2016 Thierry et Pascale Matrot Chardonnay Bourgogne Blanc 750 ml

Burghounds and lovers of outstanding Chardonnay, pay heed: The fourth-generation Matrot family is turning out some of the greatest, glossiest white Burgundy values in a generation. 

The 2016 Thierry et Pascale Matrot Chardonnay Bourgogne Blanc, crafted from 30-year-old vines just outside Meursault and aged in oak, is sensational at $25 a bottle. Round and rich and structured, imparting a springtime rush of clotted cream, poached pear, yellow flowers, and crushed stone, this mini-Meursault punches way above its weight class.

The New York Times has praised Matrot’s Bourgogne Blanc as classic in style, embodying the “intrigue to invite repeated sips in search of the mysterious flavors at the heart of good white Burgundy.” The domaine is one of the oldest estate-bottlers in Burgundy, and their cuvées off the legendary vineyards of Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet—Les Perrières, Charmes, Les Chalumeaux—are often booked up by white Burg obsessives before the critics have weighed in.  

Market demand for affordable Burgundy has built up beneath years of steadily rising prices and vintages of depressingly scarce yields. So it comes as no surprise to us that the wines of Thierry et Pascale Matrot—a label we see in the cellars of serious collectors and in the fridges of smart bargain-hunters—have proven explosively popular with Wine Access members. Our last offer for their Les Chevalières sold out in a day!

The vineyards, behind this family-run estate (which began in 1914) have been farmed organically since 2000. Today, they put out fresh, precise fruit, and the grapes undergo a long fermentation in barrel, resulting in tremendous complexity. A spring frost lowered yields in 2016, but what made it into the barrels was uniformly excellent. Sisters Elsa and Adèle, who are stewarding the estate in its modern era, told us it was a vintage of strong bones, well-equipped for aging—on the drier, more elegant side compared to the richer 2015 Burgundies. 

Today’s bottle, the product of generations of winemaking prowess, is hands-down one of the best values coming out of Burgundy, and we expect it to sell accordingly.