It was no easy task to make wine in Chablis in 2021. Spring frosts, heat spikes, and fungal fears were all the names of the game that reduced yields considerably. Fortunately, despite the vineyard challenges the best producers made outstanding wines, and Patrick Piuze checks all the boxes. Mont de Milieu spans just over 100 acres on limestone rich soils over Kimmeridgian clay and is a widely regarded as a top premier cru site. The south facing slopes provide ample sunshine, which in turn provide greater depth and fruit concentration compared to other 1ers in the region. This is a chiseled and precise Chardonnay beaming with notes of apple, pear, ripe citrus, beeswax, oyster shell, and chalk. With so much fruit at the core it’s impressive that this wine manages the vibrant acidic tension it achieves. Decant if drinking now, but don’t hesitate to cellar for up to a decade.

Pairings: Dungeness crab, butter poached seabass, scalloped potatoes with root vegetables