Gevrey-Chambertin "En Ergot" 1er Cru 2021

Jean-Louis Trapet builds this premier cru from Gevrey-Chambertin around transparency: restrained extraction, little oak, fine-grained tannin. What remains is a bright, clearly defined fruit and a frame that shows structure without ever becoming heavy.

Domaine Trapet Père et Fils is based in Gevrey-Chambertin and farms 18.5 hectares in the Côte de Nuits, including the premier cru site En Ergot on limestone-influenced soil. The family has worked here for seven generations. In the 1880s, Arthur Trapet secretly grafted his vines onto American rootstock; the method was legalised in 1888. Jean-Louis Trapet's guiding principle is: «Les hommes passent et la terre reste» (men pass, the land remains).

Single-varietal Pinot Noir. The grapes are guided, not forced: in the cellar, the domaine works by gravity and keeps the proportion of new oak low, so that the origin stays in the foreground. The wine is dry and reaches 13.0% vol.

On the nose, fresh cherry and raspberry, underscored by an earthy note and cool minerality. The attack is silky, the fine-grained tannin carries the wine without gripping, and the fresh acidity keeps it slender through to the finish.

With rosé-roasted duck breast, bœuf bourguignon and tender roast pheasant. Also with roasted quail or a creamy Époisses.

Jean-Louis Trapet has farmed the estate biodynamically since 1996. The Guide des meilleurs vins de France awards the domaine three stars. Together with his wife Andrée, he also runs the Trapet Alsace estate in Riquewihr.