Winemaker Notes
The wines are put into oak barrels using gravity in the estate's ancient vaulted cellar. Ageing lasts for between 12 and 14 months for the red wines and 10 and 14 months for the white wines. By then, the wines have developed their full complexity and thus express the best of the terroir in which they are grown.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2023 Jean-François Protheau Bourgogne Chardonnay displays a medium straw hue and offers aromas of sun-warmed stones, chalk, and ripe stone fruits. On the palate, it is lively and textured, revealing nuances of dried peach and mineral undertones that carry through to a crisp, balanced finish. A superb match with Poulet de Bresse à la Crème et aux Morilles—the classic Burgundian chicken in a morel and cream sauce—where the wine’s freshness and minerality beautifully cut through the dish’s rich, earthy flavors. (Tasted: October 10, 2025, San Francisco, CA)
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.
The most acclaimed region of Burgundy, the Côte d’Or is defined by a long, limestone escarpment beneath the ground's surface and is home to all of Burgundy’s most famous wines. While Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are produced throughout the Côte d’Or, the north tends to excel at Pinot Noir and the south, at Chardonnay.
The northern half of the Côte d’Or is called the Côte de Nuits. Here reside most of the Pinot noir Grands Crus vineyards of Burgundy—the only one farther south, in Côte de Beaune, is Aloxe-Corton.
The Côte de Beaune is the center all of the Chardonnay Grands Crus with the exception of Le Musingy, found in Chambolle-Musigny in the Côte de Nuits, which produces both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with Grand Cru status.