Domaine Faiveley Mercurey 'La Framboisière' 2021

I first discovered this elegant wine at the en primeur tastings in January 2020 (remember those heady days? All optimism and no masks). I was stopped in my tracks by this charming, fruit forward but complex wine.

La Framboisière has been one of the Domaine's monopoles since 1933 and produces very distinctive wines: intense red fruit aromas and a pleasant minerality. La Framboisière means 'raspberry plantation' in French, and every time I taste the wine (it is drinking beautifully now) the raspberry aromas combined with that wonderful earthy structure and a hint of oak you find in well-made red burgundy makes me smile and want to taste again.

Raspberries with deeper notes of chocolaty plum abound here. Part whole bunch fermentation has brought out an ample, fleshy fruitiness with a gentle touch of oak.

The wine is drinking brilliantly now and can also be kept in the cellar for a couple of years.