Domaine Michelot is one of the most established and historically significant estates in Meursault, with a continuous presence in the village across multiple generations and holdings that span Premier Cru and village-level vineyards. The ‘Elevage en Grès’ cuvée is an unusual and distinctive expression within the domaine’s range, produced from Meursault Chardonnay aged not in the conventional oak barrels of Côte de Beaune white wine production but in grès, sandstone vessels, a technique that provides the gentle oxygen exchange and textural development of barrel ageing without the aromatic influence of wood. This approach places the Michelot Elevage en Grès in a small but growing category of Burgundian whites where the emphasis falls entirely on the expression of fruit and terroir.

Ageing in grès is a historically documented practice in Burgundy that fell from favour during the twentieth century as the industry standardised around oak barrels, but which has attracted renewed interest among philosophically minded winemakers who seek to separate the oxygen exchange function of barrel ageing from the wood’s aromatic contribution. The result, in the hands of a careful producer, is a white Burgundy of unusual transparency and directness: the fruit character and terroir mineral of the Meursault Chardonnay express themselves without the vanilla, toast and spice notes that new or relatively new oak inevitably introduces. The 2018 vintage in Meursault was warm and generous, producing wines of excellent concentration, and the sandstone ageing should have captured this richness without masking it.

The Elevage en Grès cuvée represents Domaine Michelot’s most philosophically innovative wine, a conscious departure from the well-established house style that explores the potential of an alternative ageing vessel for Meursault Chardonnay of genuine quality. For collectors who follow both the Michelot estate and the broader movement towards non-wood and alternative-vessel ageing in Burgundy, this is a wine of real curiosity and significance, offering a counterpoint to the conventional barrel-aged style against which the village’s quality is usually measured.

Pale gold with a pure and direct nose of ripe peach, lemon oil, white flowers, chalk and a mineral freshness that speaks to the sandstone ageing’s transparency. Full-bodied on the palate with generous fruit concentration from the warm vintage, excellent natural acidity and a clean, precise, mineral finish without the wood-influenced notes of conventional Meursault. Drinking well now through 2030.