Comte Armand Auxey-Duresses Rouge 1er Cru 2019

Comte Armand, the Pommard estate formally known as Domaine du Clos des Épeneaux, farms 1.1 hectares of premier cru Auxey-Duresses planted in 1920 and 1985, blending two sites in roughly equal measure: Les Bréterins, a south-facing parcel whose light limestone soils ripen early and give abundant fruit, and Bas des Duresses. The vines are worked organically and biodynamically, and the fruit is fully destemmed but left uncrushed, moved by gravity into wooden vats for a cold soak of five to eight days before spontaneous fermentation on indigenous yeasts; the wine then spends about 18 months in barrel, a quarter of it new. Pommard discipline brought to a quieter corner of the Côte de Beaune, in a village the market still underprices.