Our first tranche of Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey wines from the fabulous 2023 vintage included very few whites, as Pierre-Yves (now ably assisted by his two sons) has decided to hold most of them back in the cellar for release next year. But there was one real Easter egg in our tiny parcel: 24 bottles of the PYCM Bourgogne Blanc Hautes-Côtes de Beaune. This unique and exciting white comes from a singular site, one of the coolest (literally) and highest along the top of the escarpment west of the Côtes de Beaune appellation, a 450-meter high, southwest-facing hill called Bout du Monde. Perfectly suited for Burgundy’s ‘new’ climate (i.e. much warmer), the fruit from these 20-year old Chardonnay vines was handled in the cellar in the same way as his vaunted Saint-Aubins, of which there is a startling stylistic resemblance. The grapes were fermented in 350-liter barrels—10% of which were new—and aged 14 months on their lees.

The finished wine, at a modest 12.5% ABV, is a beautifully rendered white Burgundy that shows a surprising amount of chutzpah for an appellation more known for elegance. The fruit is based on apple, pear and stone fruit with an infusion of Meyer lemon and a simply gorgeous salty, siphoned-through-stone finish that will definitely thrill lovers of PYCM’s far more expensive cuvées.

Drink young, and not too cold, for its richness and flamboyance, or keep a few bottles back for several years to integrate all that minerality back into the wine. This is truly lovely!