MERCUREY

2019 1er Cru Les Vasées Domaine François Raquillet

EN PRIMEUR

Even more than the Vieilles Vignes this shows the concentration of the year from the low yields. Very dense with dark fruit expression, black cherry and blueberry - gorgeous but needs a year of two. Drinking range: 2022 - 2027L&S (Oct 2020)

* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.

The 2019 Mercurey Les Vasées 1er Cru has a wonderfully detailed and quite complex bouquet with vivacious redcurrant and cranberry fruit laced with potpourri and wilted rose. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red berry fruit, a fine bead of acidity, very harmonious with a tender but persistent finish that I find very satisfying. This is a sophisticated Mercurey that will be difficult to resist in its youth. But try. Drinking range: 2022 - 2032 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jan 2021)

Deep purplish crimson. Gentler nose than the Vieilles Vignes with the fruit subsuming the acidity and tannin. This should make a pretty wine after it settles down in bottle. Quite a bit of fine tannin on the very end. Just very slightly rasping finish. Drinking range: 2024 - 2030 Rating: 16 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jan 2021)

François took over the running of this estate from his father, Jean, in 1990, with his wife Emmanuelle. Records show that the same family have made wine in Mercurey since the 1600s, and Francois is the eleventh generation.

With eleven hectares under vine, François has substantially reduced yields, introduced higher quality oak barrels (up to 50% new wood for the Premiers Crus) and significantly increased the quality of wines made at this domaine. François explains he tries to avoid over-extraction at all costs - his one aim is to deliver the beautifully pure fruit profile he gets out of the old vines - this he does with great success. It is a wonderfully transparent style - combined with good mid-palate weight.

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STORAGE OPTIONS:

Wines bought en primeur are scheduled to arrive in the UK over the course of the next eighteen months. If you do not wish to take home delivery, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our primeurs team for more information.

While helpful, we do not require a firm commitment on delivery destination to process your primeur order at this stage. Our team will be in contact with you when your wines arrive in the UK to confirm the necessary delivery details.

BURGUNDY EN PRIMEUR FAQ

OFFER: All wines are offered subject to availability and final confirmation.

PRICING: All prices are quoted IN BOND ex-VAT, by the case size stated. Please double check that the desired case size does match what is being offered as wines are variously listed in threes, sixes, dozens, halves and larger formats.

DELIVERY - TIMING: This is a primeur offer so the wines are not yet physically available for delivery. They will be shipped to the UK over the next eighteen months. Generally, wines are shipped to your nominated location once the whole order has landed in our London City Bond account. If you require wines to be delivered by a certain date, please advise us at the time of ordering.

DELIVERY - FEES: In bond delivery to an Elephant Storage account (for more information see 'Storage Options' opposite) is free of charge. Transfer of wines to any third-party bond (i.e. not Elephant Storage) will incur an administration charge of £16.50 + VAT for all orders under £1,000. Please indicate if you would like the wine duty paid and a duty & VAT invoice will be raised once all the wines on your order are available for shipment. Once the relevant duty & VAT has been settled, we will ship the wines to your nominated address as per our normal duty paid Delivery Terms.

PAYMENT: All orders will be invoiced for immediate payment by cheque, cash, debit card or cleared funds to our account. We regret that we cannot accept credit cards for primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.