Jerome Fornerot Saint-Aubin Champ-Tirant 2021

The Fornerot family has been tending vines in Saint-Aubin for over 500 years, but it wasn’t until recently that Jérôme stepped out from the shadow of selling grapes to the big négociants to bottle these gems under his own label.

The 2021 “Champ-Tirant” is a spectacular example of why Saint-Aubin is no longer just “the affordable neighbor” to Chassagne and Puligny—it’s a destination in its own right. This isn’t a shy Chardonnay. Despite the challenging 2021 vintage, which was marked by frost and lower yields, the quality here is startlingly high.

Balanced and remarkably fresh, you get a beautiful interplay of bright lemon zest and savory tarragon, rounded out by a very subtle, integrated oak influence that suggests toasted hazelnuts. It captures the tension and cut we look for in great white Burgundy while maintaining a core of ripe fruit. It’s a bottle that punches well above its village-level weight class, offering a level of sophistication usually reserved for much pricier Premier Crus.