Dandelion's Pinot de Zinc

 

We're glad to make available a special one-off cuvée from Domaine Dandelion.

Pinot de Zinc* 2022 is the result of Christian seizing an opportunity he was offered, to swap fruit with a friend farming biodynamically near Pouligny, a unique chance he didn't want to miss. 2022 was a warm, dry year - and even more so down from the hills of Beaune where Morgane & Christian are - so it's a little more concentrated and brooding than the '22 Dandelions. It's a 50/50 blend of this Pouligny fruit, and a 'Dessus de Lies' from the 2022 Dandelion fruit. After two years ageing separately, the two spent another 6 months ageing together before bottling with no additions, unfined & unfiltered.

A deeper wine from Dandelion, with good structure and concentration, it plays beautifully with food.

Pinot de Zinc 2022: The 'Dessus De Lies' is a barrel collecting the final 10L of clear wine saved when racking off barrels for the Hautes-Cotes Nature, aged for longer to settle out into a clearer wine but still a little cloudy. Aged for 2 years in barrel.

The Pouligny fruit had three weeks maceration as whole bunches before a manual basket pressing, aged for 2 years in barrel. The two barrels were assembled in tank for a further 6 months ageing together before bottling with no additions, unfined & unfiltered. All movements in the cellar are by gravity.

 

Spring Dandelions

 

Its always a privilege to make available new wines from Domaine Dandelion and after a good rest over winter we're thrilled to release two more 2023 cuvées: the latest edition of their Hautes Côtes Nature and a one-off named Fruit Defendu.

The Hautes-Côtes Nature 2023 – an assemblage of most of their seven micro-parcels across Meloisey on clay and limestone – this year includes fruit from their two highest elevation vineyards, which in rare years are vinified separately for 'Aube', bringing with them more mineral complexity to the wine. The parcels are organic, worked by hand, treated strictly with plants for their health and all movements in the cellar are by gravity.

Fruit Defendu 2023 is an old-vine cuvée, arising from a rare opportunity Christian had to swap & purchase some organic fruit with friends in Savigny and Puligny. Alongside Pinot Noir from these 70-year-old vines, half the blend comprises their own fruit: picked from some of their oldest, steepest vines – those in the Goutte d'Or parcel. Here the Pinot grows in small, concentrated bunches with a fairly high tannin profile. The resulting wine is dark fruited and broader than we've seen from Dandelion before, with soft tannins. This will most likely be the only year it is produced.

Both wines are macerated as whole bunches for two weeks, before being hand de-stemmed to keep the profile from being too green and continuing maceration for another week, before being basket-pressed directly to old barrels for 12 months ageing. Bottled with no additions, the wines are both drinking well now, but will undoubtedly reward patience in the cellar.