Notify me
2020 Irancy
Benoît CantinYou might be caught off guard by how delicious this unassuming bottle of Irancy from the Auxerrois region of Burgundy is. The Cantin family is making some of the most surprising and gorgeous wines we’ve started to import recently, and I am completely hooked. This cuvée blends Pinot Noir from lieux-dits in and around the Irancy appellation, an amphitheater of vineyards growing on Kimmeridgian limestone soil—like its neighbor in Chablis. A vibrant rouge, it has notes of violet, fennel seed, and black pepper coiled together around a chalky core.
—Jane Augustine
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2020 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Pinot Noir |
Appellation: | Irancy |
Country: | France |
Region: | Burgundy |
Producer: | Benoît Cantin |
Winemaker: | Benoît Cantin |
Vineyard: | 30-40 years, 16 ha total |
Soil: | Kimmeridgian limestone |
Aging: | Wines are aged in 228L oak barrels (15% new) for one year; The oak comes from the family’s own land and from the Les Bertranges forest. |
Farming: | Sustainable |
Alcohol: | 13% |
More from this Producer or Region
2022 Chablis “Vauprin”
France | Burgundy
Vauprin showcases Chardonnay’s ability to produce a wine that is simultaneously both round and taut in this mighty northern Burgundian terroir.
2020 Givry Rouge 1er Cru “A Vigne Rouge”
France | Burgundy
The Lumpp style is on full display with this beauty: open-knit, fruit-forward, silky, and seductive Pinot Noir beckons.
2020 Volnay 1er Cru “Les Caillerets”
Domaine Lucien Boillot et Fils
France | Burgundy
This Caillerets features a stony, savory undercurrent, above which float gorgeous notes of strawberries and plums.
2020 Beaune 1er Cru “Les Montrevenots”
France | Burgundy
The wine benefits from some air upon pulling the cork, and soon opens up to loads of red raspberry and cherry fruit with wet stone minerality underneath.
2021 Fixin
France | Burgundy
Solid yet affordable cru burgundy with the structure, concentration, and complexity similar to Gevrey-Chambertin’s wine, as well as the bright fruit and accessibility of its other neighbor, Marsannay.
2018 Irancy “La Grande Côte”
France | Burgundy
From a single-vineyard parcel on one of the family’s most primely positioned slopes, this bottling has more depth, concentration, and brambly tannic punch.
2017 Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru
France | Burgundy
With some age, this will develop into one of the most gorgeous Pinot Noirs to ever grace your glass.
2017 Mazoyères Chambertin Grand Cru
France | Burgundy
More Morey-like than the Charmes, with more muscle and spice. The grandest and longest-aging wine in this collection.
2019 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru “Les Pruliers”
France | Burgundy
Incredible elegance for Pruliers, power and finesse in spades.
2022 Bourgogne Epineuil
France | Burgundy
Ethereal and bright, with the notes of cherry and earth that get red-Burgundy lovers’ hearts racing.
About The Producer
Benoît Cantin
There are less than fifty active viticulteurs in the relatively small northern Burgundy Appellation of Irancy, only twelve of which are situated in the commune of Irancy. Located just southwest of Chablis, Irancy is a picturesque canvas of vineyards planted on hillsides and amphitheaters, all favorably facing south for maximal sun exposure. While it shares the Kimmeridgian limestone soil also found in Chablis, the combes of vineyards here are planted exclusively to red grapes–mainly Pinot Noir–with instances of Gamay and César. Historically, the land was co-planted to vines, wheat, and cherry trees, and not unlike the reds of Sancerre, its wines were a favorite of Parisians due to its close proximity to Paris.
Benoît, with the continued support of his father, Bernard, runs the domaine, farming 16 hectares in Irancy across 10 different lieux-dits. Following in the footsteps of many Cantin generations before him, Benoît began working at the domaine in 1991, bottling his first solo vintage in 1994. His wines display a rustic elegance, an earthy, Burgundian soulfulness, and a structure and depth well above their price point. They are wines of character, with a strong sense of place and typicity, as well as great freshness thanks to the limestone soils in which they are grown.
About The Region
Burgundy
In eastern central France, Burgundy is nestled between the wine regions of Champagne to the north, the Jura to the east, the Loire to the west, and the Rhône to the south. This is the terroir par excellence for producing world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The southeast-facing hillside between Dijon in the north and Maranges in the south is known as the Côte d’Or or “golden slope.” The Côte d’Or comprises two main sections, both composed of limestone and clay soils: the Côte de Nuits in the northern sector, and the Côte de Beaune in the south. Both areas produce magnificent whites and reds, although the Côte de Beaune produces more white wine and the Côte de Nuits more red.
Chablis is Burgundy’s northern outpost, known for its flinty and age-worthy Chardonnays planted in Kimmeridgian limestone on an ancient seabed. Vézelay is a smaller area south of Chablis with similar qualities, although the limestone there is not Kimmeridgian.
To the south of the Côte de Beaune, the Côte Chalonnaise extends from Chagny on its northern end, down past Chalon-sur-Saône and encompasses the appellations of Bouzeron in the north, followed by Rully, Mercurey, Givry, and Montagny.
Directly south of the Chalonnaise begins the Côte Mâconnais, which extends south past Mâcon to the hamlets of Fuissé, Vinzelles, Chaintré, and Saint-Véran. The Mâconnais is prime Chardonnay country and contains an incredible diversity of soils.
More from Burgundy or France
2021 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Bruno Colin France | Burgundy
2021 Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge “Vieilles Vignes”
Bruno Colin France | Burgundy
2018 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru “Les Cailles”
Domaine Robert Chevillon France | Burgundy
2019 Bourgogne Pinot Beurot “Les Grands Poisots”
Domaine Lucien Boillot et Fils France | Burgundy
2022 Mâcon-Villages
Henri Perrusset France | Burgundy
2020 Marsannay Blanc “Clos du Roy”
Régis Bouvier France | Burgundy
2021 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Bruno Colin France | Burgundy
2018 Mazoyères Chambertin Grand Cru
Domaine Taupenot-Merme France | Burgundy
2017 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru “Près le Cellier”
Domaine Méo-Camuzet France | Burgundy
2018 Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru
Domaine Taupenot-Merme France | Burgundy
2022 Chablis 1er Cru “Fourchaume”
Domaine Roland Lavantureux France | Burgundy
2017 Mazoyères Chambertin Grand Cru
Domaine Taupenot-Merme France | Burgundy
2021 Bourgogne Pinot Noir
Bruno Colin France | Burgundy
2021 Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge “Vieilles Vignes”
Bruno Colin France | Burgundy
2018 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru “Les Cailles”
Domaine Robert Chevillon France | Burgundy
2019 Bourgogne Pinot Beurot “Les Grands Poisots”
Domaine Lucien Boillot et Fils France | Burgundy
2022 Mâcon-Villages
Henri Perrusset France | Burgundy
2020 Marsannay Blanc “Clos du Roy”
Régis Bouvier France | Burgundy
2021 Bourgogne Chardonnay
Bruno Colin France | Burgundy
2018 Mazoyères Chambertin Grand Cru
Domaine Taupenot-Merme France | Burgundy
2017 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru “Près le Cellier”
Domaine Méo-Camuzet France | Burgundy
2018 Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru
Domaine Taupenot-Merme France | Burgundy
2022 Chablis 1er Cru “Fourchaume”
Domaine Roland Lavantureux France | Burgundy
2017 Mazoyères Chambertin Grand Cru
Domaine Taupenot-Merme France | Burgundy
Kermit once said...
Kermit once said...
You don’t have to be rich to cellar a great wine.