From: Côte de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Tasting Notes: ‘Les Crais’ is found on the Brochon side of Gevrey-Chambertin and benefits from rich, deep, decomposed limestone soils. Refined and rustic, with a lively, complex core of earth, herbs, and dark fruit. This is a dead-ringer for a Premier Cru.
A selection from ‘Les Crais,’ east of the main road on the Brochon side of Gevrey Chambertin. ‘Crais’ was planted in two parts, one in 1979/1980 and the other in 1990/1991. Soils are decomposed limestone. For this cuvée, grapes were hand-harvested and partially destemmed (90%). Fermentation took place in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts, and then the wine was racked to 20% new 228L tonneaux, where it aged for 13 months. Unfined and unfiltered.
About. This hard-working, generations-deep Burgundian family—particularly among the rarified air of Vosne-Romanée—are hands-in-the-soil growers, first and foremost. Caring for their few acres according to organic principles, Fabrice and Christine Vigot craft Burgundy wines that are earthy and soulful and utterly transparent to their underlying terroir. For decades this family tended the vineyards of the Mugneret-Gibourg estate (under a crop-sharing contract). Their humble demeanor and low profile belie their outsized talent; it is past time that their wines received the attention they’ve for so long deserved.