Challenging the three Cs of Christmas, part 3: Côte de Beaune

It’s a brave soul who reaches for anything other than white Burgundy to pair with the Christmas bird. These wines are the golden wunderkinder of the French wine scene: delightfully playful yet destined to age with grace and near universal admiration. They’re so much about terroir, micro-terroir even, that it seems heresy to think of them as Chardonnays. But Chardonnays they are. Unlike taut and coiled Chablis, Burgundy’s more southerly Côtes mellow into peachy stone fruit and luscious citrus whilst retaining enough acidity to refresh. Most have seen lees and oak during fermentation and ageing, adding vanilla, spicy aromas or simply textural depth. Classic white Burgundy often undergoes Malolactic conversion too, in which tart malic acid is converted to lactic acid, giving a rounder, creamier succulence ideal with poultry like turkey. It’s their fruit richness, aromatic and textural intricacy, and crystalline structure that allows these wines to balance the flavours of the Christmas table so well.