There are a lot of sublime white wines in the world, and I’m doing my best to experience them all, but for me, elite-level white Burgundy is like coming home. It’s my way of hitting the “reset” button, a reminder that so few white wines so consistently deliver everything today’s wine does: aromatics, minerality, texture, balance, intensity…it’s the total package, even in this youthful phase of its life.

Sebastien Christophe, meanwhile, is the kind of dynamic, hard-driving vigneron that characterizes modern-day Chablis: this once-fusty corner of Burgundy may be the most dynamic (and, courtesy of climate change, best-positioned) of them all. Christophe’s authenticity, tenacity, and talent make him the kind of wine producer anyone would be happy to champion. His career arc has a romantic ring to it: Young upstart fresh out of wine school inherits a half-hectare of vineyard land in a “lowly” appellation (Petit Chablis); starts making wines that over-deliver; then methodically acquires more land, including parcels in star-studded Premier Cru sites like “Fourchaume.” So yes, today’s 2018 really is the total package—an inspiring success story in the form of a crystalline, muscular expression of Chardonnay from Chablis. And like all the best white Burgundies, the more you learn about it, the better it gets.

In the case of today’s wine, it’s about the “vineyard within the vineyard,” so to speak. There are 40 vineyard sites designated “Premier Cru” in Chablis, all of them offering subtle variations on the classic Chablis soil mixture: “Kimmeridgian” and “Portlandian” limestones mixed with clay. If you look at a map of the region, you’ll see that Fourchaume is one of the largest Premier Crus in the region (132 hectares), with an aspect that’s not dissimilar from the cluster of Grand Crus situated to its south. To use French terminology, the Fourchaume site is a climat (a defined area) and a lieu-dit (named site) that contains several distinct climats/lieux-dits within it. Within Fourchaume, Sebastein Christophe’s parcel is in the section known as the “Côte de Fontenay,” which sits at a relatively low altitude and faces south. Thanks to its aspect and deep soils, it’s a vineyard known for enabling full ripeness even in cold years, producing what importer Ted Vance calls “the most muscular” Premier Cru in the Christophe range.

Sebastien embodies the new breed of Chablis vignerons who wholeheartedly embrace the notion that “great wine is made in the vineyard.” He vinifies and ages his whites overwhelmingly in stainless steel, although roughly 20% of his Fourchaume cuvée is aged in mostly used 228-liter barrels. All his wines are fermented with wild yeasts only and bâtonnage (lees stirring) is done sparingly, and sometimes not at all, depending on the vintage.

The vines in Sebastien’s parcel were planted by his uncle in 1981, and the profundity of old-vine fruit is on dramatic display in this 2018. When you taste Chardonnays from around the world, you learn the difference between density and weight, and this wine offers a master class: It’s a high-impact Chardonnay, nowhere near as austere as you’d expect a Chablis to be but not fat and flabby, either. “Muscular” really is the perfect word. In the glass, it’s a deep straw-gold with faint green reflections at the rim, with a rich and fruit-driven nose of yellow apple, salted lemon, acacia flower, raw hazelnut, bread dough, fresh cream, and of course the crushed rock/oyster shell savor typical of great Chablis. It is textured and powerful, lip-smackingly refreshing, and clearly poised for a long, graceful evolution—10+ years at a minimum, although it will be impossible to resist dipping into your stash sooner. When you do, decant it 30-60 minutes before serving in all-purpose white stems or even larger red Burgundy bowls, allowing the temperature to creep up toward 55 degrees. Poach some cod or halibut in butter and revel in one of wine’s most reliably transcendent experiences. One sip and you’re home! Enjoy!