Tasted in St.Amour with Grégory Barbet, 23 February 2023.
Domaine de la Pirolette
Le Bourg
71570 St.Amour Bellevue
Tel: +33 6 75 06 22 73
domainedelapirolette.com
More reports with Domaine de la Pirolette
Grégory on 2022 & 2021:
“There’s early sun and some wind here in Pirolette so 2021 was a good volume – 50 hl/ha – it was the bottom of St.Amour that has some frost. So 21 brought more than in 2022 which was a little bit more than 40 hl/ha – it was still a year of hard work in the vines – without end until 15th August. It was the dryness that limited the yield in 22 – we needed a bit more rain before the harvest – which we had in 2020 but unfortunately, it never came in 22. The 21s are not yet for sale – 2020 is the current commercial vintage – but most is reserved – we like to have a year of stock. For Carjot I didn’t feel the depth of flavour was representative of the parcels so I blended a lot of that into my ‘generic’ St.Amour but the style of the Poulette was good so that was retained as normal.”
The wines…
A vintage with some green/gentian notes in some wines – but not the excellent Poulette and neither the great Beaujolais Villages Blanc!
2021 St.Amour l’Age de Raisin
Some jar elevage but all whole cluster wine. A small cuvée here, just over 2k bottles.
A broad and complex nose – redder fruit – very faintly with some gentian/pyrazine ‘perfume.’ Fresh attack – a wine of energy and a modest frame of tannin – slightly drying as it growth. Lip-smacking finishing intensity and a long, mouth-watering finish. If you are insensitive to the green this is very good – and it’s anyway not yet commercial!
2021 St.Amour Pirolette
The main cuvée here.
A deeper nose, darker red fruit and some good complexity too – becoming quite perfumed. Also a little gentian style to these flavours – not overtly pyrazine today – but the middle and finishing flavours are just lovely – broad, fine red fruit – some modest structure – and a slowly decaying, mouth-watering finish. Simply lovely here.
2021 St.Amour La Poulette
From the lieu-dit of the same name on pink granite and some clay below – old vine – around 80 years old.
Slightly darker colour. This nose starting deeper and more serious but very classy – no gentian. I like the shape of this in the mouth – there’s a halo of freshness and a certain, slightly more austere stance to this today – but the texture is silky and the structure obvious – and it’s such a calm and interesting finish. I’d keep this for at least 2 years before opening – it’s not that expressive today but it could be excellent. “Yes, today it’s the 2019 that’s the commercial vintage of this!”
And le white:
In St.Amour but there’s no AOC for white but these are the vines between the house of the domaine and the school. This year, a low volume, so all barrel elevage – 228s – but old ones that have previously seen Pouilly-Fuissé.
Broad, clean, the slightly exotic fruit ripeness of the vintage. Hmm, that is cool, clean, supple, modestly mineral – and there is no rigour – this is a very classy white and one of the best of my whole 2021 tour. Bravo!