Tupinier Bautista
Mercurey Vieilles Vignes 2023

The Mercurey Vieilles Vignes comes from 70 year old vines and sees 25% new wood. It is fully destemmed, so that Manu can extract maximum flavours and aromas without the overly floral characteristics that whole bunch pressing can often generate. It has aromas of sweet cherries, raspberries, baking spices and very high quality new oak, On the palate it is medium-bodied, ample and fleshy, with beautiful tannins, succulent acids and a typically sensual, enveloping profile. This pleasure-bent red will offer delicious drinking out of the gates, but will reward medium term cellaring.

The 2023 vintage is is a rarity — one that offers both quantity and quality. Despite being one of the hottest years on record (behind only 2018, 2022 and 2003), the vintage was not a year of extremes. Few vines were damaged by a spring frost. This, along with a good flowering season meant that there were plenty of grapes. May and June were hot and dry, and by mid-July, a pretty heavy green harvesting took place to balance the vines. Sometimes up to two-thirds of a vine’s fruit was dropped, which helped to ensure high quality. Older vines, which naturally produce lower quantities of fruit, tended to produce better quality fruit this season.  Temperatures cooled in July and August, but the harvest was still quite early. The 2023 reds are surprisingly concentrated without ever falling into over-ripeness. They are aromatic and perfumed, with clean and pure aromas of blue or red berries and pronounced floral notes . Their expressive and sophisticated bouquets will please true fans of red Burgundy

Tupinier-Bautista is one of the Côte Chalonnaise’s finest estates. Emphasizing that everything follows from the quality of the raw materials, Bautista harvests by hand in small cases. Reds see long cuvaisons with temperatures kept in the high twenties  to preserve the expression of fruit. Élevage then takes place in 228L and 500L barrels from Tonnellerie Chassin, whose Rully cooperage supplies many of the region’s best addresses. Winemaker and owner, Manuel Bautista, is good friends with Stéphane Chassin and he is able to order barrels for each cuvée as soon as the fermentation is complete so he can customize his selection to the requirements of every parcel of grapes. This is a luxury that others in the region do not enjoy and helps to explain how seemless and well-integrated the oak is part of all Tupinier Bautista wines, despite the relatively high proportion of new oak. Topping up is meticulous, and Bautista’s attention to detail will be evident to anyone who visits his cellars. The results speak for themselves: supple, fragrant reds bursting with vibrant fruit that entirely conceals their velvety tannins and precise, flavorful and harmonious whites. In short, Bautista is one of a small handful of producers that demonstrates just what is possible when Mercurey’s terroirs are lavished with the same attention devoted to their more famous Côte d’Or counterparts.