2016 Antoine Sunier Régnié

Region: Régnié < Beaujolais < Burgundy <France
Grapes: Gamay
Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Organic/biodynamic farming; 55+ year old vines on granitic and alluvial soils around an elevation of 1,200 feet; whole cluster, carbonic fermentation with a little pigeage (foot trodding), then manually racked before aging in a mixture neutral Burgundian barrels and concrete tanks for 8 months; bottled unfined/unfiltered with 2ppm So2 (trace amount).
Winemaker: Antoine Sunier

Antoine grew up in Dijon, and watched his older brother, Julien, go into the natural wine biz.  Julien, another RJ favorite, makes some of the best cru Beaujolais out there, working organically and without sulfites -- and inspired his little bro to get into the game. Antoine left his desk job in 2012 and dashed off to study enology in Beaune, interned with a few organic estates, and finally purchased a house equipped with a small cellar in 2014.  He may be new on the scene, but his wines are old-school and pristine (and priced well below where they could be).  Antoine’s fruit from these three plots were delicately picked by hand in 2016, but there wasn’t much left to harvest—hail destroyed nearly 80% of the crop! Luckily, he was able to make a small amount of Régnié in 2016, which has the gravitas of a Burgundy at a Beaujolais price. Dense yet refreshing, with a rich core of sweet red fruit, earth and spice cake notes that are lifted by juicy acidity. IT TASTES LIKE CHRISTMAS, I SWEAR! Forget the milk and cookies, leave some Régnié for Santa!

DRINKING NOTE: This bad boy wants some air and the slightest chill - cellar temp (55 is ideal).  If you serve this wine too warm (“room temp” is too warm) it won't be as pretty or perfumed as it should be. If you don't have a wine fridge, put the wine in the regular fridge for 30 minutes (or 10 minutes in the freezer) before decanting or pouring into big Burgundy glasses (or your fanciest tumbler).