100% Aligoté

Food pairings: Oysters and shellfish, grilled sole or other white fish, goat cheese, Comté, herb salads, and as a bright aperitif.

Winemaking: Hand-harvested in the morning. The grapes are lightly crushed before a long press, then settle for about a day before racking to French oak. Fermentation and malolactic fermentation proceed with indigenous yeasts and without sulfur in 228 L and 300 L barrels. The wine ages about a year in barrel, then several further months in stainless steel before bottling.

Vineyards and terroir: From the La Côte de Nantoux plot in the Haute Côte de Beaune (Maranges area), on calcium-rich limestone. The vines are massale-selection Aligoté averaging about 35 years of age. Pascal farms the domaine biodynamically.

Family and history: Nerthus is the white-wine label of Pascal Roblet of Domaine Roblet-Monnot in Volnay. Roblet took over the family domaine in 1990 and has farmed biodynamically since 1997; the wines are made in his small cellar in Bligny-lès-Beaune. The name Nerthus nods to an ancient earth goddess—fitting for a grower who works the Hautes-Côtes limestone with horse and plow.

In the pictures: Pascal Roblet drawing a sample in his Bligny-lès-Beaune cellar; barrels and cellar notes in the domaine's working chai (photos: The Sorting Table, importer press kit).