Sylvain Pataille Marsannay Clos du Roy 2019
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Until Charles the Bold fell at Nancy in 1477 this was the Clos des Ducs; when Burgundy passed to the French crown it became the Clos du Roy, and it remains arguably the finest terroir in Marsannay. The vineyard sits at the appellation's northern edge in Chenôve, an east-southeast slope at 270 meters whose gravelly, iron-rich grèzes litées, known locally as rabbit earth, rest on White Oolite limestone above ancient alluvium of the Ouche river. Sylvain Pataille's vines, the oldest planted in the early 1950s, are farmed organically and biodynamically; the fruit ferments whole-cluster on ambient yeasts, then spends 18 months in barrel and several more in steel before bottling with minimal sulfur. The 2019 is dense and firmly built, red cherry and strawberry along a bright, fresh line, a structured Marsannay that repays the cellar. A king's wine, fairly literally.
