Domaine Chantal Lescure Pommard 1er Cru Les Bertins 2020

Domaine Chantal Lescure is an organically farmed estate in Burgundy, and Les Bertins is one of the Premier Cru climats of Pommard in the Côte de Beaune. Pommard is the most powerful of the Côte de Beaune communes, its iron-rich clay and limestone soils giving Pinot Noir a darker fruit and a firmer tannic structure than its neighbours. The continental climate with warm days and cool nights ripens the fruit fully while holding acidity. The 2020 vintage was warm, which explains the higher alcohol and ripe concentration. Fermentation runs on native yeasts, and the wine then ages for eighteen months in oak barrels, where extended contact lets the tannins polymerise and soften and adds a layer of clove and woodspice. Malolactic conversion rounds the acidity into a fuller texture. The colour is a deep ruby. The nose offers dark cherry, plum and red berries over forest floor and oak. The palate is full bodied with firm but ripe tannins, dense fruit and a long savoury finish. Serve at 16 to 17 degrees and decant an hour ahead. It calls for red meat and game.