Configuration: (6 x 750mL)

Winery: Domaine Louis Chenu & Filles

Appellation: Haut Jarrons 1er Cru, Savigny, Burgundy, France

Philosophy/Practices: Certified Organic

Grape Variety: 100% pinot noir

ABV: 12.5%

Fleshy red fruit, plum, deep potpourri, dark earth, forest floor.

Winemaker's notes: From the Premier Cru vineyard, Haut Jarrons, located on Savigny’s western hills. Vines here are an average of 50 years old. Grapes are hand-picked, carefully destemmed and macerated in concrete tanks. Fermentation is fully spontaneous, and the wine ages in French oak (up to 20% new) for 12 moths before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Why we love it: “Jarrons” translates to “tree branches” and indicates the immediate proximity of this vineyard to the forest (called Mont Batois, and it’s located on the vineyard’s western edge). Les Hauts-Jarrons lies across the valley from the vineyards above, more southeast of Savigny and up on east-facing hillsides that are flanked by forest behind. Here, the slope is relatively steep (around 300m), and has thin soils, rich in pebbly debris resting on Jurassic limestone. The Chenu holdings are in the middle of this slope, which gives way to deeper, sandier soil, geologically similar to the vineyards of Beaune than of Savigny (indeed, on the other side of Mont Batois is Beaune, so that makes sense). The area is very airy, subject to cooler air currents coming down from the north and the combes/forests across the valley/on the other side of the town. Planted to Pinot Noir, the wines from here are like those of Beaune: fuller-bodied, aromatically rich, with excellent balance and structure. Tannins can be somewhat firm in their youth; these wines really start singing after a few years’ aging to allow them to start to come together. Their aging potential is very, very high.

From tasting with Juliette and Caroline at their kitchen table: “PERFECTLY poised, savoury, fleshy red fruit/plum, deep potpourri and dark earth/forest floor. Complex, nuanced… Beaune-esque. Deeper, more sandy soils = darker, more structured wine.”