There have been Barolets tilling the limestone soils of Saint-Romain since the 1500s, but the domaine as we know it began in 1957, when André Barolet married Huguette Pernot, an heiress to prized vineyard land in Puligny-Montrachet. For decades the family sold their best fruit to négociants, Olivier Leflaive among them.

That changed when fourth-generation vigneron Romain Barolet-Pernot took over in 2017, bringing the fruit back in-house and building a new cellar fitted with stainless steel thermoregulated tanks. Romain works alongside his parents and siblings on a 14-hectare estate that stretches across Saint-Romain, Auxey-Duresses, and Puligny-Montrachet. The transformation has been swift: what was once a reliable source of bulk fruit for famous houses is now a micro-domaine producing some of the most compelling village-level Burgundy in the Côte de Beaune.

Sous la Velle (“under the village”) is a steeply sloped vineyard on the northern end of the Saint-Romain appellation, sitting at roughly 370 meters elevation with an east/southeast exposure. The soils are hard, stony limestone, forcing vines to root deep and imparting a pronounced mineral signature. Romain’s chardonnay here is hand-harvested and pressed full-cluster, gravity settled, then fermented on indigenous yeasts in stainless steel before aging 11 months in older French oak cask.

The 2023 vintage in Burgundy was generous in both volume and sunshine, with a late-season heatwave that brought the crop to full ripeness quickly. For high-altitude Saint-Romain, that warmth filled out the wine without erasing its natural tension. Expect notes of meyer lemon zest, poached quince, tarragon, and Roman chamomile on the nose, with a silky palate that finishes on crushed chalk