The Autumn 2024 tasting calendar kicked off in style this week with a fantastic tasting of Burgundy and Beaujolais with wine expert and Meursault resident Marine Dejaegere, supported by Jon Sabido of Les Grands Chais de France.

The first wine of the night was the Domaine Jean-Francois Protheau Montagny Les Carlins 2021. This barrel fermented Chardonnay was aromatic and complex with a fine mineral quality – just delicious.

We continued with Chardonnay for our next wine, with the Domaine Roland Sounit Rully 2022. This wine showed a ripe fruit character derived from the warm vintage in which it was grown, but retained freshness very well. It had a lovely textural quality as a result of regular lees stirring.

Our final white wine of the night was the Chartron et Trebuchet Saint-Romain 2022. Saint-Romain is located just next to the village of Meursault, and the richness of this wine really reflected that. Highly complex and incredibly concentrated, this was the favourite of our three Chardonnays.

We moved on to Beaujolais with La Compagnie Beaujolaise Chiroubles 2022. This 100% Gamay wine was light, fresh and juicy with no oak use. Its vibrancy and freshness were in part derived from the fact that Chiroubles is the highest of the 10 Beaujolais Crus.

Staying with Beaujolais, our next wine was the Hospices de Beaujeu Morgon 2023. This wine was also unoaked, but such was the spice character of the gamay grapes we struggled to believe it had only been vinified in stainless steel. A concentrated and deep wine which really expressed the characteristic intensity of Morgon.

The piece de resistance of the evening was the Hospices de Beaune 1er Cru Cuvée Nicolas Rodin 2022. This wine, which retails at £220 was utterly stunning. With highly intense red cherry fruit combined with 100% new oak, it was tasting delicious on the night but promised great aging potential.