Château Saint Martin

Our eyes lit up when Benoît Riffault of Puligny’s Domaine Etienne Sauzet first mentioned he was taking over a domaine in the Jura. Our excitement only grew as we learned more about the project, then reached fever pitch when, last autumn, we finally tasted the wine! The previous proprietor of Château Saint Martin, an aesthete and artisan who tended the vines meticulously, bequeathed to Benoît a cellar of extraordinary Savagnins aged sous voile for no fewer than 13 years. The 2009 Château Chalon, of which just 600 bottles were made, is the first release under Benoît’s stewardship – and is offered exclusively in the UK by Flint. Hailing from a 0.7 hectare parcel in the Clos Bacchus, its breath-taking combination of depth, complexity, minerality and elegance is reminiscent, in Benoît’s considered opinion, of a great Chevalier-Montrachet.