Mercurey Vieilles Vignes 2024

This red Mercurey Vieilles Vignes comes from a vineyard located just below the Clos des Grands Voyens, in the north of the village of Mercurey, in the Côte Chalonnaise. Planted at the foot of the slope, almost on the flat and facing south, it takes root in a brown colluvial soil, limestone and clay-silt, rich and deep, formed by erosion of the slope above it. The vines, 41 years old on average, yield a concentrated, fleshy Pinot Noir.

The entire harvest is picked and sorted by hand. The maceration, lasting 15 to 20 days, begins with a cold pre-fermentation maceration, then regular punching down and pumping over extract substance and aromas. The wine is then aged for 12 months, entirely in oak barrels, 20% of them new with a light toast, to preserve the fruit.

This wine reveals notes of raspberry, cherry, blackcurrant, blackberry, plum, violet, pink peppercorn, liquorice and vanilla. Expressive and fruity, it evokes a coulis of red and black fruit. The palate, supple and moreish, rests on juicy tannins and lovely freshness, for a wine that is easy to enjoy from its first years.

The cradle of wine culture in Western Europe, France owes its first vines to the Greeks of Phocaea, who settled around Marseille some twenty-six centuries ago, before the Romans spread viticulture along the Rhône and the Garonne and as far as Champagne. In the Middle Ages, Cistercian and Benedictine monks cleared the slopes of Burgundy and patiently mapped out the climats, laying the foundations of the notion of terroir. The 19th century brought the glory of the classifications, then the disaster of phylloxera, which wiped out the vineyards before they were rebuilt on American rootstocks; the creation of the appellations d'origine contrôlée in the 1930s then set the rules that would inspire the whole world. Today, France vies every year with Italy and Spain for first place in world production by volume and remains the ultimate benchmark of the Old World, as much for its age-worthy wines as for its winemaking models. Vineyards cover almost the entire country, from the cool north of Champagne and Alsace to the Mediterranean shores of Languedoc and Provence, by way of the oceanic climates of Bordeaux, the Loire and the South-West, continental Burgundy, the steep slopes of the northern Rhône and the high-altitude valleys of Savoie and the Jura. This mosaic of soils – limestone, schist, gravel or rounded pebbles – explains the extraordinary diversity of styles. As for grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate Bordeaux and produce structured reds, Pinot Noir is the signature of Burgundian finesse, Syrah of the depth of the Rhône, while Grenache, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Mourvèdre cover every register, from easy-drinking wines to wines for long ageing. Among the whites, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin, Riesling and Viognier offer expressions ranging from lively and mineral to unctuous, all the way to great sweet wines. A land of benchmarks and constant discoveries, France remains the compass for wine lovers the world over.