Les Petits Lieux Saint-Romain La Combe Bazin 2024
£48.95
The wine
An elegant and vibrant Saint-Romain, brimming with zesty citrus fruit aromas and subtle floral nuances. Textured on the palate with a marked minerality and a bright acidity that drives the flavours onto the lingering finish.
Saint-Romain was promoted from Hautes-Cotes de Beaune to a village appellation of its own in 1947, and its vineyards are among the highest on the Cote d'Or at around 410 metres. Sitting in a side valley, the aspects are more varied and less consistently south-east facing than its neighbours, which is precisely what preserves this freshness. Laure Guilloteau and Guillaume Rouget whole-bunch pressed the Chardonnay, settled and racked the must, then fermented it slowly in stainless steel on indigenous yeasts before a full malolactic and a short ageing in used 228-litre French oak.
The producer
Les Petits Lieux
View all Les Petits Lieux winesLes Petits Lieux is the Burgundy project of Laure Guilloteau and Guillaume Rouget, built on a simple idea: that the interesting wines of the Cote d'Or are no longer only in the famous names. They work with small parcels in the less fashionable communes, the petits lieux of the name, where altitude and aspect still have something to say.
Saint-Romain is the clearest example. Tucked into a side valley above Auxey-Duresses, it was only promoted from Hautes-Cotes de Beaune to a village appellation in its own right in 1947, and its vineyards sit at around 410 metres, among the highest on the Cote d'Or. The aspects are varied rather than uniformly south-east facing, so the fruit ripens later and holds its acidity, which is exactly the quality that makes these whites worth seeking out now that warmer vintages have become the norm further down the slope.
The winemaking is deliberately unshowy. Whole-bunch pressing, a long slow fermentation on indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, then a full malolactic and a short rest in used 228-litre barrels. Nothing that gets in the way of the site.
