Théo Dancer Roc Breïa Chardonnay 2022

While carrying on his father Vincent’s perfectionist work at the family’s Chassagne-Montrachet domaine, Théo Dancer is now blazing his own trail at Roc Breïa – an ambitious new estate making unexpectedly pure and transparent wines in Mâcon-Bray.

Combining fastidious farming philosophies learned from his father with skills acquired at Provence’s benchmark Domaine de Trévallon, Théo is working tirelessly to put his 10ha of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines at the forefront of regenerative agriculture.

Using top-quality Mâconnais fruit, Théo crafts just two Roc Breïa wines, which he vinifies at Domaine Dancer’s cellars in Chassagne. Pressed slowly, they are fermented with natural yeasts in used 500-litre barrels and without batonnage, fining, or filtration. After a rigorous barrel selection, Théo bottles his wines with minimal sulphur.

From vines planted in the mid-1940s and 1970s, Theo’s Chardonnay defies usual expectations of Mâconnais’ whites – ultra-refined and racy, it offers a core of pithy citrus and tingling acidity more often found in the top wines of the Côte de Beaune. Made with partial whole-bunch fermentation, Roc Breïa’s Pinot Noir – from sites planted between 1970 and 1985 – is richly textured and juicy, its sensual red berry character layered with sweet spices.

With allocations of Domaine Dancer’s wines among the region’s most requested worldwide and critics singling-out the 24-year-old Théo as one of the leaders of Burgundy’s next generation, these are bottles too good to miss.

“This has turned out beautifully, bursting with aromas of pear, white flowers, bread dough, and hazelnuts… [its] fleshy palate with a satiny attack that segues into a charming, lively mid-palate, with good cut and a saline finish.” 92 Points, William Kelley