Wines from Auxey Duresses

Situated in the Cote de Beaune, where smaller valleys cut through the ridge of vineyards that flow down from the Cote de Nuits, the 140 ha of vineyards of Auxey-Duresses lie within such a deep cleft of the ridge, slicing westwards for a mere 3km from the outskirts of Meursault into the hills where a mesoclimate gives a degree more warmth, the aspect is south east facing, or the better vines, and the soil is an ideal combination of limestone under a scraping of reddish clay for the higher vineyards, with thicker clay and marl soils lower down. What makes Auxey-Duresses so unique however, is its ability to make wines similar in style to a good Meursault, but with a degree more bracing acidity, elegance and lightness of touch, less honeyed and a little more saline – making a dry white with less ageing, but more appeal earlier in its life.