From: Grand Auxerrois, Burgundy, France
Varietal: Chardonnay
Tasting Notes: Subtle aromas of bright lemon, white flowers, almond, and hints of toast. The wine has a lean mineral entry on the palate, which showcases flavors of crisp pear and lemon zest and a slight honeyed character with plenty of acidity and a gorgeous salinity on the finish.
Pairing: If you’re serving this wine as an aperitif, we recommend trying it with gougères (savoury choux pastry bites with cheese) for a fabulous regional pairing. Other riffs on regional pairings include Jambon beurre sandwiches, or even a classic eggs benedict if you want to do a classy breakfast for dinner (see recipe below). As always with Chablisienne wines like this, oysters will play beautifully on this wine’s minerality, acidity, and soft fruit. The same goes for a myriad of fresh PNW seafood dishes, including crab, halibut, and mussels.
Eggs Benedict
By Alison Roman
About. The Gueguen (gay-gan) family is based in the hamlet of Préhy, just 7 km southwest of Chablis. Céline is the daughter of one of Chablis’ largest producers, Jean-Marc Brocard. Her husband Frédéric was the vineyard manager for the Brocard estate, and with the help of Jean-Marc they purchased their own domaine in 2003. They made excellent wines from this estate while Fred continued running the vineyards and co-managing the Brocard operation, until a family rupture tore everything apart in 2012. This led them to establish their own domaine, Famille Gueguen, in January 2013 with the purchase of a number of excellent vineyard parcels, including some very nice pieces of well-situated Chablis and two Chablis 1er Crus.
The domaine farms 36 hectares of vines located in the Chablis appellation and the surrounding Auxerrois region—specifically in the villages of Chichée, la Chapelle Vaupelteigne, Saint-Bris and Irancy. Céline and Frédéric have set up a B&B in their home to further share their passion about sharing their knowledge to visitors, and have set up a B&B in their home.
They operate with a respect for tradition and the fragility of the terroirs they work in, aiming first and foremost to preserve the aromatic complexity of their wines and to take care of the environment. Famille Gueguen has had the Haute Valeur Environnementale (HVE) level 3 sustainability certification since 2018, and starting with the 2023 harvest their wines will be certified organic (Biologic Agriculture).
This cuvée is named "Côtes Salines,” meaning salty slopes, in reference to the wine’s particularly mineral character. It comes from a 7.5 hectare plot of south-west facing Chardonnay vines planted at 240 meters above sea level in the village of Préhy. The vines are at least 30 years old on average, which means they’ve had ample time to dig deep into the vineyard’s limestone soils. No wood was used in the winemaking process.
