Now controlled by the three Chardigny brothers, the family has been involved in various aspects of grape growing and wine production for more than 200 years, and it was the brothers’ parents who first vinified and bottled their own wine in 1995. The brothers all studied and worked in wine before returning to the family domaine, and immediately moved to certify the way their parents had been farming, achieving organic certification in 2020, and began making their wines with little intervention. The Clos Chapitre vineyard is on a promontory overlooking the Saône River valley with mixed alluvial soils, as is generally the case in the cru of Saint Amour. The grapes undergo a cold soak prior to their partially carbonic, whole cluster fermentation and then age in large french oak barrels for a year. There is plenty of hedonism in this wine, yet there is enough complexity to hold your attention. Fruit, in the form of bing cherry, red plum, black raspberry, raspberry concentrate and even peach (a characteristic of Saint-Amour), is counterpointed with nutmeg, black tea and orange rind. The silky tannins and fresh acidity balance the heady level of alcohol and make this wine extremely versatile for food pairing: intensely flavored poultry, fowl and even mild white fish would work.