The soft-spoken Raphet, his wife, Sylviane, and their daughter, Virginie, are hands-on proprietors who bottle several wines, including this one, labeled “Cuvée Unique,” specifically for their West Coast importer (these wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered). The Raphet domaine, as we’ve explained before, is the ultimate in farmstead-scale winemaking: Passed down through multiple generations and boasting stands of 100-year-old Pinot Noir vines, this is still a tiny operation, with a simple cellar underneath the family home. Gérard, who took over the domaine from his father in 2005, follows lutte raisonnée, or ‘reasoned fight,’ principles in his farming practices—a methodology that calls for only organic products in the vineyards, unless under in circumstances in difficult vintages. He and his team use traditional cultivation methods and harvest only by hand. The grapes undergo strict sorting before fermentation with natural yeasts, and then the wines are aged in French oak barrels (roughly 15% new) for 18 months. Today’s wine is based on older-vine fruit from “Clos des Ormes” (a Premier Cru just downslope from the iconic “Clos de la Roche” Grand Cru) and “Les Millandes” (below Grand Cru “Clos-St.-Denis”). But it doesn’t say “Premier Cru” on the bottle, and thus the price remains comfortably in two-digit territory!

Today’s 2017 is textbook Morey-St-Denis, elegant and silken and already drinking beautifully—but with the underlying structure for aging. It’s a medium ruby in the glass moving to magenta and pink at the rim. Aromas of red and black cherry, pomegranate, strawberry, and a touch of cranberry share time at the fore with scents of underbrush, dried mushroom, rose petals, and a touch of exotic spice. Medium to medium-plus in body and beautifully polished, there’s also a deeply mineral component that lends some muscularity to an otherwise lifted and perfumed wine. If you are enjoying a bottle now, decant it about an hour before serving at 60-65 degrees in large Burgundy stems; if you can keep your hands off the rest, you’ll be well-rewarded through 2030 (and likely beyond). At least one bottle of this is likely to end up on my Thanksgiving table, but its applications extend well beyond that—try it with any game bird you like or just a nice, crispy-skinned roast chicken. This is serious stuff!