Producer note: Bernard Bouvier took over his father’s 10 ha domaine in 1992 and it has now been expanded to 17 ha covering 20 some different appellations. Bouvier is also the current president of the Marsannay grower syndicate and thus he has been instrumental in the commune’s movement to have premiers crus anointed at some point in the future if INAO is ultimately in accordance with their upgrade petition. As to the 2017 vintage, Bouvier noted that “the growing season was much easier than was the case in 2017 and one where we had good if not excessive yields. In a fashion, it’s a good thing that the vines had good crop loads because even with them we had excellent maturities. Had the yields been like they were in 2016, I fear that we might have had wines that resembled the 2003s. We chose to begin picking on the 5th of September and brought in pretty clean fruit that required only cursory sorting. I used on average about 50% whole clusters and very little needed chaptalizing. As to the wines, they are very pinot in basic character with fruit profiles that run more to the red side of the spectrum with a lovely elegance and almost delicate palate impressions. They should drink well young but have no problem aging well too for up to a decade or so.” (Paul Young Wines, CA, Elite Wines Imports, VA, 703.339.8150, both USA; Howard Ripley, www.howardripley.com and Thorman Hunt & Co., www.thormanhunt.co.uk, both UK).