Ducroux, Christian 2023 Vin de France Exspectatia

(6 bottle max, please) Ripe plum and berry fruit aromas, blackberry liqueur, earth,  rose, licorice. The palate is deep, long and elegant with earthy red currant, blackberry fruit, minerals and firm acidity, terrific length of fruit and stone, balanced and bright. This is both a superb natural wine and a great wine of terroir, complex and changeable, with no added SO2. Probably best 2025 - 2035.  Christian on the 2023 vintage: 

"Water deficit for the winters of 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, but a very mild autumn of 2022, so we mowed in March, which is unusual, followed by two more mowings in May and June. During the summer, we plowed three times, the first in early July. Following the removal of a row on each side of the trees, we no longer go between the vines for treatments, which limits soil compaction and gives us greater treatment efficiency, so no copper was used this year. An average summer, not too hot, but with a 15-day heatwave between August and September, which helped concentrate the juice in the grapes. Flowering took place around June 6th and harvest began on September 10th. Fermentation went well despite high alcohol levels."