Wine of the week: two sensational whites drinking now

(Image credit: 2017 Rully Blanc)

published 29 January 2021

2017 Rully Blanc, Monopole Clos Folie, Domaine de la Folie, Burgundy, France

I have written-up recent 2019 Burgundy En Primeur findings in various posts on my website, but we all need beauties to drink now while we are waiting for young wines to mellow. This week I have a pair of exquisite whites from two world-famous estates and they are both eminently affordable and drinking now.

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Folie’s history dates back 300 years, but the recent renaissance at this Domaine is thanks to Clémence and Baptiste Dubrulle. It was Clémence’s grandfather who made the wines famous in the Sixties and Seventies and, after a prolonged slump, they are back to stellar form. This single-vineyard creation is sensational. Planted with 40-year-old vines, this north-northeast, clay and limestone monopole is regarded as one of the finest chardonnay vineyards in the Côte Chalonnaise. With no oak in the mix, this is a pristine wine with white flowers on the nose and a racy, citrus palate.

My second choice is a hugely stylish piece of artistic winemaking: the 2017 Bourgogne Blanc Bachelet-Monnot (£19.18) bears the indelible signature of brothers Marc and Alexandre Bachelet. This is a tremendous wine with a flavour that could easily command twice the price. Layered, sexy, louche and memorable, it is the perfect counterpoint to the more straight-laced Foli

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com)

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Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’. He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.