2018 St Aubin, Sur le Sentier du Clou, 1er Cru, Domaine Antoine Jobard, Burgundy

Chardonnay is often seen as the king of white wine grapes and one of the most widely planted in the world It is suited to a wide variety of soils, though it excels in soils with a high limestone content as found in Champagne, Chablis, and the Côte D`Or. Burgundy is Chardonnay's spiritual home and the best White Burgundies are dry, rich, honeyed wines with marvellous poise, elegance and balance. They are unquestionably the finest dry white wines in the world. Chardonnay plays a crucial role in the Champagne blend, providing structure and finesse, and is the sole grape in Blanc de Blancs.

This white-wine focused domaine is renowned for its steely, taut Meursault. Antoine joined his father, François, here in 2002. He assumed sole charge in ’07, after his father’s 50th vintage. Initially, any changes were minimal. Now, there’s a clear move towards earlier bottling, with two winters in barrel no longer seen as the yardstick. This is both a stylistic choice and a response to warmer and earlier harvests. All decisions are now taken with a view towards greater flexibility, allowing more or less reduction from barrel age as required.