Pommard, Philippe Pacalet, 2022

Philippe Pacalet is something of a quiet iconoclast in Burgundy. A nephew of Marcel Lapierre and a protégé of Jules Chauvet, he trained under Prieuré-Roch before setting up his own négociant house in Beaune in 2001. His wines are made without sulphur additions and with minimal intervention, which in lesser hands can mean instability — but in Pacalet's, it means wines of startling clarity and life. This Pommard from the 2022 vintage is a case in point: generous enough to remind you it's Pommard, yet with a freshness and precision that cuts against the appellation's bruiser reputation.

On the palate there's ripe cherry and dark plum, but what defines it is the iron-edged minerality and a fine-grained tannic grip that keeps everything taut. The 2022 vintage across Burgundy produced wines of real ripeness without the heat-baked character of 2020, and Pacalet's low-intervention approach lets the vintage speak clearly. Drink from 2027, and give it until around 2038 — this is a wine that rewards a little patience far more than it rewards impatience.