If you’d been driving along the rue du Chapitre in the commune of Aloxe-Corton, north of Beaune, in September 2017, chances are good that you would have heard lines from the old wine song “Ah! que nos pères étaient heureux” emanating from the Clos du Chapitre vineyard, which abuts the Église Saint-Médard:

…rubis divin, il planta là notre espérance,
Amis, buvons à pleins tonneaux,
Comme des trous, comme des trous, morbleu,
L’avenir est à nous!

…divine ruby, he planted our hope there,
Friends, let’s drink to our full barrels,
Drink like fish, goodness, drink like fish,
The future is ours!

The tune is a favorite of Franck Follin-Arbelet’s band of vendangeurs, who harmonize with extra verve when the harvest is promising. The year 2017 saw a récolte de fou—“crazy harvest”—according to Franck. After a string of difficult vintages, 2017 ended in relief, with not only an abundance of grapes but also very high quality. Having narrowly missed a devastating frost in April, Burgundy was graced with favorable conditions the rest of the spring and summer. The weather, combined with Follin-Arbelet’s old-school, everything-done-by-hand techniques in the vines and in his deep stone cave beneath his home, created wines that show tremendous charm right out of the gate as well as impressive cellaring potential.