Belland Chassagne-Montrachet 1er “Pitois” rouge 2020

Roger and Julie Belland are 5th and 6th generation growers in Santenay — their wines are perennial favorites among our readers, offering early drinking and friendly pricetags. Belland’s are always delicious and precocious, but in 2020 they’re even better than usual.

Clos Pitois rouge 2020 is classic Côte de Beaune red Burgundy, dense and finely textured – pretty rather than bold. Burghound praised its nose as “fresh and bright,” with a “pretty essence of red and dark berries, pepper and earth,” all “trimmed in … menthol.” He thought it “firm enough to reward up to a decade of cellaring.”