{"product_id":"domaine-felix-bourgogne-cotes-dauxerre-chardonnay-burgundy-france-2022","title":"Domaine Felix, Bourgogne Cotes d'Auxerre Chardonnay. Burgundy, France 2022","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI won’t mince words: I’m in love with today’s wine. It’s a convincing example of why, in 2026, I find few subsets of “value” Burgundy more exciting than the cluster of small villages surrounding Chablis, and why it’s no surprise that so many families from Champagne and more well-heeled parts of Burgundy are snatching up this area’s real estate. The finest Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre Chardonnays possess the precise limestone minerality and gorgeous golden orchard fruit commonly associated with Chablis, but without their famous neighbor’s increasingly prohibitive price tag. Today’s perfectly aged 2022 vintage from Domaine Félix is a particularly compelling example: generous enough to offer immediate pleasure, yet with perfectly chiseled limestone angles and ample structure to keep improving for years. It is not trying to imitate an expensive, barrel-y Côte de Beaune white. Instead, this beauty delivers something increasingly difficult to find, a classically styled, expertly crafted white Burgundy that (a) tastes unmistakably of where it comes from, and (b) doesn’t cost a small fortune.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eToday’s wine takes us to a frigid limestone cellar located a mere 100-minute drive south of Paris-Orly Airport. Here, the Félix family has cultivated vines in Saint-Bris-le-Vineux since at least the early 1690s, making them one of the region’s genuinely historic winegrowing families. For most of the twentieth century, however, the estate remained a modest 11-hectare farm whose grapes were largely sold to cooperatives and négociants. That changed when Hervé Félix returned home in 1987. Rather than continue selling the family’s fruit anonymously, Hervé began vinifying, bottling, and selling the wines under the family name—a comparatively pioneering decision in an area where estate bottling was still far from universal. Together with his wife, Marie-Claire, he gradually expanded the property to approximately 32 hectares across Saint-Bris, Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Irancy, and Chablis. Today, their son Olivier oversees the winemaking and viticulture, continuing a family succession that stretches back more than three centuries.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Chardonnay behind today’s exceptional wine comes from a hillside above the village of Saint-Bris-le-Vineux, only a few miles southwest of Chablis. Beneath the vines are the same broad families of Jurassic limestone that define northern Burgundy: clay-limestone soils incorporating both Kimmeridgian and Portlandian formations. This geological kinship helps explain the wine’s combination of vivid yellow orchard fruit, chalky tension, and a faintly saline finish. The grapes are pneumatically pressed and clarified before fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks, preserving the fruit’s freshness and the cool, stony character of the terroir. This bottle demonstrates how terroir is a product of both weather and site: the warm, dry, and bountiful 2022 growing season contributes appealing breadth and ripeness, but the stony tension of the soils keeps everything restrained and framed in perfect harmony.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the glass, the 2022 offers yellow apple, lemon blossom, underripe Anjou pear, and fresh almond, with quieter suggestions of pastry dough and crushed limestone emerging as the wine opens. The palate is rounded and gently creamy without becoming heavy, balancing the generosity of the vintage with bright citrus acidity and a clean, mineral finish. Serve it at 54°F in a large Burgundy stem alongside a platter of branzino piccata and whipped olive oil potatoes. This wine is completely and undeniably ready to drink today, it’s so satisfying and fully realized. Still, there is enough freshness and underlying structure to continue developing gracefully for another three to five years. Most importantly, it offers exactly what many of us still hope to discover in regional Burgundy: real family history, serious limestone terroir, and honest, deeply satisfying Chardonnay at a price that still encourages opening the bottle rather than merely admiring it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Transparent","offers":[{"title":"750ml","offer_id":47205896618140,"sku":"CAUB2607-FELIX22BOURG-750","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0694\/6937\/2572\/files\/DomaineFelix_FilsChard2022WEB.png?v=1784156004","url":"https:\/\/thecaubleist.com\/products\/domaine-felix-bourgogne-cotes-dauxerre-chardonnay-burgundy-france-2022","provider":"The Caubleist","version":"1.0","type":"link"}