Pinot Noir, Burgundy, France

The Pinot Noir we would pour for the outlandish, Greek god of pleasure and wine, Dionysus. Winemaker Julien Altaber is a deep diving, master grape-wrangler & organic voyager who doesn’t pander to anyone’s expectations of what Burgundy could or should be. Harvested from 70yr old vines grown on limestone, this wine is a crowning jewel of minerality and raw but refined appeal. The ‘Les Clos Roussot’ was picked by hand, late in the season, macerated in fibreglass & left unfiltered to showcase the hypnotic aromatic complexity and vigorous nature of this wine. A Pinot that is perfect now, but also worth aging – and yes, two days counts if you need it to. Sour cherries, mossy pebbles, decaying forest floor, passionflower, pine mushroom gills, wild strawberries and trailing blackberries, culminating in a tight green sailors knot of arugula flowers and pea vines. This wine begs to be sipped during the turning of the new moon, in a row boat on a still lake, bordered by a symphony of midnight bellowing bullfrogs.