Les Monts· Hautes Côtes de Beaune

High above Beaune, where the topsoil thins to almost nothing over limestone scree, Julien Cruchandeau has built something small and exact. Les Monts sits at 380 to 420 metres, altitude that used to be a liability in Burgundy and, in a warming climate, has quietly become an asset.

The whole project turns on a single monopole, Les Crucibées, planted in red and white. Julien ploughs by horse, uses no new oak, and ferments everything whole-bunch, so the wines arrive vivid and unmasked: wild strawberry and crushed stone in the rouge, an almost Chablisian cut in the blanc.

These are not grand wines and do not pretend to be. They are pure, high-toned, and built on freshness, the 2023 a near-perfect expression of the address. I import Les Monts because cold-climate Burgundy of this honesty, at this price, is exactly where I want to be spending attention now.