Montranet-Thoden Bourgogne Rouge Garance 2022

Northwestern Burgundy, near Chablis and Vézelay, is far better known for its white wines than its reds. There are no grands crus for Pinot Noir in these parts, but Valentin Montanet is proving, through reds like his Garance, that these terroirs are capable of producing exceptional Bourgogne rouge. You might think that Vézelay’s climate—cooler than the Côte d’Or’s—would turn out lean, restrained Pinots, but Valentin’s red Burgundies are anything but: high-toned and juicy red fruit abound in this bottle. What you taste is undeniably Pinot Noir (and a sneakily serious one at that), but it also evokes the joie de vivre more commonly associated with Beaujolais, Burgundy’s neighbor to the south. How did Valentin manage to craft such a generous, medium-bodied, and fun red this far north? To start, the vines that contribute to this bottling mostly face south, meaning they receive maximum sunlight. Second, Valentin vinified two batches of red wine, which he blended to make this cuvée. For one batch, he fermented his grapes without their stems. For the other, he did not, following the whole-cluster fermentation technique that today is more associated with Beaujolais than with Burgundy. Hence the soupçon of festive gulpability, as if to say to its peers, “Brooding Burgundies, beware: Fun will be had here!”