Domaine de la Pirolette - La Poulette 2017

Bettane & Desseauve

About the wine:

A classy chick. The finesse is there, even the tannins assert themselves with style. Promising.

About the domain :

Grégory Barbet, son of former House Director Jean Loron, produced his first vintage in 2013. With 15 hectares perfectly situated around the estate, Grégory quickly understood the need to deal with the heterogeneity of a cru better known for its evocative name than for its hitherto confidential parcels. While his village cuvée is positioned in a reliable, structured style, his plot-based cuvées, Poulette and Carjot, are in the making. Indeed, while the use of wood has improved, it's the blending with concrete eggs that has really brought a more subtle balance to the woodiness, which is finding its rightness in 2018. In an appellation where references were lacking, here is a young estate to watch, as much for the rising quality of its wines as for the contagious passion that inhabits this young winemaker.

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

About the wine:

The 2017 Saint-Amour La Poulette from Domain de la Pirolette has a lovely bouquet of cherries, raspberries, licorice and subtle peony notes, followed by a medium- to full-bodied, velvety and supple palate with an attractive core of fruit, powdery tannins and a penetrating finish.

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the wine:

This black velvet distills aromas of marmot cherry. Aged 16 months in concrete eggs, the fruit is as bright as a diamond in the rough. The cellar will polish it.

About the domain :

A former cooperage sales executive, Virginie Barbet bought this estate in 2013 with her husband Grégory and a few investor friends. Depending on the cuvée, the grapes are either destemmed or pressed whole. But always with a "chapeau grillé" accompanied by pumping-over and délestage for gentle extraction. They then mature in French oak barrels and concrete eggs their various parcel-based cuvées, which are among the most distinctive terroirs of the cru. Today, they are one of the few domains to restore Saint-Amour's cru status.

Wine Enthusiast

About the wine:

One of the estate's parcel-based cuvées, this wine was aged in concrete eggs for 16 months. Open and ripe, it has a soft texture that conceals the firm tannins beneath. Structure, black fruit and richness come together. Let the wine age until 2021.

Gilbert & Gaillard

James Suckling