Maxime Cottenceau comes from a long line of growers in Buxy, the southern Côte Chalonnaise town whose wines were once favored by the monks of Cluny. For generations, though, his family sold every grape to the local cooperative. After three years working alongside Vincent Dureuil at Domaine Dureuil-Janthial in Rully, Maxime founded his own domaine in January 2018, while still in his early twenties. His parents pulled some of their best parcels out of the cooperative so he could make wine under the family name for the first time. The early years tested him: frost took half the 2019 crop and 90 percent of 2021. Even so, Wine Advocate's William Kelley was soon urging importers to “beat a path to his door.” Maxime now farms about six hectares organically, timing his work in the vineyard and cellar to the lunar calendar. Every white is made the same way, from aligoté to premier cru. Each ferments with indigenous yeasts in barrel (30 percent new) and then spends a year on its full lees with monthly stirring. He deliberately leaves about three liters of air in each barrel, because he believes the more you shield a white wine from oxygen, the more fragile it becomes. The wines then rest in stainless steel before a light filtration, bottling by gravity, and just a touch of sulfur.

Les Verchères lies in Saint-Vallerin at the southern end of Montagny, a parcel of deep soil planted in the 1960s by local grower Jean Vacher. The appellation is known for its southeast-facing slopes, but these vines face due north. That cool exposure lets the chardonnay ripen slowly and hold its freshness, which was quite an advantage in a vintage as warm as 2023.

The 2023 opens with lemon, fresh ginger, and grilled corn, plus a touch of roasted chestnut from the barrel. The palate is juicy and bright, rounded by its time on the lees, and it finishes on a clean, stony line. Enjoy through 2030.