100% Chardonnay

Food pairings: Roast chicken or veal in a cream sauce, grilled fish and scallops, shellfish, mushroom dishes and soft-ripened cheeses.

Winemaking: The grapes are pressed in a pneumatic press and the must is settled before fermentation, which lasts about four weeks. In 2024, 55% of the must was fermented and aged in French oak barrels, a quarter of them new, with regular stirring of the lees, and the rest in stainless steel; the wine aged for 16 months in all. The 2024 season was one of the wettest in decades and cooler than normal, but a drier, sunnier July and August allowed slow, even ripening, and a rare warm north wind just before harvest concentrated the grapes.

Vineyards and terroir: Clos Rochette has belonged exclusively to Domaine Faiveley since 1933, making it a monopole. The southeast-facing parcel lies next to La Framboisière in Mercurey in the Côte Chalonnaise. Its hard, compact clay-limestone soils, scattered with small stones and difficult to plough, gave the climat its name; the rock breaks the surface here and gives the wine its structure and character. The vines were planted in several stages from 1960 onward, and the vineyard is farmed organically, with certification beginning with the 2025 vintage.

Family and history: The Faiveley family has lived and made wine in Nuits-Saint-Georges since 1825, for seven generations, and is today one of the largest vineyard owners in Burgundy, with holdings from the Côte de Nuits to the Côte Chalonnaise. Erwan Faiveley took over the running of the domaine at the age of 25, more than 15 years ago, and was joined by his sister Eve in 2014; together they have put the focus on vineyard work, organic life in the soils and reducing the domaine's environmental footprint.

In the pictures: The Faiveley family (courtesy of Domaine Faiveley); and Domaine Faiveley's winery at La Framboisière in Mercurey (photo: Nanzig, 2018, CC BY-SA 4.0).