2018 Chablis, La Forêt, 1er Cru, Jean-Claude Bessin, 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.

Jean-Claude Bessin's wines seem to take on his personality: his range of Chablis wines are among the most highly regarded in the region. Based in La Chapelle Vaupelteigne, north of Chablis town, Jean-Claude's first vintage was the 1992. Though trained as an architect Jean-Claude Bessin preferred to take over the vineyards of his Tremblay father-in-law who adhered to the co-operative. From his 12 hectares he produces Chablis vieilles vignes, Chablis Montmains premier cru wines, Chablis Fourchaume premier cru and Chablis Valmur grand cru wines which is partially barrel-fermented. A special cuvée of Fourchaume is labelled as La Pièce au Comte while from 2006 premier cru La Forêt has been bottled separately from the Montmains. Evolution in recent years has been towards more natural winemaking. The majority of the crop is now harvested by hand, with natural yeasts preferred for fermentation. The wines have a long élévage on fine lees, the crus being bottled after 15 to 18 months, with a proportion of barrel fermentation and maturation for the top wines.