2017 Jaeger-Defaix Rully, Cote Chalonnaise Burgundy

Rouge. Jaeger-Defaix’s newest red cuvée (100% Pinot Noir) comes from a small parcel of Rully villages purchased in 2011. Sited in the Vorot lieu-dit, the 30-year-old vines here have been farmed organically for decades. This is a well-sited parcel of vines that yields small bunches of grapes with thick skins and concentrated juice. The fruit this year was fermented with 20% whole bunches, and the wine was aged in seasoned oak barrels (from one to three years) for 15 months. It’s a super-pretty wine full of crisp, summery red fruits—strawberry, cherry and raspberry—and while there’s plenty of flesh, it carries the racy lift of a fine Loire red. Didier Defaix’s light touch with Pinot is all over this lovely, perfumed Rully. Bargain.

The 2017 Rully is an open-knit, medium-bodied and delicately extracted red that bursts with notes of cherries and licorice. Expressive and fruit-driven, it's suited to near-term consumption.