Armand Heitz Volnay Santenots 1er Cru 2019

100% Pinot Noir. Domaine Heitz-Lochardet started in 1857 with the Nie-Vantey family. Post-phylloxera, many of the vineyards were sold, but the best Cote de Beaune vineyards were kept in the family by Georges Lochardet. Two generations later, Brigitte Lochardet married Christian Heitz and her share of the family vineyards, 5ha, became Heitz-Lochardet, which Brigitte organically farmed. For 25 years, Brigitte Lochardet contracted the totality of her vines to Maison Joseph Drouhin. As Armand Heitz, the next generation completed his oenology studies in 2011, he began recuperating his mother's vineyards and converting them to full biodynamic practices. A young man with knowledge beyond his years, he completed his first vintage in 2013, guided by consulting oenologist Ludovic Pierrot who spent eight years at the legendary Domaine Leflaive, working alongside Anne-Claude Leflaive, the matriarch of Biodynamics in the Cote d’Or. Ludovic is actively assisting Armand with his plan to bring his 5ha of vineyards to production in three stages. Yields are naturally restrained to low levels and grapes are manually picked at optimal phenolic ripeness. All wines, red and white, are fermented in wood with intact whole clusters. The wine is then racked into barrels for aging of 11 months, with lees stirring (batonnage) for whites as appropriate to the vintage. We should note, for a couple of years, there was the family label, Heitz-Lochardet, and his negociant label, Armand Heitz. Armand thought that having both a domaine and négociant label was too confusing for his clients so he has consolidated them so as of the 2019 vintage, all wines will be labeled as Armand Heitz which is what we have here. Either way, the wines are so freakin' amazing! We're not the only ones as Allen Meadows of Burghound noted, “…this is indisputably a domaine to watch going forward." No doubt there. Enjoy these fantastic Burgundies from one of the best up-and-coming names in the region.