AMI Bourgogne Albin

AMI is about friends, sommelier Paul Marchand-Perarnau and winemaker Willy Roulendes, childhood friends who worked together in the past at a winery in Auxey-Duresses and eventually decided to become partners by setting up their own winemaking project in the Maranges Valley, in the south of the Côte de Beaune. This is where their name came from (AMI means friend in French). But this friendship also extends to those involved in every part of the winemaking process; friendship with the farmers who grow the grapes, friendship with fellow producers and friendship with the consumer who is presented with a pure wine just as it is meant to be, the real deal. With that in mind, it would be hard not to want to see for yourself...

One of their wines is AMI Bourgogne Albin, a Pinot Noir wine cultivated under organic principles and biodynamic treatments. During the grape harvest, Willy and Paul work manually with their friends to pick the grapes when they are at their best. Afterwards, the grapes are macerated in the winery for 10-15 days and fermented with native yeasts and no temperature control. The wine then ages in used French oak barrels for 12 months. When it comes to bottling, there is never any clarification or filtration, and no additives except for 10 to 30 ppm of SO2 depending on the vintage, with the main aim being to create a quality wine.

So, Paul Marchand and Willy Roulendes have produced AMI Bourgogne Albin, a seductive, generous and warm wine that, although very limited in number, is extremely good value in a constantly growing market.