Wine Details
This is the kind of Chardonnay that does not need to raise its voice. The first smell is all brightness and cut: fresh lemon, green apple, cold stone, and the faintest flicker of toast in the background. Nothing heavy. Nothing glossy. Just a clean, vivid rush of energy that makes you sit up a little straighter.
Then the wine starts to build.
There is richness in the middle, but it is tucked in neatly. Bright lemon fruit, a chalky mineral pull, a cool line of acidity, and that lovely glass-emptying snap at the end. It has the shape and restraint you might expect from the Fourrier world, but with L’Étoile’s own Jura charge running straight through it.
It feels close enough to Burgundy to make you smile, then just different enough to make you pour another glass.
Technical
The yields here were tiny, just 10hl/ha, giving the wine real concentration without losing its bright, mouth-watering edge. Fermentation begins in steel before malolactic fermentation and ageing in barrel, with no new oak used. Instead, Louis works with old barrels from the Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin estate, including 2023 barrels, giving texture and a subtle savoury frame without covering the fruit.
