Bongran Viré-Clessé Cuvée E.J.Thévenet

100% Chardonnay. Bongran is Thévenet's original home estate (Domaine de Roally, also in Viré-Clessé, was added later). Cuvée Tradition is its single bottling of dry white wine (in certain vintages, a sweet botrytized wine is made). The old vines are organically farmed and harvested manually and notably late at a very high ripeness level. The grapes are pressed very slowly and gently. After settling, the juice is fermented in tank with indigenous yeasts, very slowly, taking up to two years to finish; there are often a few grams of residual sugar remaining in the wine. The wine is aged in tank only, then in bottle for several years before release. It has an extraordinary richness of flavor and texture along with firm acidity and minerality.