity rather than building creamy autolytic weight. The 2022 vintage marks the first year bottled under Diam 30 closure, a house-wide shift away from natural cork. What distinguishes this entry-level cuvée within its category is that it receives the identical vinification protocol as the Grand Cru whites — the same vessel, the same no-stirring discipline — simply without the limestone-summit terroir of Corton to amplify it. The 2022 growing season delivered vivid natural acidity alongside plush fruit weight, producing a Bourgogne Blanc with more structural tension than the warm 2018 or 2019 benchmarks.