Organic. The older citizens of Chardonnay near Tournus will tell you that their village provided the name for the famous Burgundy variety. What is certain is that the word “Chardonnay” comes from the Latin “cardus”, which means “thistle”—spikey plants that grow particularly well on limestone soils! The Les Crays terroir lies in the hamlet of Champvent, and the name itself, from the French for chalk (craie), gives you a clue to the nature of the soils, where white limestone rocks lay scattered throughout the clay strata. Jean-Philippe Bret tells us it is not easy to source organic vineyards in his area; he stuck gold with this 0.4-hectare parcel of 30- to 40-year-old vines. Vinified entirely in barrels in 2022, this cracking white Burgundy combines textural quince and Granny Smith fruit with a precise stony palate and fine, chalky close.

Biodynamic. This grows in a very old, genuine clos (walled vineyard) that sits on rocky, hard limestone bedrock close to the surface and is believed to be an old Roman path. The vineyard is on the lower part of the Pouilly-Vinzelles slope and is therefore classed as Mâcon-Vinzelles. The Bret brothers’ maternal grandfather purchased the site, hence the name Le Clos de Grand-Père. Speaking of maturity, some plants in this 0.7-hectare plot are now over 100 years old, and the average age is around 60 years. As is usual for this cuvée, the 2022 was mostly tank-raised—with just 10% old barrels used for maturation. From a lower-lying site that tends to deliver the most appreciable wine in the range, there is super energy this year.

Biodynamic. This wine grows in one of Mâcon’s very best sites. Les Quarts is sectioned into four lieux-dits (or historical place names): Haut, Bas, Le Clocheton and Les Quarts Touches. This is a blend of those parcels which do not make it into La Soufrandière’s Les Quarts cuvée. The vines, aged 35 to 50 years old, are a touch younger than those for the Les Quarts bottling, and this also includes a small parcel of Au Bourgeois just in front of Les Bouchardières.

Planted at 230 metres on classic Bajocian clay and Jurassic limestone, this beautiful slope has been certified biodynamic since 2006. The 2022 was vinified mainly in old barriques. The domaine uses no new oak, by the way, with the barrels in the cellar having an average age of 10 to 12 years. Along with ex-Leflaive and Lafon barrels, the Bret brothers also bought used 300-litre casks from Olivier Lamy.

This wine has always been touching 1er Cru quality, so it’s no surprise that Jean-Phillipe believes Les Quarts will likely become a certified 1er Cru from the 2024 vintage (even if this cuvée will not be labelled 1er Cru). Expect drive, satiny depth and length of flavour with beautiful, tonic freshness running throughout.

Biodynamic. This wine grows in one of Mâcon’s very best sites. Les Quarts is sectioned into four lieux-dits (or historical place names): Haut, Bas, Le Clocheton and Les Quarts Touches. This is a blend of those parcels which do not make it into La Soufrandière’s Les Quarts cuvée. The vines, aged 35 to 50 years old, are a touch younger than those for the Les Quarts bottling, and this also includes a small parcel of Au Bourgeois just in front of Les Bouchardières.

Planted at 230 metres on classic Bajocian clay and Jurassic limestone, this beautiful slope has been certified biodynamic since 2006. The 2022 was vinified mainly in old barriques. The domaine uses no new oak, by the way, with the barrels in the cellar having an average age of 10 to 12 years. Along with ex-Leflaive and Lafon barrels, the Bret brothers also bought used 300-litre casks from Olivier Lamy.

This wine has always been touching 1er Cru quality, so it’s no surprise that Jean-Phillipe believes Les Quarts will likely become a certified 1er Cru from the 2024 vintage (even if this cuvée will not be labelled 1er Cru). Expect drive, satiny depth and length of flavour with beautiful, tonic freshness running throughout.

Biodynamic. This steep vineyard is the cradle of the Soufrandière estate and one of Mâcon’s most significant sites. Ploughed mostly by horse and farmed biodynamically since 2001, it produces the Bret brothers’ most profound wines. The Bajocian-era limestone soils are high in calcium carbonate and quartz and rich in iron (giving the rock an ochre tint). There is also some granitic influence. Most of the vineyard sits on soil only 20 to 30cm deep before the roots hit the mother rock. In some sections, the topsoil can be scraped aside by hand to reveal the bare limestone. When matched with the appropriate viticulture, this results in wines with the mineral clout to cut through even the ripest, juiciest fruit.

What we love about this wine is that it’s so proudly Mâconnais—with layers of textured, voluminous fruit—yet it is also incredibly precise, with the poise, length and mineral freshness of the best Côte de Beaune whites. It helps that the mass-selection vines are aged between 50 and 80 years (with younger vine material at the site declassified into the straight Pouilly-Vinzelles).

Biodynamic. This excellent Prissé climat is one of the vineyards the Bret brothers recently purchased in partnership with Dominique Lafon. The 40-year-old vines face due east in a sheltered spot just below a small forest at the foot of the Roche de Vergisson. The vines here were recently certified biodynamic and had been organically farmed by the previous owners. It’s not hard to see why the brothers are so effusive about this patch of dirt (also home to 0.3 hectares of old-vine Aligoté). It’s a big plot of two hectares, with the rows running down a slope, so the grapes ripen in stages and must be picked in successive passes. That said, a good portion of the fruit goes to the Brets’ two experimental cuvées, Ovoïde and Carbonnode (nothing to do with our Sophie)! It ferments and ages for the first year in barrel before transferral to tank before the next harvest. The vineyard’s propensity to deliver balance between density and vibrancy is beautifully rendered this year.

Biodynamic. La Combe Desroches is one of the vineyards Soufrandière purchased in 2016. The 1.5-hectare parcel was already managed biodynamically, and six years under the Bret regime have added even more precision to this linear expression of Saint-Véran. La Combe Desroches is located at the foot of the Roche de Vergisson on the north-facing hillside of a stunning valley. The soils are eroded limestone and clay. Jean-Philippe Bret notes that the grapes “achieve lovely ripeness despite this cooler terroir”. The vines always perform well in warm, dry vintages thanks to good water storage. This cuvée is raised predominantly in tank (two-thirds of the blend) to lock in the tension.