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It was a very hot day I seem to remember around four years ago, maybe five. The night before, over dinner, I had suggested a run first thing in the morning up to the top of the hill from the village of Puligny. It very well may have been the wine talking - we had drunk a relatively inexpensive €35 bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux Saint Jacques 1999 from Denis Mortet.

I started to regret it about half way up the road, just past Les Pucelles. Still, I continued on and finally sat down on one of the small stony walls that surround these prestigious vineyards. From the wall outside the tiny vineyard of Montrachet, known as Le Montrachet on the Chassagne side, I could look back down to the village I'd left 20 minutes earlier. I was surrounded by the most sought after Chardonnay grapes in the world (apologies to Napa and Martinborough).

Montrachet - even the name makes your heart skip - consists of eight hectares and sits in the centre of the hill of Mont Rachet on a mild slope. The soil is composed of thin, marl limestone and clay. You can see pebbles on the lower parts of the vineyard and the ground is largely stony overall. This complex soil and stony ground makes for excellent drainage.

The wine itself obviously varies from producer to producer but overall the style is one of power, intensity and concentration. The Montrachet (4.01 hectares) portion of the vineyard faces southeast, giving it an ideal exposure and the vines are planted in rows running east to west. With 2.06 hectares, Marquis de Laguiche is the largest owner in this section. Other estates with land in Montrachet include Maison Bouchard Pere et Fils (0.89 ha) and the Domaine Ramonet (0.26 ha).

The Le Montrachet (3.99 hectares) section has a slightly more southern exposure than Montrachet and in contrast to the Montrachet section, the vines on the Chassagne side are planted in rows heading north to south, reflecting a change in the contour of the land. With 1.86 hectares, Domaine Baron Thenard is the largest owner in Le Montrachet. Other estates with land in this portion include Domaine de la Romanee Conti (0.68ha), Domaine Jacques Prieur (0.59 ha), Domaine Comte Lafon (0.32 ha), Domaine Marc Colin (0.11), Domaine Guy Amiot and Mlle Monnot (0.09 ha), Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard (0.08 ha), Domaine Leflaive (0.08ha), Domaine Lamy-Pillot (0.05 ha) and Chateau de Pulingy-Montrachet (0.04 ha).

I seem to remember that I waited for my colleagues at the top and we sat and mused on this historic site and dreamt of days when the only Chardonnay we would drink was Montrachet - not forgetting that at weekends we'd drink Le Montrachet!