2023 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Santenay La Comme Premier Cru Blanc

2023 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Santenay La Comme Premier Cru Blanc Côte de Beaune, Burgundy, France | 100% Chardonnay

White Burgundy from Santenay is, for most collectors, an afterthought. Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey has spent two decades proving why it shouldn't be. La Comme is one of the appellation's finest Premier Cru sites, and in PYCM's hands it becomes something that transcends its address entirely — a wine of genuine tension, mineral precision, and quiet authority that demands to be taken seriously.

Operating under his own label since 2001, PYCM — the husband-and-wife partnership of Pierre-Yves Colin and Caroline Morey — was born from a union of two of Chassagne's most storied families. Pierre-Yves is the eldest son of Marc Colin, in whose cellars he served as winemaker until 2005 before striking out independently. His guiding philosophy has always been precision over opulence: not the broad, hedonistic whites that once dominated the Côte de Beaune, but something chiseled, focused, and revelatory of place. That philosophy, applied here at the southern reaches of the Côte de Beaune, yields remarkable results.

La Comme sits on the steep limestone slopes at Santenay's northern edge, directly bordering Chassagne-Montrachet. It is a south-facing Premier Cru whose stony, calcium-rich soils yield whites of rare tension for the appellation — more Chassagne in spirit than the broader, earthier expressions typically associated with the village to the south. The site is overwhelmingly planted to Pinot Noir; a white bottling from this lieu-dit is therefore an uncommon treasure, produced in minuscule quantities and offered only to those who seek it out.

Grapes are whole-cluster pressed and fermented in 350-litre demi-muids with approximately 30% new oak, with native yeasts driving fermentation in barrel. No bâtonnage is employed — PYCM favors extended lees contact over stirring, building texture and depth organically. The wines are bottled without filtration and sealed under wax, extra-long corks completing a cellaring philosophy built entirely around longevity and site transparency.

In the glass, the 2023 opens with precise aromatics of lemon zest, yellow apple, and white peach, lifted by acacia blossom and citrus blossom, with subtle hazelnut and saline nuances emerging with air. The palate is taut yet layered — ripe fruit from the warm vintage held firmly in check by a linear, driving acidity and a chalky mineral spine that is unmistakably the work of old limestone. The finish is long, focused, and finely etched, leaving a lingering impression of crushed stone and citrus oil. This is white Burgundy that earns its place at any table.

Drink: 2027–2033