Charodon is the project of Louis Vallet, working with his brother Thibault and their father Bernard. The Vallet family is rooted in Gevrey-Chambertin, where Bernard remains a part-owner of the storied Domaine Pierre Bourrée, but Louis went his own way: years as a flying winemaker, vintages in the southern hemisphere, time alongside Pascal Marchand and Bernard Zito. He made his first 1,200 bottles of Charodon in 2010 in the family's château just outside Beaune in Montagny-lès-Beaune, and by 2022 production had grown more than thirty-fold. The wines are fruit-forward and generous, made with hand-harvested grapes, indigenous yeast fermentations, and a measured hand on extraction.

Les Chouacheux sits on the southwestern edge of Beaune, a 1er Cru bordering Pommard. The name derives from old French for a place where willows grow, and the site is walled, gently sloped, and planted on a brown clay-limestone soil that gives wines built around finesse rather than power. Louis sources pinot noir from old vines here, vinifies in tank with regular punchdowns, and ages the wine in French oak with a small portion of new barrels.

2022 was the vintage Louis had been waiting for after a frustrating, frost-shortened 2021: warm, sunny, and generous, with full ripening across his range. The Chouacheux 2022 leads with bright cherry and raspberry, a kiss of rose petal, and a frame of fine tannin and gentle spice.