Pigalle 2021

• Juicy and low in tannin, it takes chilli well: pad krapow or babi guling.
• Or steak and chips, eaten later than intended.

Marius Bielle is Damien Bielle's project in Lalande-de-Pomerol, the quieter neighbour of one of Bordeaux's most expensive addresses. The vines are farmed organically and biodynamically, and Damien talks about his cuvées as expressions of the vineyard rather than manufactured goods. In the cellar that means no added yeast, no fining, no filtration and no sulphur.

Alongside his own wines, Damien makes a run of collaborations with growers he trusts, which he calls liquid experiments. Pigalle is one of them, made with Nicolas Roux, who farms organically at Mourens in the Entre-Deux-Mers. The fruit is Malbec, one of Bordeaux's old grapes, grown on clay and limestone, and the extraction is gentle, closer to an infusion than a hard push.

The result is Bordeaux you can chill: bright red berries, a floral lift and no heaviness at all. It is a reminder that fruit from this region, left alone, can be as easy and fresh as anything from further north.