2022 Domaine Michel Juillot Mercurey "Vignes de Maillonge"

The youngest pinot noir vines that make up the les Vignes de Maillonge celebrated their fortieth birthdays in 2022. The old vines in this parcel are more venerable, having been planted all the way back in 1958. The wine tips the scales at an even thirteen percent and is gorgeous in this vintage, offering up a pure and sappy bouquet of red and black cherries, a touch of plum, woodsmoke, gamebird, a beautifully complex base of soil tones, rose petals and just a touch of oak. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, transparent and sappy at the core, with tangy acids, ripe, buried tannins superb focus and grip and a long, complex and beautifully balanced finish. This is nicely structured in 2022 and will need some cellaring time to soften up its tannins, but it is going to be a simply outstanding villages level wine! 2032-2060.