Tercet, Hautes Cotes de Beaune Blanc 2022

100% Chardonnay

Burgundy, France

Direct pressed and fermented in barrel. All vinification is done with natural yeasts and with minimal sulfur additions. Elevage is traditionally executed in a combination of new and used barrels.

In the realm of natural burgundies, few winemakers command as much esteem as Marc Soyard. Originally from the Jura, he staged under Jean-Marc Bizot at domaine Bizot in Vosgne Romanee, where he learned his largely hands-off winemaking technique. His own rise to fame began with Domaine de la Cras in Dijon, a domaine owned by the city and where Marc pays his rent in bottles of wine.

Tercet is, as the name suggests, a collection of three like-minded individuals. Marc helms the projects, while his collaborators Florent Lambert and Vincent Zuber are responsible for sourcing pristine fruit throughout the region. That both Lambert and Zuber are also excellent winemakers should be noted – Lambert produces wine eponymously, while Zuber is the premier choice for bottling natural wine in Burgundy and helms Grain de Vin, another painfully hip micro-negociant. Despite his partners’ winemaking chops, there’s little doubt that the wines of Tercet are, ultimately, Marc’s.

All wines are vinified and bottled by Marc Soyard at his cellar in Plombières-lès-Dijon using indigineous yeasts and minimal intervention. Several of the cuvées are made from grapes grown by one of the partners in vineyards they farm themselves, while others are vinified using organically farmed grapes purchased from friends.

What emerges from the cellar is, frankly, Burgundy like we wish we could always drink – vibrant and living and redolent of earth. The wines are intense and sublime, beautiful in a hollow-hill or fairy-circle way. They are the sort of wines that accidentally become the centerpiece of a conversation, rather than a mute accompaniment, especially with the unwinding of air or age. Tercet is a purely delicious expression of the salient terroirs of Burgundy, carefully selected and expertly crafted.