2020 Domaine Dureuil-Janthial, Rully, Bourgogne Blanc, Côte Chalonnaise France.

The talented Vincent Dureuil is making some fabulous whites these days, even though the reds are very good too, and actually I know this small winery mainly for this Rully Blanc bottling, which is always an outstanding white Burgundy value, with this 2020 vintage being truly outstanding adding an extra level of depth and palate impact. As in previous vintages this gorgeous Dureuil-Janthial Rully Blanc shows off a rich and expressive medium bodied palate with lemon preserves, quince, apple, pear and faint orange fruits, along with a strong mineral intensity, a rich leesy hazelnut note, all in a slightly reductive style and with a subtle oak element that is perfectly judged. This is a brilliant pale gold Chardonnay and clearly terroir driven with mineral tones and touches of clove spice, as well as delicate florals. Up against some serious Chassagne offerings in a blind tasting of Burgundy whites, this Rully, from the Côte Chalonnaise, really held its own impressively and I highly recommend checking out all of the Domaine Dureuil-Janthial collection if given any chance. Again it would be savvy to grab some of the current releases of Domaine Dureuil-Janthial, in particular these exotic and denser 2020s, but the 2022s I hear are exceptional too.

Vincent Dureuil, who took over the Dureuil-Janthial domaine from his father Raymond in 1994, has passionately made it his mission in wine to up the game in this part of the Côte Chalonnaise, which sits just about five miles south of Chassagne-Montrachet, and especially Rully, which is a fine limestone and clay terroir. As mentioned in my prior reviews, I have also enjoyed Domaine Dureuil-Janthial’s regular Bourgogne Blanc in other vintages, and their Rully 1er Cru “Chapitre” as mentioned before, also, very much caught my attention, along with the fabulous Aligoté, which as I said above is very much worth chasing down. The winemaking at Domaine Dureuil-Janthial is pretty much a process of staying out of the way and allowing the vintage, the grapes and the vineyards do the work and the speaking in the bottle, rather than forcing anything in the cellar. Vincent Dureuil gives the grapes a soft and slow whole-cluster pressing and then racks the juice straight into exclusively used barriques where the Chardonnay ferments with only indigenous yeasts. And in most cases, the wine sees about 12 months on the lees in neutral barrel and then another 6 months in stainless steel tank before bottling, to promote transparency and keep loads of verve and tension. Rully, as I’ve said before, makes for some tasty Chardonnays that deliver some of the best bargains in White Burgundy these days, such as this one. 

($48-59 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive

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