Chandon de Briailles Pernand Vergelesses Ile des Vergelesses Rouge 1er Cru – 2020

“Opening in the glass with complex aromas of peonies, rose petals, sweet berry fruit, cinnamon and forest floor, the 2020 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Ile de Vergelesses is medium to full-bodied, seamless and elegant, with a deep core of fruit, bright acids, melting tannins and a long, saline finish. It’s one of the high points of the range.” 92-94pts The Wine Advocate

“François de Nicolay and his team have turned out another fine vintage at this Savigny-lès-Beaune reference point. Beginning harvest on August 17th and picking only in the mornings, yields were modest, coming in at around 28 hectoliters per hectare in red. As I’ve written before, over the last decade, vinification has become more and more gentle, with no pumping during fermentation or élevage and no filtration before bottling. The wines’ tannins are correspondingly finer, and their fruit richer and more vibrant than was formerly the case. The grapes are seldom destemmed, and de Nicolay’s practice in recent years has been to begin fermentations with whole bunches without crushing, removing the fruit from the tanks after several days’ intracellular fermentation, destemming it and returning it to tank to complete its sugars—thus avoiding, he contends, contact between the young wine and the bitter, potassium-rich stems. In the cellar, percentages of new oak are minimal, and de Nicolay has been experimenting with some “sans souffre” bottlings: including, this year, his entire production of Corton Maréchaudes.” William Kelly, the Wine Advocate