Many wines from the 2015 vintage are marked by vegetal or herbal flavours, but this wine from Bruno Paillard shows the year's best face (more than just a solar, sunny, ripe character, according to Alice Paillard). Among the mature notes of dried apple, sourdough toast and roasted grapefruit, there's a crispness and narrowness that keeps the wine from straying into chewy or heavy textures, as 2015s can. With aromatic interest coming on – toasted nuts, maple and powdered ginger spice – it's a really well-aligned 2015 for medium-term drinking. (Drink between 2024-2030)

Restrained black fruits with licorice root and white pepper. Reductive and closed, yet showing a very tight-knit structure with lemon and strawberry tension. Full body, zesty acidity and quite an astringent and austere finish. 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay. Disgorged in 2023. Dosage 4.5g/L. Best after 2-3 years of aging.