Description
“Their Beaune Greves Blanc is a particular treat, a wine that only a few large houses (like Jadot and Latour) are making; it’s intense and full-fleshed, with creamy peach and a welcome cherry-pit astringency.”
Jon Bonné in The New French Wine
The Wine
Les Grèves is Beaune’s most celebrated Premier Cru — a long, mid-slope climat running south from the town, bordering Bouchard Père et Fils’s famous monopole Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus. Almost all of it is planted to Pinot Noir. Less than 1% is Chardonnay. Five producers in the entire appellation make a white Les Grèves. Le Grappin is one of them — and this is the wine Jon Bonné singled out in The New French Wine as “a particular treat, a wine that only a few large houses are making; it’s intense and full-fleshed, with creamy peach and a welcome cherry-pit astringency.”
The 2023 vintage comes from a single parcel of 50-year-old Chardonnay vines facing south on the perfect mid-slope incline of the climat — ideal sun exposure, natural drainage, and the clay-limestone soils that give Les Grèves its distinctive combination of richness and mineral tension.
Vineyard & Vintage Details
Producer: Le Grappin
Appellation: Beaune Premier Cru AOC
Climat: Les Grèves
Grape: 100% Chardonnay
Vine age: 50 years
Aspect: South-facing, mid-slope
Soils: Clay-limestone
Farming: Organically farmed
Harvest: Hand-picked
Vinification: Slowly pressed over several hours · chilled and oxidised in tank 24 hours · racked to 300L barrels
Fermentation: Indigenous yeasts · no SO2, enzymes, or nutrients
Élevage: 14 months on full lees, no stirring or spring racking · 3 months in tank
Fining / Filtration: Unfined · lightly filtered
Closure: DIAM 10
Winemaker’s Note
Andrew Nielsen, Le Grappin:
“From a rare parcel of Chardonnay mid-slope in Beaune’s most famous climat, adjacent to Bouchard Père et Fils’s monopole Les Vigne d’Enfant Jésus. These 50-year-old vines face south on a perfect incline for sunlight interception and drainage. Less than 1% of Les Grèves is planted to Chardonnay, and there are only five producers left who make a white Les Grèves. It is an honour to be one of them.”
Tasting Notes
Intense and full-fleshed on the nose — creamy peach, white flowers, a hint of toasted almond from the barrel ageing. On the palate, the richness of the south-facing mid-slope site is balanced by a mineral tension and a clean cherry-pit astringency on the finish that is entirely distinctive to this climat. Long and precise. A wine that tastes like a specific place — because it is one. Drink now through 2031.
Service: 12–14°C. Lobster, turbot, grilled scallops, roast chicken with cream sauce, aged Comté.
2023 Vintage Note
2023 produced fresh, aromatic Chardonnay across the Côte de Beaune with good natural acidity and clean, precise fruit. For a mid-slope Premier Cru site like Les Grèves — where the south aspect already generates generous ripeness — the vintage’s natural freshness provides exactly the balance the site needs. The 2023 is vibrant and accessible now but has the structure to develop for six to eight years.
About Le Grappin
Le Grappin make authentic wines from under-appreciated parcels in Burgundy and Beaujolais. They source fruit from the same single parcels of organically farmed vines each year. From their winery, in the Hautes Côtes de Beaune, they combine modern winemaking with traditional methods, eschewing additives and interventions.
The Nielsen’s started Le Grappin in 2011 following Andrew’s five-year journey working for some of the world’s great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay artisans in California, Central Otago, Burgundy, and the Yarra Valley and studying wine science. Emma joined in 2015 bringing her experience of marketing, events, and project management.
Their fruit is from vineyards farmed organically, working with the same growers each year, with some partnerships now lasting for more than 10 years. Fermentation is done with no additions, using strict sorting and hygiene to combat wine defaults, and serious vineyard work to avoid the need for sugar, acid or nutrient additions.
Whites are whole bunch pressed in hydraulic basket presses and fermented in a range of formats depending on the fruit – old oak barrels, concrete egg, wooden foudres and glass. Reds are fermented whole cluster in wood or concrete large tanks with ageing taking place in large-format old oak barrels, for up to two years depending on the vintage and the wine’s development.
Their Le Grappin labels showcase fine wines from the Côte de Beaune and Hautes-Côtes de Beaune, and Du Grappin, the more relaxed and restaurant-focused wines from Beaujolais, Mâconnais and Vézelay.
