Pernand Vergelesses Sous Fretille Blanc, Rapet Pere et Fils 2018

The 2018 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Sous Frétille is showing superbly, unfurling in the glass with notes of dried white flowers, citrus oil, fresh peach and subtle hints of praline. Medium to full-bodied, satiny but incisive, it's concentrated and tensile, concluding with a long, mineral finish. I've previously described this bottling as the insider's choice chez Rapet, and the 2018 certainly merits that title.

The Sous Frétille bottling from Vincent Rapet is a relatively new addition to the family’s portfolio. The wine is aged in thirty percent new oak for twelve months prior to bottling. The 2018 version is nicely reserved out of the blocks, offering up a very promising bouquet of lemon, pear, a superb base of limestone minerality, almond, a touch of citrus zest and a very refined framing of new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and nascently complex, with a fine core of ripe fruit, excellent mineral drive and cut and a long, balanced and promising finish. The ripeness of the 2018 vintage is in evidence here, but it is coupled with the fine minerality of this terroir and the combination is quite flattering. I would opt to give this a couple of years in the cellar, just to let the wine’s secondary layers of complexity emerge, but it is already very easy to drink! (Drink between 2023-2045)