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.

Champ Pourot sits at the southern end of the Givry appellation, just north of Buxy, and spreads across two slopes. Maxime's chardonnay grows near the road on south-facing clay, with vines averaging about 20 years old, while his pinot noir lies farther in. His holdings here are tiny, and production typically runs under 1,000 bottles. That is a small amount of white from an appellation that has long focused on red wine.

The 2023 shows lemon curd, honeysuckle, and acacia, with a silky, medium-bodied palate and a finish that stretches on. Maxime notes that the oak in this wine always needs time to integrate, so a year or two in the cellar or a generous decant will pay off. Best through 2032.