Viti Vini Vinci wines made by Nicolas Vauthier, the Ayatalloh of Iran-cy. Nicolas Vauthier has been a big fan of non-interventionist wines, at the forefront of promoting the wines he loves, for donkey’s years. He opened Aux Crieurs de Vin, a wonderful natural wine bar/store/restaurant in the city of Troyes, and ran it for ten years. Eventually, having been surrounded by so much good wine, good times and conversations, Nicolas decided he wanted to make some wine for himself. What he has created is a micro 'negoce' house in Avallon, in the northern part of Burgundy near Chablis. Nicolas buys organically grown grapes ‘a pied’, still on the vine, harvests them with his own pickers, and then, in the spirit of minimal intervention, lets the wine make itself, intervening as little as possible in the process. The result are wines with wonderfully vibrant fruity aromas, satin textures and a mineral core. He works with partial carbonic maceration which helps to make his northern Burgundy wines fruitier, softer and more delicious. The fermentation takes place in large old wooden foudres with no sulphur – only a tiny drop at the bottling. This is deliciously fun Pinot Noir, which can be enjoyed chilled in the summer or warmer with game in the Autumn. Considering the eye watering price of a half decent bottle of natural Pinot from this area nowadays, the price is also more than reasonable.
