Les Jamelles Pinot Noir 2023

FRANCE : LANGUEDOC : PAYS D'OC

CONVENTIONAL : Pinot Noir

MED-BODIED, RASPBERRY, CHERRY, JAMMY PLUM, MINERAL LIFT, NEUTRAL OAK

Catherine Delaunay grew up among Beaujolais winegrowers; Laurent Delaunay is the fifth generation of a Burgundy négociant family. When they founded Les Jamelles in the Languedoc in 1995, they applied Burgundy's varietal instinct to a region that most producers were still treating as an anonymous blending bin. Their Pinot Noir draws from four terroirs — the mid-slopes of the Hérault Valley for warmth and opulence, the Pyrenean foothills for richness, the upper Aude valley for fruit and freshness, and the Aude River plain for length and structure.

Cold pre-fermentation maceration and 8 to 10 days of vatting build color and concentration; 6 to 9 months in lightly toasted oak rounds the edges without asserting itself. The result is a Languedoc Pinot that tracks its Burgundian inspiration without pretending to be something it isn't — fruit-forward, mineral-lifted, and honest about its southern latitude.

PAIRINGS :