Aubert de Villaine, now retired, long directed Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) further north in Vosne and established his own domaine with wife Pamela back in the 1971. That same almost monastic devotion to detail defines the wines here—and the proof, as always, is in the glass.

The estate expanded to nearby Rully in 2015 with the purchase of several top vineyard sites and a winery. While they now farm several Rully Premier Crus, what got my attention is the lieu dit called Les Saint Jacques, the same Saint Jacques as the iconic Clos Saint Jacques Premier Cru Domaine de La Folie farms, only on the other side of the stone wall. Due to a longstanding potassium deficiency in the soil, yields in this vineyard have to be slashed to fully ripen; with those small yields comes amazing concentration and all of Rully’s trademark noble austerity and class.

This, indeed, is a baby Chassagne-Montrachet in terms of its relative weight and palate presence. Sleek, nuanced and just simply lovely, this too made me want to dig into a rich Epoisse cheese or some kind of poultry stew. Also a ‘drink now or hold’ wine, this will reward being left alone in the cellar for about five or six years. Very highly recommended.