2008 Micro Cuvée Mercurey "Gravelottes" , Charles de Valliére Mercurey white wines are distinguished by a golden color tending to green. Close to the wines of the Côte de Beaune, they are rich, silky and complex. Burgundy wines built their reputation throughout the 20th century on two main grape varieties: for red wines, pinot noir: an extremely demanding grape variety, requiring careful viticulture, controlled yields and specialized vinification. At its best, it achieves the feat of combining finesse, fragrance, power and grace. In white, the Chardonnay grape variety, a true terroir sponge, manages to transcribe with great emotion the clay-limestone terroirs of Burgundy. The soils with a majority of limestone are dedicated to the cultivation of this grape variety which, from the limestone, draws notes of lemon, citrus fruits, stone, which the clay, often present, densifies and comforts in the mouth. Burgundy whites are also marked by styles of vinification: the barrels bringing fat, butter, which is never a note of terroir, and aging in a reducing environment bringing fine toasted notes, which many amateurs often associate, wrongly, with notes of terroir.