2016 Athénaïs de Béru Bourgogne Chardonnay

Region: Mâconnais < Burgundy < France Grape: ChardonnayVineyard/cellar stats: half certified organic, half uncertified organic; 30-year old vines; one year in stainless steel on lies; bottled unfined and unfiltered with 1ppm added So2; 12% ABV Winemaker: Athénaïs de Béru We love us good white Burgundy as much as anyone, but as we’ve gotten caught up in the thrill of discovery with natural wine (off-the-radar regions + grapes! new styles! oddball producers! SQUIRREL!), Chardonnay has sort of moved to the back burner.  But the mind-blowing wines of Athénaïs de Béru remind us how f*ing GOOD Burgundy can be.   Athénaïs and her mother, Laurence, run the estate, which has been in the family for 400 years. Her father, Comte Éric de Beru, rejuvenated the land in the ’80s but passed away before being able to bring his dream to life, so the family rented it out to another farmer (sadly, a conventional one). A little over ten years ago, young Athénaïs, who was working in finance in P