2018 Mercurey Rouge 1er Cru Les Trois Louves, Domaine Patrick Guillot

A plot within Clos des Montaigu was planted in 2001 with the little-seen Pinot Noir Clone 943. This produces bunches where the grapes hang loose around their stems, giving a wine of exceptional fruit, and the silkiest of tannins. Just 3 barrels were made, fermented in a tiny tank, with Guillot’s wife and their two daughters all helping (sometimes with bodies in the vat, to do punching-down and also handing-up buckets, to empty out skins and stems, after fermentation). Chamirey is a tiny hamlet, whose inhabitants were known as stay-at-homes. Likes wolves in their dens, they never ventured far afield, whence their nick-name: “Les Loups de Chamirey.” In naming this special cuvée Les Trois Louves, Patrick Guillot pays tribute to the 3 she-wolves in his family, without whom this sumptuous wine could not see the light of day. Very deep in colour, with abundantly rich, spicily fresh aromas, this is superrich and very long. A tiny allocation, which we will share amongst enthusiasts of the family’s wines (for drinking 2022-2030+).