Les Volets Pinot Noir

Unfussy French Pinot. Soft red fruit, easy structure, French-style restraint.

Les Volets means the shutters, the wooden ones on nearly every house in the south of France. The fruit grows in the Haute Vallée de l'Aude, up in the Pyrenean foothills near Limoux. Altitude is the trick. Cool nights slow the ripening, so Pinot Noir keeps its perfume in a corner of the Languedoc better known for heat.

The vineyards are farmed sustainably and picked by hand. The wine ferments in stainless steel, and a quarter of it spends six months in older French oak barrels. That adds a little roundness without any oak flavour taking over.

Serve it a touch cooler than room temperature. It sits happily beside charcuterie, roast chicken or a weeknight pasta.