At Tanners we consider Burgundy to be the most important white wine-producing region in the world.

The elegance of a good Chablis, the butteriness of a Pouilly-Fuissé or a Mâcon Blanc and the exotic weight of a great Puligny-Montrachet or Meursault seem to still hold a magic sway over white wine lovers. All are made from Chardonnay, although we do normally have a couple of Aligoté wines as well to complete the range.

The small town of Chablis sits in a bowl in rolling countryside half way between Beaune and Paris. The surrounding area produces green-tinged, elegant Chardonnays whose style and poise has yet to be matched anywhere in the world. The best come from the steeper premier and grand cru slopes around the town and they can age surprisingly well. Jean Durup at Domaine des Valery assembled a large 140 hectare domaine which is now ably run by his son Jean-Paul and manager Michel Poitout. Daniel Defaix at Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix in Milly makes very flavoursome Chablis, keeping the young wines on their lees for extended periods and releasing them when mature.

Stéphane Moreau of Moreau-Naudet was a Tanners discovery and we love his flinty, citrussy wines which, in contrast to Durup and Defaix, are fermented in barrel. Over many years we have built up a wonderful following for the exquisite wines of Vincent Dauvissat (and his father René before him). He is recognised as one of the very top addresses in Chablis, and we sometimes have some on our Oddments List. Jumping to the far south of Burgundy, the wines of the Mâconnais tend to be deeper in colour and broader in stature than burgundies from Chablis and the Côte de Beaune. Typical is the great value Mâcon-Chardonnay from wife and husband Mallory and Benjamin Talmard. The Guillemot-Michels at Quintaine near Clessé work a small vineyard by organic methods to great effect.

Recently we spent a fascinating day with Dominique Lafon touring his various vineyards in the area. His wines are bottled under the name Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon, and now sell out almost as quickly as his Meursaults. Château de Fuissé is a grand old property and a good source of Pouilly-Fuissé and Saint-Véran. Here Jean-Jacques Vincent is increasingly handing over to his children and son-in-law. Nearby in Davayé, go-ahead brothers-in-law, Christian Collovray and Jean-Luc Terrier produce very flavoursome wines by stirring up the lees into their wines. Up the hill Maurice and Nadine Guerrin make very elegant, almost Chablis style wines in the spectacular high country surrounding the village of Vergisson.

Travelling north, before reaching the Côte d’Or, you pass through the Côte Chalonnaise, an area of rolling hills, mixed farming and sleepy villages. The white wines have much of the finesse of the nearby Côte de Beaune and are often extremely good value. Montagny is a white wine appellation dominated by the standard-bearing Caves de Buxy, producers of the elegant Montagny 1er cru Les Loges. Paul Jacqueson and his daughter Marie make wines at Rully which compare well with many a well-bred Meursault, their intensity matched by an adept use of oak.

Good growers in the outlying, lesser-known Côte de Beaune villages can produce wines with many of the characteristics of Puligny-Montrachet or Meursault, especially in warmer years. At Rémigny just across the canal from Santenay, there is Domaine Borgeot, run by whirlwind Laurent Borgeot and up in Saint-Aubin, we buy one white from the village’s long-time mayor, Gérard Prudhon of Henri Prudhon et Fils who is now aided by his two sons. Highly recommended is the Saint-Romain from keen sportsman Alain Gras, as a classic, elegant white burgundy. Down the valley, infectiously enthusiastic Michel Prunier makes white Auxey-Duresses which has a decidedly more exotic, apricot character.

Staying in the Côte de Beaune but moving to its northern end, the famous grand cru of Corton-Charlemagne occupies a curving, stony hillside and, in good hands, produces wines of great concentration which have a bewitching combination of flinty backbone and exotic richness. We normally keep examples from Rollin et Fils, Domaine Chandon de Briailles, and occasionally Corton specialist, Bonneau du Martray. Rémi and Simon Rollin also make superb white Pernand-Vergelesses as do François de Nicolay and his sister, Claude, at Chandon de Briailles.

Tanners has several suppliers in the large village of Meursault. For over 25 years we have bought the delicious, age-worthy wines of Henri Germain, whose son Jean-François now makes the wines. His younger brother Eric is chef de cave for Vincent Girardin who fashions a big range of showy white burgundies in a large winery in Meursault ‘Bas’. Round the corner, Domaine Buisson-Charles, a small, father and daughter enterprise is making lovely Meursaults to drink or keep.
The mineral, aristocratic wines of Puligny and Chassagne-Montrachet provide superb medium to long-term drinking. In Chassagne-Montrachet the wines of Paul Pillot have impressed us and make a worthy addition to the range. Paul’s children, Thierry and Chrystelle, have both done work experience in the New World. Etienne Sauzet is one the very best white burgundy addresses and here Gérard Boudot has supplied Tanners with an array of fine Puligny-Montrachets and grand crus since the 1980 vintage. His daughter Emilie and son-in-law are increasingly involved. We have bought wines from Domaine Leflaive for almost as long, initially from Vincent Leflaive and now from Anne-Claude Leflaive who is a standard bearer for the bio-dynamic movement.

The fortunes of some of the large merchant houses of Beaune have waxed and waned over the years but one who has built upon a fine reputation for reliable whites is Louis Latour whose show case cellars are in Aloxe-Corton. We also pick out Moret-Nominée where David Moret’s brilliant wines are made from grapes taken from some of the very best growers, and Nicolas Potel of Beaune whose Roche de Bellene whites just get better and better.

James Tanner