Domaine Balland-Curtet

In Burgundy, many of the greatest parcels in the top villages aren’t always owned by the same people who tend the vines and make the wines from those parcels. This practice of “metayage” is a long tradition where the person who owns the vineyard will allow a domaine to farm the vines and make the wines for a return of a portion of the crop in the form of finished wine. Burgundy insiders know this is a great way to purchase wines from top growers for sometimes lower prices than the same wine under the domaine’s own label. For Domaine Balland-Curtet, Guy Balland is the owner of some of the greatest parcels in St. Aubin, Chassagne-Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault, and has a metayage agreement for those parcels with one of the most respected names in all of Burgundy. While the identity of the producer of these wines has to remain secret, they are made by a historic domaine that Burgundy fans know and love and are normally hard to come by. This producer farms using organic practices, working the soil minimally to preserve the microbiome. The grapes are crushed hard and fast to retain as much gross lees as possible and put directly into barrel for fermentation. The wine is left to age in barrel for 12-18 months depending on the cuvee and then bottled unfined and unfiltered. For those looking for hauntingly pure, long-lived white Burgundy from some of the top parcels in the Côte de Beaune, at prices well below what they would be under their original label, Balland-Curtet is a name to remember.