Pacalet is a seriously polarising winemaker in Burgundy; he insists on naturalness to an extreme degree. He uses no chemicals at all in the vineyards and only adds minimal sulphur to his wines before bottling. He does it to be able to show the terroir notes through his wines without any interfering factors. Because of the minimal sulphur level his wines are truly fragile and one might even call them vulnerable. There is only a tiny difference between a madman and a genius, therefore if we wish to form an opinion we need a bit of experience in Burgundy and of course to be open-minded. It’s well worth it. His wine from the village of Gevrey Chambertin comes from six plots. 45-year-old vines, 30hl/ha average yield. He macerates for four weeks, punching down twice daily. This was fermented spontaneously, just like all his other wines. But what do we think of it? Deep, dark colour with a bit of purple, an exciting nose, strawberry, roses, a touch of mint, rocket and horse radish. Not that dense on the palate, creamy, with sour cherry, mushroom, pronounced tannins and acidity. It changes a lot in the glass, a real conversation starting wine…