Tasted with Antoine Lepetit de la Bigne in Beaune, 28 October 2022.
La Pierre Ronde
10 rue Jean-François Champollion
21200 Beaune
Tel: +33 6 16 65 67 97
www.lapierreronde.com
You may remember the smiling face of Antione (right) – he was responsible for the wines of Domaine Leflaive, leaving the domaine after Anne-Claude Leflaive died.
Author of a book on biodynamics, Antoine then did some consulting before taking on the winemaking, for a time, at the family Picard’s Au Pied de Mont Chauve.
Antoine started his own operation with the 2021 vintage, concentrating on the whites of the Côte de Beaune, though he concedes that “2021 was not the easiest of starts! In my first vintage, I have the equivalent of 10,000 bottles and I’m aiming for annual production of 30,000 – eventually.”
Antoine’s first vintage consists of 7 different wines, with Bourgognes, some Rully and St.Romain plus Meursault villages, premier cru and a little Corton-Charlemagne. Vinification is a mix of barrel, amphora and foudre. “I have some traditional 228-litre barrels I do like larger format barrels but I prefer the 350-litre versions – as these can still can be moved! My foudres are a mix of Stockinger and Rousseau – the wines evolve slower, keep a bit more gas and are more ‘nervous’ in the foudre but these containers bring extra to the wines with more time. I use the amphora for fermentation too but not with extra skin contact. I compared jars with 4-year-old barrels with these 2021s and the fermentation took twice as long – 3 months instead of 1.5…”
Antoine already has some importers.
The wines…
A range of excellent wines – all of them – Antione has some red cuvées too, but I didn’t taste them on this visit. Wines that are certainly worth your time.
Two wines in bottle (for 2 weeks) the rest are all tank samples of wines to be bottled at the end of the year. The reds are sealed with normal cork, the whites are all DIAM30 and long too – 54mm – to help reduce the amount of sulfur used. White wax tops are also planned:
2021 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Half foudre, half barrel elevage. ‘The fermentations were quite classic in 2021.’
Broad, open, nice freshness. White flower aromas too. Mouthfilling, full of energy and vibrantly finishing – narrowing. Still slightly floral. That is a delicious Bourgogne.
2021 Bourgogne Aligote Vieilles-Vignes
Vines in Savigny looking at the hill of Corton
A broader, stronger, almost slightly chalky nose. Hmm, structure but a flavour profile that’s remaining broad with lots of intensity, density even, holding a very long and very attractive finish again.
2021 Rully Fromange
On the plateau near Mercurey – a cold place, picked 2 weeks after the 1er cru. White, shallow soil. We had different waves of frost in 21 and it was the last wave that did the damage here.’
A nice but not large width of aroma, slightly stony but still some comfort. Hmm, now that’s really good, saline, energetic and with super depth of flavour. I love this – it’s excellent!
2021 St.Romain Le Jarron
This is bottled…
Higher tones, and some ripe lime too. Extra energetic freshness – extra intensity too, the acidity burrowing into the palate but somehow not ‘acidic’ – thats lovely – chill (the wine!) and enjoy.
2021 Meursault Les Perchots
Next to Clos de la Barre but on a deeper soil. There’s a high proportion of jar elevage here.
Hmm – considered, faintly spiced – this nose is a very fine invitation to drink. Broad, fine energy, supple in the middle – good concentration here. Plenty of ripeness to this fruit but never too much. Again an excellent wine and so long…
2021 Meursault 1er Charmes Dessus
New oak but for only 6 months – once the malo was done it was racked into a jar with full lees.
But thats a very open and airy nose – no new oak here. Vibrant wine, still with a generous core of flavour intensity. This is concentrated but still fresh – for keeping a while.
2021 Corton-Charlemagne
New oak again.
A silken width of aroma – the energy is more compact here. Clarity, stony flavours that melt over the palate. The nose is tight but the shape and flavour are first-rate – this is simply excellent wine – I really love the combination of clarity and shape. The last drops in the glass are more open and have a hint of floral too.