Among the two hundred or so producers we work with in France and Italy, perhaps no one has transformed their domaine as comprehensively—and tastefully—in the last decade as brothers Arnaud and David Lavantureux. Shortly after joining their father, who had produced excellent Chablis and Petit Chablis for decades, Arnaud and David added a handful of beautiful premier and grand cru cuvées to their lineup, quickly turning 4 Rue Saint-Martin in Lignorelles into one of the region’s most respected addresses. But rather than simply acquire holdings in Chablis’s obvious heavy hitters, they’ve been more creative, identifying vineyards throughout Chablis and beyond full of extraordinary promise.
     In the last few years, for instance, the brothers have turned their sights to Tonnerre, a small and long-overlooked village twenty kilometers east of Chablis, which teems with incredible potential for beautiful Chardonnay. Much of this land stretches across the same Kimmeridgian bedrock as Chablis but the soil along the surface is more limestone-heavy, imbuing its Chardonnay with more roundness and easy-going charm. What you get then, in the Lavantureux brothers’ new Bourgogne Tonnerre, is a white wine that has both the Kimmeridgian oyster shell quality we love so much about Chablis and the sunny and generous, fleshy orchard fruit notes that make the best Bourgogne blancs so approachable and delicious. Pour it alongside grilled lobster—or your favorite white fish—along with mushroom skewers and cornbread for a memorable summer feast.