Gevrey-Chambertin "En Billard" AOP 2023

A ripe, warm and open Pinot Noir that doesn't put its fruit on display but weaves it into spice and structure. The bouquet is charming and elegant, the wine deep and long, with pleasant fullness and finesse. 13.0% vol., dry.

The En Billard vineyard site lies close to the winery's cellar. Jérôme Galeyrand holds 0.26 hectares here; the vines were planted in 1987. Vineyard work is organic, partly biodynamic, and highly labour-intensive. In total, the domaine, based in Saint-Philibert, farms 5.25 hectares in the Côte de Nuits, from Marsannay through Fixin to Gevrey-Chambertin.

A pure Pinot Noir, 80% destemmed and spontaneously fermented in tank after a few days of cold pre-fermentation maceration, using native yeasts exclusively. It is then aged for 12 to 16 months in used 228-litre oak barrels, with the proportion of new wood kept to no more than 20%. No fining, no enzymes, at most a light filtration, sulphur used only in very small amounts or not at all.

Direct, spicy and ripe, with predominantly dark notes: juicy wild berries, tobacco, iron, herbs, spice and a touch of pepper. On the nose beforehand, cherry clafoutis, morello cherries, ripe wild berries, a hint of cinnamon, fine oak, vanilla, liquorice and flint.

Jérôme Galeyrand arrived in Burgundy with no winegrowing family behind him: eight years in the cheese trade, then harvest work, the wine school in Beaune, and in 2002 his first own parcel of 0.05 hectares. In 2020 he was awarded a star in the Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France. Depending on the vintage, production totals around 2,000 cases.