Thierry Richoux, Irancy, 2019

Irancy is an interesting appellation, which only received its AC status as recently as 1999. Situated 18km southwest of Chablis, in colder times the pinot noir here struggled to ripen properly. However, the timing of the granting of AC status reflected the warmer vintages of the nineties. The Richoux have been working the slopes of Irancy since 1620, but it wasn’t until the seventies that they decided to dedicate themselves exclusively to winemaking, the first family to do so in the village. Regarded as one of the most accomplished vignerons of the appellation, Thierry was joined in 2013 by his two sons, Felix, and Gabin who are due to take over in the coming years. They have 19ha planted on the best mid-slopes above the village which they work organically, Félix and Gabin have recently introduced the use of plant-based biodynamic preparations. Back in the cave, a vibrating sorting table was introduced in 2015 to great effect, cutting out any imperfect grapes and allowing them to forgo the use of sulphur during fermentation and ageing, together with reducing the amount added at bottling. The arrival of Gabin and Félix has triggered a few changes which seem to be bearing fruit already – their 2017 Irancy is the best we’ve tasted at the domaine – and with the construction of a brand new cellar in time for the 2019 harvest, it’ll be interesting to see how much more they can improve. In these days of astronomical pricing for wines from the