Burghound 91
"Once again there is a plethora of floral elements adding breadth to the white peach, just sliced citrus and subtle oak nuances. The sleek, intense and stony middleweight flavors possess a lovely sense of underlying tension that is even more prominent on the lemony, clean and very dry finale."

The Wine
Practicing Organic
100% Chardonnay
En Crches sits downslope from Pouilly-Fuiss La Roche
35+ year old vines in Davay bordering Vergisson
320 meter site with clay topsoil and the limestone very close.
Focused, lean and mineral. Delivers the complexity of La Roche with vigor and intensity.
Indigenous yeast
Aged in 70% barrel (10% new) and 30% 600 liter barrels

The Estate
La Roche de Vergisson is hard to miss when driving south from the Cte dOr to the hamlet of Vergisson. The massive rock looms over the small town like a massive ships prow. On almost all sides are some of the finest Chardonnay vines in France in Vergisson that means exclusively Pouilly-Fuiss (Mcon-Vergisson La Roche being the only exception.) This is the epi-center for intense, mineral driven French Chardonnay.

Location is everything. On a clear day it possible to see Mont Blanc from these rocks. Peaking at 485 meters,, these are the highest altitude vineyards in the entire appellation (which means grapes ripen slowly and retain more acidity in the cooler climate). Everything that is needed to make world-class Chardonnay is found in this town, with all of the vineyards containing about twelve inches of dirt before you hit solid bedrock.

Lying in the shadow of this grand rock, is one of the finest estates in all of Burgundy and unquestionably the master of Vergisson, Domaine Daniel et Julien Barraud. With holdings in the BEST and oldest vineyards in the region, the wines are a PhD level course in world-class Chardonnay.

The viticultural history of the Barraud family began in 1905, when Jean-Marie Barraud first purchased parcels in Vergisson, the highest point in the Mconnais. Since that time, Daniel Barraud, along with his son Julien and wife Martine (the master of the vines), have turned his familys domaine into THE benchmark producer of the region and a must-have for all Burgundy lovers. The heights reached by this storied producer mandate that they must now be compared to the best of the Ctes dOr. This is simply white Burgundy at its finest and most reasonably priced.

Farming Practice:Practicing Organic