2021 Marsannay Clos du Roy Blanc

“I lost a lot to the frost,” winemaker Laurent Fournier tells me at his winery, “around 50% in Gevrey-Chambertin, but less in Marsannay. There was a large difference depending on the pruning, which I finished on 31 March for plots usually pruned later. Those parcels were a normal crop. All the wines spend one year in barrel, not 18 months as before. I did the same in 2017. I started the harvest on 22 September. I have worked with a laboratory to create our own pieds de cuve [pre-selecting yeasts]. I will bottle…when I find bottles! No, seriously, I expect to bottle in March, though my supplier in Switzerland stopped production to conserve gas. I don’t think it is a vintage for long-term aging. There is good balance and freshness, the wines are open, so why wait and risk losing freshness.” The most underrated winemaker in the Côte de Nuits? I’d put Fournier up there – what he does with modest holdings often makes me wonder what he'd be capable of with a raft of Grand Crus. Prices remain cheaper than many, and I cannot recommend these wines highly enough.