Supremely graceful and elegant would sum this wine up. The nose is aromatic and floral with lots of fresh grapefruit tones alongside a totally compelling, fresh baked bread note. The palate is delicately balanced and the wine shows true class and pedigree in the mouth. It has a luscious sappy feel which makes the experience a lasting and complex with real depth. World-class in every sense and one of the truly great producers of this style. Drink now for up to 15 years.

The Domaine Jean-Claude Belland in Santenay is definitely a story of successful family transition. Even more, a story of permanence in thought and action, since past and future don’t exist; all that counts is the present in an indestructible father-son duo between Adrien and Jean-Claude. A sentence started by one is finished by the other. And vice-versa. The maintenance of the vines and the cellars continues inexorably according to the principles of the Belland tradition going back generations. By buying a former négociant house harbouring magnificent cellars, not far from the parental home, Jean-Claude is none the less changing a few material conditions. The need for space was in fact beginning to become urgent. Jean-Claude is organised: each phase of his work now has its own designated space, which has meant a considerable saving of time and energy in the service of quality. Meticulous, he devotes the same passion to all his tasks, whatever they may be, just as he vinifies with the same care each of his appellations, however diverse, large or small they are. For him, each one is original, different. And that’s what is most important.

The soil here is of a marly limestone composition, lying on the west-southwest slope within the village of Aloxe Corton, halfway up the celebrated Corton hillside. The parcel lying within the Belland Estate measures 0.363 hectares. It is said that Charlemagne, in noticing the favourable slope exposure, decided to plant a vineyard at that spot. The Charlemagne Cross, which commemorates the date of this decision, lies just above this particular parcel. The vines now growing were planted some 30 years ago.

A dozen appellations but only one precept: keep things simple so that each wine lets its origin show through. But how is it possible to obtain these dark Maranges with complex aromas of blackcurrant, the ruby-coloured Santenays with supple, harmonious body, these Chassagnes so concentrated that they’re like cherry extract, or the Cortons, racy and rich in complexity? Quite simply thanks to natural fermentation, a maceration of some 12 days in concrete or stainless steel vats, then raising in oak casks with only average toast. And one secret: the family know-how, which can only be passed on by word of mouth, from father to son.