This is a very fragrant wine with light floral notes, crisp minerality, almond, and fresh pears.  It’s tasty, with pronounced mineral and citric notes, tangy and refreshing.  Honey Crisp apples join pears and touches of more tropical fruits like pineapple in the mouth.  Medium bodied with a persistent finish.

 

Frédéric Magnien, born in May 1969, is a 5th generation Burgundian winemaker.  While studying at the viticultural lycée in Beaune, he worked in the vineyards and cellar of his father Michel’s estate in Morey-Saint-Denis.  He left home in 1991 to gain experience abroad, working first in California at Josh Jenson’s Calera estate, followed by a stint in Australia with Gary Farr on the Bannockburn Vineyard estate; both these producers are very highly regarded in their countries.  He returned home for the 1993 harvest in Burgundy and enrolled at the University of Bourgogne, where he completed a degree in enology.  In 1995, he started a nègociant company under his own name while continuing to work at the family’s domaine.  His family’s history and connections in the region provided broad contacts throughout Burgundy.  He doesn’t own vineyards himself, but works closely as a consultant with a small group of growers.  He selects older plots (mostly over 40 years), purchasing very high quality grapes he harvests himself (most négociants buy juice).  He is a strong advocate of following lunar cycles in the vineyard and cellar.  Beginning in 2008, he began the process of organic certification; many of his wines have been certified by Ecocert, with more achieving this status each year. 

 

Grapes for this wine come from several plots in the Côtes de Nuits farmed sustainably; vines are 45-60 years old.  The grapes were harvested by hand and fully destemmed.  After a slow, gentle pressing, the juice was transferred to vat using gravity only and went through a cold prefementation maceration.  The must was fermented slowly in barrels and stainless steel with the natural yeasts present on the skins. The wine rested four months on the fine lees and was aged 10 months in French oak barrels of varying sizes, 10% of which were new.  The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.