Domaine Borgeot Bourgogne Blanc 'Clos de la Carbonade' 2023
AVAILABLE TO SHIP JULY 2025
This remarkable regional wine originates from a small, special parcel in the village of Bouzeron, owned exclusively by the exceptional winemakers at Domaine Borgeot. Though the Borgeot brothers are best known for their outstanding village and premier cru wines from Burgundy’s revered “golden triangle” in the Côte de Beaune, this offering from the Côte Chalonnaise is not to be overlooked. Don’t let its humble classification fool you.
Every year, Domaine Borgeot produces wines that consistently outperform those from far more prestigious appellations—and their Bourgogne ‘Clos de la Carbonade’ is a shining example. Affectionately known as “Clos Carb,” this single-vineyard wine is crafted from a parcel wholly owned by the Borgeots, nestled in Bouzeron, the northernmost village of the Côte Chalonnaise. Despite its understated origins, the Clos de la Carbonade continues to surprise us with its quality and character.
Lively aromas of lemon, green apple, and citrus. On the palate, this medium-bodied white Burgundy reveals a gentle creaminess, perfectly offset by a long crisp citrus finish.
BURGUNDY 2023 VINTAGE
The 2023 vintage in Burgundy was marked by abundant yields and a growing season that brought both challenges and rewards, resulting in a harvest that is notable for its charm, increasingly promising for its quality, but troubling for its irregularity.
The BIVB says it was the largest harvest in Burgundy’s history, producing approximately nearly 2 million hectoliters. This enormous crop was by and large healthy, with no signs of stress despite a record-breaking heatwave during the hottest harvest ever.
But let’s step back and look, as we do each year, at the lead-up to the that harvest.
The winter of 2022-23 was very mild and dry; the spring was mild, but wetter; summer was punctuated by storms and then came a heatwave late in the season that took the crop racing towards harvest.
So despite being perhaps less sunny that recent vintages, the heat and regular rains pushed the vines to grow rapidly and the grapes to develop, albeit without serious phytosanitary (oidium and mildew) issues, if the growers were vigilant.
That said, there were those who saw the huge crop coming, and removed lots of buds early in the growing season. This not only helped manage the yield, but it also reduced disease pressure. Some say this may have been the key to quality in 2023.
A hailstorm in mid-July hit Meursault and Volnay hard (with up to 40% loss of the crop).
The harvest saw temperatures soar, with a heatwave pushing daytime highs to around 40 C (104 F). Ripening happened at a frightening speed (one producer friend said that there were no Saturdays or Sundays during harvest). This forced some growers to pick early to preserve as much acidity as possible. The result was a vintage with abundant yields and generally healthy grapes, though quality varied depending on terroir and vineyard management.
It’s important to note that neither Pinot Noir nor Chardonnay like high temperatures and heat-wave harvests. So 2023 is yet another Burgundy vintage where you have to know who made the wine. Well-made whites at the moment are drinking brilliantly, with Chablis getting a lot of attention. The reds have developed slowly, but now, after some time in the bottle, they are loosening up. The fruit on both red and white is splashy. And the acidity levels seem good, considering the hot growing season. It may be a case of good malic acid replacing the lactic. But the results are showing charm. What vintages to compare these to? The whole is not far off of the precedent vintage, 2022 with maybe a little less class. Is particular, the reds remind me of 2017 (which is a personal favorite at the moment), and the whites are a bit like the 2018s, in their ripeness and acidity. Watch out for wines that have a green, vegetal edge; some producers got spooked by the heat and harvested too soon. But you won’t have to worry about that here at burgundywine.com. Enjoy the 2023s for what they are: ripe, juicy and voluptuous.
BOURGOGNE BLANC
REGIONAL APPELLATION OF BURGUNDY
Generally considered the generic Burgundy wine, appellation Bourgogne, both red and white, can also be thought of as the model of what Burgundy wine should be. It is produced in almost all of the winemaking communes throughout Burgundy, and from the same grape varieties as the more specific appellations. This means that simple Bourgogne has the potential to express terroir and vintage. But because it can be produced by blending wines sourced from across the region, the quality and specificity of this appellation can be questionable. On the other hand, many Bourgogne are produced within a single commune and some even from a single vineyard. So as with all Burgundy wine, you need to know its pedigree and who made it.
The appellation Bourgogne is restricted to wines grown within the defined limits of the appellation:
Yonne 54 communes
Côte d’Or 91 communes
Saône et Loire 154 communes
Wines
Bourgogne Blanc is made from chardonnay, and the grape expresses itself differently in different parts of the region. Color is generally pale gold, ideally with good density and limpidity. Oak aging can add yellow tones, and vintage variations can shift the color spectrum. Bourgogne grown in the Yonne department and the Côte d’Auxerrois tend to share characteristics with the wines of Chablis, being earthy with a dusty, smoky minerality. In the Côte d’Or, Bourgogne whites are rare in the Côte de Nuits, but bountiful in the Côte de Beaune where they tend to be nutty and honeyed with lemony acidity. Further south in the Côte Chalonnaise and the department of the Saône et Loire you find riper, more floral wines with flinty minerality.
Terroirs
This wine is generally produced on sites at the foot of the slopes, but the nature of the soil varies according to each geographical situation. In the Côte-d'Or the soils are whitish or light grey marls and marly limestones, deep and not especially stony. The Yonne, in contrast, offers sloping calcareous sites, sometimes chalky as in the Tonnerrois district or on Kimmeridgian limestone as in Chablis and the Auxerrois, while in the Chalonnais and Mâconnais the broken landscape pushes up soils composed of limestone, clay and marl. And then in the southern Saône-et-Loire, a granitic component.
Color
White – Chardonnay
Production surface area
1 hectare (ha) = 2.4 acres
776 ha
Food
Bourgogne Blanc is among the most adaptable and food-friendly wines in the world. It pairs with traditional white wine dishes like poultry, fish and shellfish, but it is amazingly good with seeming opposites like spicy dishes and oriental seasonings. We prefer it to red wine with some of the stronger cheeses. And of course, it is the aperitif wine of choice in Burgundy.