An organic Gevrey Chambertin made by Mark Fincham. It represents all the positive attributes of the terroir, and is a wine which can be enjoyed young upon delivery, or kept for at least 10 years. The vintage now offered is the delightful and approachable 2017 at a highly competitive price of 45e per bottle or 38e for export outside the EU.

Vinyards

This wine is made from an assemblage of 10 different parcels, bringing together all the best elements of the terroir. The heart of the ‘cuvée’ comes from fields in the central axis of the alluvial fan of the ‘Combe de Lavaux’ to the east of the RN7: ‘La Justice’, ‘Craite Paille’, ‘Creux Brouillard’, ‘Es Murots’ and ‘Les Grandes Rayes’. Here the soils, a mixture of clays and sand with a high proportion of stones and gravel are well drained and give wines that are tender and nicely textured, with supple tannins. The other fields all add their part including the ‘la Combe du Dessus’ a gentle slope on the upper side of the road climbing up to La Combe Lavaux, very old vines that give an extra degree of maturity and ‘Clos Prieur Bas’, just below the ‘1cru’ of the same name, which brings freshness and minerality, typical of these vineyards just below the Grand Crus.

Wine

The wine is shaped by the high proportion of vineyards in the area known generally as ‘les Crais’. These are more chalky soils which give softly textured wines expressing the small red fruits that are characteristic of Gevrey. But the wine also has a savoury, spicy character which will develop more with age. Bio-dynamic farming, old vines and small yields help to give the very fine tannins that are characteristic of the wine.

Vinification

Bunches 80 % de-stemmed. The grapes are vatted relatively cold about 10° c. and remain soaking for 4-7 days. The fermentation will start slowly and naturally as the vat warms up to about 15° c. The ideal is a long, linear fermentation with a good peak of temperature to bring out the fine ‘pinot’ side of the wine with long pump overs to harmonize the different ‘terroirs’ in the cuvee and ensure the polymerisation of the tannins.

Ageing

16 months in barrels with 20% new oak from three local coopers. One racking during the ageing period. All the winery operations are carried out with reference to the lunar calendar.

Ship a case of 12 bottles of Purple Mustard 2018/9 vintage for 564 euros (47e per bottle) (480€ if outside the EU) plus shipping.