Our first tranche of 2024 white Burgundies has begun to arrive, and Verget is setting the tone. After a challenging growing season that reduced yields by around 30%, 2024 marks a return to a more classical expression of white Burgundy: delicious wines of modest alcohol, bright acidity and cool fruit flavours. In the hands of Jean-Marie Guffens and Julien Desplans, the result is a set of wines of striking purity: floral, finely textured and shaped by chalky tension. They are among the most compelling Vergets we have tasted in years. For many of our clients, Jean-Marie Guffens needs little introduction. An outspoken and fiercely independent thinker, he has long pursued clarity over fashion. He avoids reduction and heavy lees work, believing they obscure rather than reveal terroir. Bottled under screwcap to preserve freshness, his wines are defined by transparency and line. Today, the partnership between Jean-Marie Guffens and Julien Desplans, whose CV includes a stint at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, has brought a new level of consistency and articulation to the Verget portfolio. Though Verget operates as a micro-négoce, fruit is harvested under Guffens’ direction, rigorously selected, and fermented naturally from free-run juices in stainless steel, allowing delicate lees work without oxygen influence. The aim is simple: fruit in its purest form. In 2024, that philosophy feels especially well-suited to the vintage.