Rully

This is more textured than the exciting 2016. The 60-year-old vines and limestone soil impart texture and freshness respectively, and the acidity is most attractive – almost citrus, blood orange, perhaps. A charmingly pure and meditative wine. Drink 2020-2024.

It was a “normal” harvest here this year which, in Jean-Yves’s world, is still a relatively paltry 30hl/ha, due to his scrupulous organic and biodynamic vineyard management. Jean-Yves is increasingly interested in the role and importance of sulphur dioxide in a wine’s evolution. He found that a trial bottling made without SO2 had little expression of the vineyard, yet he finds that adding SO2 too early in the winemaking process makes the wines more fragile and prone to oxidation. A fine range from a reflective winemaker.

There are 20 barrels in 2017 of this utterly delightful, exuberant expression of Pinot Noir. Jean-Yves has removed all of Rully’s rusticity with some subtle, intuitive winemaking; colour and fruit mostly come from infusion, not extraction. The vines are 40 years old, and 100 percent whole-bunch gives a lovely succulence. Drink 2019-2023.

It was a “normal” harvest here this year which, in Jean-Yves’s world, is still a relatively paltry 30hl/ha, due to his scrupulous organic and biodynamic vineyard management. Jean-Yves is increasingly interested in the role and importance of sulphur dioxide in a wine’s evolution. He found that a trial bottling made without SO2 had little expression of the vineyard, yet he finds that adding SO2 too early in the winemaking process makes the wines more fragile and prone to oxidation. A fine range from a reflective winemake

Fine, clear, lemon-and-lime in appearance, with a classy, detailed nose, this has lovely integration between fruit and barrel. It fills the mouth, and extends to an enjoyable finish. Overall, this is a very classy wine which shows the quality of the terroir.

Despite the ravages of hail over the last few vintages, Jean-Yves has successfully converted his vineyards to organic, and is certified from the 2014 vintage. Though Meursault, Beaune and Volnay suffered once again from the weather, Rully saw a respectable harvest. Jean-Yves reports healthy fruit, with not especially high sugar levels. The reds remind him of 2010, while there is more flesh to the 2014 whites than popular vintages such as 2004 or 2007.