2023 Julien Cruchandeau Ladoix "Les Ranches"

Julien Cruchandeau, a former musician turned winemaker, has been farming in the tiny Hautes-Côtes de Nuits village of Chaux, above Nuits-Saint-Georges, since 2003, gradually building an estate of less than three hectares parcel by parcel, an almost entirely one-man operation even by Burgundy's already small-scale standards. Working with natural, hands-off practices, Julien has earned a reputation for coaxing real depth and dimension out of an area of Burgundy once regarded mainly for high-volume, lower-quality production, and his stated goal throughout is to capture power and concentration in his Pinot Noir while avoiding hard, aggressive tannin. Les Ranches, meaning "spiky thorny bushes" in old French, is a 0.55-hectare parcel of Pinot Noir acquired in 2012 (with 2012 as the domaine's first vintage from this site), located at the northern end of Ladoix between the D974 road and the Premier Cru La Micaude, facing south-southeast on limestone and clay soils. The vines were planted in 1974, giving genuine old-vine character to this small-production bottling. In the cellar, the fruit undergoes about 30% whole cluster inclusion, followed by cold maceration for the first ten days, then ferments in vats for five to six weeks with no pigeage, relying instead on frequent pump-overs for gentle extraction. The wine is aged 12 months on fine lees in oak casks, with roughly 20% new oak, restrained enough to let the site's character lead rather than overwhelm it with wood influence. The result is a Ladoix that's aromatic, bright, and true to its place, showing crunchy red fruit, and the kind of soft-tannined, food-friendly structure Julien has built his whole winemaking philosophy around. It pairs naturally with roast white meats, meaty fish, and dishes built around red sauce, an excellent, genuinely small-production entry into a lesser-known but increasingly well-regarded corner of the Côte de Beaune.