Chardonnay

The vines of Domaine de La Pinte were historic until the ravages of phyllorexa had their way with the Jura. It wasn't until the 50's that local vigneron Roger Martin started to replant the vines, with the first official vintage being 1959. Today his son Pierre oversees the domaine with Bruno Ciofi and Emmanuel Perraud at the helm in the cellar. The vineyards sit 400m above sea level on the infamous blue marl of Arbois up to Château-Chalon, Pierre cultivates mainly Savignin across the 34 ha, with a few ha of Poulsard, Chardonnay, Trousseau and Pinot Noir.

Located in the Southern tip of Anjou in Haut-Layon, Château de Passavant makes 14 different wines from 55ha across 7 appellations. Certified organic since 1998 and biodynamic since 2011, current winemakers Claire and Olivier Lecomte are fourth generation vignerons at the Château, striving to maximise the potential of the incredible range of soils which include schist, sand and gravel, along with different aspects and slopes all playing their part in the formation of the wines.

Athénaïs Béru is doing pretty well for someone who never saw their future as a vigneron. The historic vineyards of Chateau de Béru, in the small village of Béru, were destroyed by Phylloxera and were only replanted by Athénaïs' father in the 1980's for the purpose of renting them out. The family who rented to vines were in a conventional way, and they sold the grapes to the local cooperative.

Charles Dufour is a relative newcomer in Champagne's rebel Aube district. He is first and foremost a wine grower, tending his own vines instead of purchasing grapes from others. His desire to create wines that are as close to nature as possible has led to him adopting unique practices in Champagne, such as having his vineyards certified organic by Ecocert, avoiding the use of industrial yeasts, rarely adding sugar and often choosing to age the wine in steel rather than barrel.

Alongside Château de Béru (the family domaine), Athénaïs Béru also expanded the operation in 2005 to include a négociant arm, 'Athénaïs', focusing on vinifying grapes from the North of Burgundy and Yonne. The wines are vinified under the Athénaïs label, and are grown organically in harmony with nature - harvested by hand and deliberately unfiltered and unfined to produce clear and focussed wines, that are true to their terroir. Oddly, however, even these wines made from grapes grown outside of Chablis, take on a precision and minerality that screams 'Chablis'.

Alice and Olivier De Moor craft seductive, addictive wines from 7.5 ha across Chablis, Saint-Bris and Chitry. It all began in 1989 when Olivier decided to plant some vines on land owned by his family. He started in Chablis with vineyards Bel Air, Clardy and Rosette. At the same time Olivier and Alice, who both studied oenology at Dijon Enological School, were working at a large Chablis estate. In the Autumn of 1994 after they had vinified the first vintage, they began renting some vines in Saint Bris.

Pierette and Marc Guillemot took over Domaine Guillemot-Michel from Pierette's parents in 1995 after studying oenology in Beaune and then Montpellier. The domaine can be found in Macon, next to Clessé in the commune of Quintaine, which is widely recognised as some of the finest terroir in the Mâconnais due to the proximity to the Saone river. Pierette's parents were early adopters of biodynamie, acheiving their certification by Demeter in 1991 and their continued commitment to the soil is impressive.

Françoise and her son Vincent are the second and third generation vignerons at Domaine Bedel, originally set up by Francoise's parents in Crouttes-sur-Marne. Their journey to biodyamic viticulture began in 1982 when Francoise sought the help of a homeopath for her son's health. Through this, she began to learn about hollistic health and agriculture and in the late 90's received the Biodynamic certificate from Ecovert and Biodvin for her 8.5 ha.

Domaine Chandon les Brailles has been preserved by the Nicolay family for nearly 200 years, today managed by François and his sister . Their 13ha vineyard, which are found in Savigny-lès-Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses and Aloxe-Corton have been certified Biodynamic since the 2008 vintage. In the cellar, the reds grapes are partly de-stemmed, whilst other bunches are left whole. The grapes are cooled to 18 degrees to avoid premature fermentation. No chemistry is permitted in the cellar apart from a small amount of SO2 before bottling.

Emmanuel Giboulot is an unusual creature in Burgundy. He used to want to be an actor before he started the complex task of creating a totally new domaine in Burgundy, not something you often see these days. Of course purchasing land in Burgundy was (and still is) eye-wateringly expensive, so Emmanuel started with less than 1ha of his father's land, which at the time was mostly planted with other crops. Since then, he has been carefully adding one parcel at a time and now has 10 ha spread over Côte Chalonnaise and Hauts-Côtes de Nuits in Beaune.