Joseph Colin Chardonnay Bourgogne Les Hauts de la Combe 2021

Joseph Colin carries one of the great names of the Côte de Beaune — he grew up in one of the region's most renowned winemaking families; his father Marc Colin was known for decades as one of the leading producers in Saint-Aubin and the surrounding appellations, and his brother Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey is today considered one of the most famous and sought-after winemakers in the region. Against this backdrop, Joseph established his own estate in 2016, continuing the family tradition while giving it his own signature: purity, elegance, and a relentless focus on the expression of terroir. Les Hauts de la Combe is assembled from two plots in the village of Puligny-Montrachet, directly below Les Houlières near the centre of town, the vines over 50 years old, grown in clay and limestone soils thick with rocks — fermented with indigenous yeast and aged in older 500-litre barrels, unfined and unfiltered. Having started working alongside his father from a young age, Joseph knows the rocks and vines of this white Burgundy mecca like few others, tending each parcel like his own personal garden, with a hands-off approach in the cellar that lets the terroir lead. 

The wine opens with a tight, minerally, perfumed bouquet where flint and citrus set the tone; as it develops in the glass, layers of ripe apple, white blossom and a hint of almond emerge. The palate is lively and energetic, with a striking freshness and a salty note — the acidity refined, carrying the wine to a long, slightly spicy finish. Lovely ripe pears and ripe lemons on the nose, gently spicy, with great acidity and freshness and a lovely weight to the fruit — not too heady, just perfectly ripe, with a nice salty edge running through. This is Bourgogne Blanc with genuinely prestigious origins — sourced from the same hallowed ground as Puligny's grand crus, and offering a remarkably honest glimpse of what that terroir can do even at the most modest appellation level.