White Burgundy for Christmas

A fresh, taut and lemony chardonnay with good grip. Fermented and matured half in foudres of about 2,000 litres and half in 500-litre barrels.

Ripe and fruity Bourgogne in the apple and melon spectrum with a ripe and creamy palate. About 20% comes from the cooler Hautes Côtes vineyards for freshness, with the rest mainly from vineyards classified as Bourgogne situated on the land below Meursault and Puligny.

This is a rich, gentle wine with a natural concentration coming from 1.5ha of vines principally planted in the 1930s, 1945, 1947 and a little in the 1980s. Fermented and matured for seven months in a combination of a wooden vat (43hl) and 228-litre barrels.

From an excellent vineyard in Chasselas, Burgundy, this has a concentrated, rich flavour balanced by an appley freshness. Fermented and matured in 500-litre barrels for eight months.

Richly flavoured and intense wine made from four parcels of old vines, covering 2 hectares and averaging 65 years of age. Fermented then matured for a year in 228-litre barrels, before six months or longer in stainless steel, this has wonderful salty minerality and length. Olivier Merlin is the best grower in Mâcon La Roche Vineuse and runs his 20-hectare domaine with his wife Corinne and sons Théo and Paul.

From third-generation family grower, Les Malandes, this is a pure, crisp Petit Chablis with refreshing green-apple and white-peach flavours. Fermented and matured in stainless steel for eight to 12 months, it has lovely persistence and a salty minerality; it is deliciously easy drinking. Today, the estate cultivates 29 hectares of vines, including Petit Chablis in Beines and Lignorelles.