2015 Remoissenet Pere & Fils Givry Le Préféré du Roi Henri IV

Remoissenet Pere et Fils was founded in Beaune in 1877 and was run as a negociant and producer for the last part of the 20th century by the venerable Roland Remoissenet. The 7.5-acre estate was sold after Remoissenet retired in 2005 to New York investors and a Canadian wine importer. Pierre-Antoine Rovani, once a writer for Wine Advocate, is employed by the New York investors, who installed Rovani as president of of the domaine. Maison Louis Jadot also has a minority financial interest in the estate. Bernard Repolt, the former president of Louis Jadot, is in charge of winemaking at Remoissenet. Vineyards have been added in recent years and the estate is now focused only on producing wines from grapes grown on estate vineyards, a departure from past years. Today the estate is known for Premier Cru red and white wines.

Givry, the appellation, is in the Côte Chalonnaise region and it includes the communes of Givry, Dracy-le-Fort and Jambles. The appellation is four miles long and two miles wide and has 665 acres of vineyards, of which 250 acres are Premier Cru. Altogether there are 27 Premier Cru vineyards, including several monopoles. There are no Grand Crus. The remaining vineyard acreage is classified as Givry village. Though Givry produces both red and white wines, 80% of the wine produced is Pinot Noir. Some 1.7 million bottles of Givry appellation wines are produced annually. Clive Coates has noted that the soil of Givry is a mix of the marl and chalky limestone of northern Burgundy and the richer, sandier limestone of the Mâconnais to the south. Coates added: “The red wines of Givry can be the most charming and the most stylish of the Côte Chalonnaise, and in structure, they are midway between those of Rully and Mercurey.”

This red wine is relatively light and can pair with a wide variety of foods. The grape prefers cooler climates and the wine is most often associated with Burgundy, Champagne and the U.S. west coast. Regional differences make it nearly as fickle as it is flexible.