Frankness with a lot of minerality. This wine, deep in colour and with frequent black fruit aromas, does not line the palate but possesses a great deal of rectitude. There's no aggressiveness in the tasting, even if a touch of acidity can be felt in the finish. This wine is pleasant thanks to its fresh and subtle nose and its direct character, refreshing and not at all heavy.

A potentially long ageing period, as the acidity is always just right. It can be a little strict sometimes when the wine is young, but this phase soon passes giving way to a great deal of elegance. You want to drink it!

Forty per cent of new oak casks suits it perfectly. The natural lightness of the wine must be preserved; too much new oak would seem artificial, without bringing any real benefit.

Proceed with caution; the natural acidity of the plot takes care of the extraction; no additional work is necessary as this would overload the wine with tannin.

The vines are quite old, having been planted about 50 years ago. The ripening cycle is slow. This vineyard, one of the first to see its grapes change colour, should not be harvested early and ripens rather late. The small grapes, in bunches shaped like pine-cones, don't mind waiting.

The Clos du Chapitre is situated in the heart of the village of Fixin, below the Clos de la Perrière, famous for its wine-press built by the Cistercian monks. In the higher part, the slopes are still quite steep and the rows of vines are planted north-south in order to limit erosion. It's a charming site, but you soon realise that the vines are not easy to work.