Burgundy Club - March 2026

March in Denver still calls for wines with real structure. This month’s pair nails it: a Chablis that feels almost surprisingly weighty in the middle but still finishes like Chablis should, and a high-altitude Marsannay that’s basically the argument for why the village is overdue for a 1er cru promotion.

White Wine: Paul Nicolle Chablis 1er Cru Les Fourneaux 2022
As with many Chablis 1er crus, Les Fourneaux isn’t one single parcel. The 1er Cru name can be used for fruit from three climats: Les Fourneaux, Morein, and Côte des Prés-Girots. This bottling comes from Côte des Prés-Girots, the steep, directly south-facing piece of the group. That exposure matters in Chablis. It pushes ripeness and gives a broader, more complete mid-palate than the leaner, more razor-only expressions people associate with the region.

The production choices make that extra breadth feel earned rather than manufactured. The wine is fermented and aged in stainless steel and kept on lees to build texture, not oak flavor. That lees work is exactly why the palate can feel almost plush for Chablis, even brushing up against riper fruit tones that read a little tropical for a second. But it never loses the plot. The acidity is the whole point here, and it’s what makes the wine special. It pulls the richer mid-palate back into line and keeps the finish dry, chalky, and saline, the kind of ending that makes Chablis addictive instead of merely pleasant.

Red Wine: Michel Naddef Marsannay Champs Perdrix 2023
Champs Perdrix is one of the highest-lying sites not just in Marsannay, but in the broader Côte d’Or, and the altitude shows up in the wine. Higher vineyards in the Côte de Nuits tend to mean thinner soils, more limestone influence, cooler nights, and a profile that leans toward perfume and structure rather than easy sweetness. This is also a site that will almost certainly be classified as 1er cru once Marsannay’s long-discussed promotions finally land, and it’s hard to argue against it when tasting wines like this.

A quick word on the producer because it matters for how this wine will read going forward. Michel Naddef is the next generation at the family’s Fixin-based domaine and has been steering the winemaking for years, with a full handover occurring when his father Philippe stepped back more recently. The headline changes are practical and quality-driven rather than trendy: much more emphasis on keeping fruit pristine before it ever reaches the cellar, more sorting done at the vineyard, and measured experimentation with whole clusters to lift aromatics and refine tannin feel. The style direction is clear: less heavy-handedness, more precision, and a more transparent expression of site, even in wines that still carry Côte de Nuits depth.

In the glass, this should land as Marsannay with real definition: red and darker-leaning fruit held in check by freshness, a floral edge, and a finish that feels stony and persistent rather than plush. 2023 gives enough charm to be enjoyable young, but Champs Perdrix is built to tighten up and get more convincing with a few years down. This is exactly the kind of Marsannay that stops reading like “value Burgundy” and starts reading like Burgundy.

That’s all for March. April will shift the mood again, but the theme will stay the same: wines that taste like where they’re from.