Beaune Marconnets 1er Cru Albert Morot 2020

Les Marconnets is a Premier Cru climat of the Beaune appellation, which extends over the two communes of Beaune and Savigny. Domaine Albert Morot’s tiny plot of 0.67 hectares sits at the top of the slope, facing south-east. It benefits from a complex limestone soil, which is combined with loam, sand and clay elements and produces wines of power and aromatic complexity. The Guyot pruned vines have an average age of 50 years and are planted at a density of 10,000 vines per hectare. A green harvest takes place in July and meticulous sorting at harvest ensures the yields are kept low at 25 to 35 hectolitres per hectare. The vines are organically cultivated, with soil worked and carefully ploughed; the biodiversity of the vineyard is respected.

The grapes were hand-picked and carefully sorted in the vineyard into small crates to avoid crushing, followed by a second meticulous selection on the sorting table. The grapes were destemmed and were gravity fed into traditional open vats. Fermentation took place with indigenous yeasts, followed by maceration which lasted for three weeks under temperature controlled conditions. One or two ‘pigeages’ or cap submersions took place each day, gently extracting colour, flavour and tannins. Slow malolactic fermentation took place. The wine was aged in French oak barrels, of which 30% were new, for 14 months. The wine was bottled without fining and generally without filtration. The wine was vinified as gently as possible in a gravity fed winery which facilitated minimal pumping.