Marsannay En Clemengeots

Sylvain Pataille founded his domaine in 1999 without owning a single vine — every parcel across Marsannay's three communes is leased, yet En Clémengeots has become one of his most forensically precise addresses. The lieu-dit sits on very shallow gravel over laves stone, a soil profile so thin and fast-draining that the vine is forced into deep root exploration, translating directly into the wine's stony, high-toned character rather than any fruit weight. 2021's combination of spring frost and mildew pressure slashed yields, concentrating what remained into wines of exceptional freshness and mineral definition — the vintage Pataille's low-intervention philosophy was built for. Vinification follows his signature whole-cluster infusion approach in stainless steel or fibreglass vats, prioritising gentle maceration over extraction, with indigenous yeast fermentation, no sulphur added during fermentation, and aging in oak barrel at 15–30% new wood for 15–18 months. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal SO₂ added only at bottling. What separates En Clémengeots from Pataille's other lieu-dit reds is the laves-stone substrate — a volcanic-origin compressed limestone that delivers a harder, more angular mineral signature than the iron-rich marl of Clos du Roy or the gravelly limestone of Longeroies. The 2021 drinking window is generous: the cool-year acidity and whole-cluster structure suggest peak expression from 2026 through 2034.