Winemaker Notes
Hoffmann-Jayer’s distinctive and complex Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Blanc is a blend of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Blanc from a one-hectare parcel in Magny-lès-Villers’ Les Vallerots lieu-dit planted in the early 1950s. Two-thirds of the cuvée spends 15 months in new low-toast 350-liter barrels, and one-third ages in terracotta jar; it is then assembled and allowed to settle for six months in steel. Structured, saline, and stony, the finished wine clearly reflects the stone-riddled, steeply inclined site in which the vines are planted.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A classic source of exceptional Chardonnay as well as Pinot Noir, the Côte de Beaune makes up the southern half of the Côte d’Or. Its principal wine-producing villages are Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.
The area is named for its own important town of Beaune, which is essentially the center of the Burgundy wine business and where many negociants center their work. Hospices de Beaune, the annual wine auction, is based here as well.