Chardonnay’s unparalleled commercial success has created a comically large chasm between the public perception of the variety and the reality on the ground in places like Chassagne-Montrachet. 
For a casual wine drinker with limited exposure to white Burgundy, a wine like today’s is a total game-changer—everything you thought you knew about the variety goes out the window as you become entranced by the layered texture, mineral grip, and slap-in-the-face freshness of a wine you almost don’t believe is Chardonnay. For the Burgundy lover, meanwhile, a bottle like Borgeot’s Chassagne-Montrachet “Clos St. Jean” is a validation—a powerful reminder that the time and money invested in your Burgundy habit is well-spent. Whatever side of the chasm you fall on, today’s 2016 is guaranteed to satisfy, to impress, and to continue improving over the next decade. We’re talking Premier Cru white Burgundy from two brothers who’ve had their hands in the same dirt for decades and have amassed prime vineyard holdings in the Côte de Beaune’s “holy trinity”: Chassagne, Puligny, and Meursault. “Clos St. Jean” is one such holding, and this wine just radiates nobility. Let’s face it: There’s Chardonnay, then there’s top-tier Burgundy Chardonnay. Once you’ve had the latter, the game has indeed changed.
The Borgeots have long used only organic fertilizers in their vineyards and describe their farming as following the lutte raisonnée (“reasoned struggle”) model—organic practices throughout except in emergencies. Today’s ’16 was hand-harvested, narturally fermented, and aged in about 25% French oak barriques for about a year before bottling, with the end result being a wine of sumptuous texture but only a hint of toast and spice from the oak. In the glass, the wine is a deep yellow-gold moving to straw at the rim, with aromas driven by fruit and earth: yellow apples, bosc pear, salted lemon, lime blossom, raw hazelnut, wildflowers, and loads of crushed-stone minerality. It is medium-plus in body, likely headed to full as it matures, with a tantalizing rush of freshness that swoops in and cleanses the palate after each sip. If enjoying a bottle now (yes, you should), decant it 30 minutes or so before consuming in Burgundy stems at 50 degrees. It would be sensational as a main-course wine paired with roast chicken, pork, or some decadent butter-poached scallops (see recipe). When the cork is pulled on a bottle like this, a good meal becomes a great one—it’s really that simple. Cheers!