We have many firmly held beliefs here at SommSelect but two of them ring loudest when Burgundy is the wine in question. The first is baseline quality: To really take the measure of a producer’s skill, look not to their most expensive bottlings but to their entry-level cuvée. The second is accessibility: We believe a quintessential benchmark bottling should be both affordable and afforded to all. But rarely do these two maxims converge as they do in François Carillon’s 2018 Bourgogne Blanc.

It’s hard to believe a wine like this even exists anymore: priced to drink every day, carrying a benchmark Côte de Beaune name, and, most importantly, delivering on every bit of anticipation you could hope for. A $30 bottle of Chardonnay shouldn’t be sourced from Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault, shouldn't be made by a family with centuries of winemaking expertise, and shouldn’t offer as much pleasure as this does. But here we are, reveling in the fact that Burgundian values like this still exist!

Lurking beneath the humble “Bourgogne Blanc” on the label is fruit from two of the most revered winemaking villages on the planet, Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault. Clive Coates, MW minces no words when speaking of Puligny: “Puligny-Montrachet is the greatest white wine commune on earth.” The village’s argilo-calcaire soils produce Chardonnay’s most regal and filigreed expressions, the sort of bottles that are special occasions in and of themselves. Meursault, on the other hand, has no Grand Cru vineyards but it’s no less singular, home as it is to such legendary estates as Lafon and Roulot, as well as an enviable collection of Premier Crus. The vineyards Carillon’s Bourgogne Blanc are sourced from happen to fall just outside the legal boundaries of the two villages, so it can’t technically be labeled with the village appellations. The vines don’t care though: the breed, class, and complexity that Puligny and Meursault are known for come through loud and clear.

François Carillon is no interloper in Puligny-Montrachet—few names are more synonymous with the village than his family’s. The Carillons can trace their roots in the village all the way back to 1520 when sources document the work of one Jean Carillon. But it was Louis Carillon, François’ father, who in the 1970s forever stamped the Carillon name in Burgundy drinkers’ minds. It’s safe to say the village’s global reputation has Louis to thank, as the delineation and mineral complexity Puligny became known for were hallmarks of the Carillon house style. François has worked the family’s vines since 1988, and ran the domaine with his brother Jacques until 2010. That year, the two split the family holdings in half and François went out on his own. He had to sacrifice the family’s instantly recognizable label, but his decades of experience and his coveted holdings come through from the very first sip of his Bourgogne Blanc. 

The hand-harvested fruit in 2018 was gently pressed and the juice fermented and subsequently matured in French barrels, 10%, for one year with a light lees-stirring regimen. From there, It was briefly transferred into stainless steel to “tighten up” before bottling. In the glass, this Bourgogne Blanc reveals a luminous yellow with hints of gold. The nose is just pitch-perfect white Burgundy: fresh-cut yellow apple, pineapple core, salty minerality, créme frâiche, and a faint whisper of hazelnut spice pointing toward some deftly integrated oak. The warmth of 2018 is a boon to this wine’s palate, fleshing out the crunchy apple into ripe and juicy orchard fruit before getting whisked clean by a fresh jolt of acidity. Beneath it all, there’s a firm throughline of limestone rockiness. This is fuller and lusher than most Bourgogne Blancs, with an open-knit structure that’s just begging to be drunk immediately. Consume it at a cool 45-50 degrees out of all-purpose or Burgundy stems, and it’ll be absolutely killer next to some chicken braised in white wine and mushrooms. Just make sure you snag a few bottles because a value like this doesn’t come around often, and who knows when we’ll see it again!