Notes from North Berkely Imports:

"Eric Forest is one of the top names in Vergisson today. Heir to eight generations of family talent and trained early by local legend Jean-Marie Guffens, Eric’s wines are shining examples of the potential and serious pleasure of white Burgundy from the Mâconnais.

Vergisson without question is the vinous capital for quality in the Mâconnais, and it’s here where Eric’s family first planted vines on the fossil-rich slopes of the “rock” of Vergisson, that was once a prehistoric coral reef (back when this part of France was a vast sea.) From the start, however, Eric didn’t just rest on family traditions but decided to train with the best – which brought him to the Guffens-Heynen cellar door.

Fast-forward to the early 2000s and Eric was already making a name for himself at his own domaine, with wines chock-full of limestone energy and ripe, racy fruit – white Burgundy that was heads and tails above even some of the more hallowed bottles from the Côte d’Or. Today he’s expanded his vineyard holdings, dialed in his biodynamic focus in the fields and is crafting wines that are simply better than ever.

We can be forgiven for repeating ourselves endlessly, but it’s true – the top talents of the Mâconnais (such as Daniel Barraud, another North Berkeley long-time partner) craft white Burgundy wines that still represent extraordinary value given their top-notch quality. Eric Forest is a serious star in this high-altitude region, and his wines deserve a spot in every serious Burgundy cellar.

The “soul” of Forest is a blend of four different vineyards, some of the estate’s coolest terroirs, facing east and north. The vineyard ‘La Cote,’ Forest says, gives the wine its ample structure and spiced character; ‘Tilliers’ and ‘Le Bois Rosier,’ with their clay-limestone soils, offer finesse and notes of citrus and stone fruits. The very old vines of ‘Carmentrants’ deliver depth and richness to this very soulful white Burgundy. Three generations in succession (Eric, his father and his grandfather) have tilled these soils and harvested Chardonnay grapes from these family plots."