Valentin Montanet is making beautiful wines from his limestone terroir in Vézelay, a beautiful hilltop village southwest of Chablis and on the same latitude as Sancerre. It is refreshing to encounter a young vigneron with such a clear-headed idea of what he wants to accomplish and how to do so. His simple-to-utter-and-not-so-simple-to-achieve goal? Make delicious, affordable, thirst-quenching wines every year.

La Châtelaine is one of La Cadette’s best cuvées. This is a beautifully-textured wine, showing that white wines of considerable elegance can be produced in this region.