# Encore Pinot Noir (2025)

- **Producer:** Laurent Saillard
- **Colour:** red
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Pinot Noir
- **Region:** Loire, France
- **Style:** Natural
- **Alcohol:** 12.5%
- **Average price:** €24
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 13–15 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** cherry, raspberry, plum, herbaceous, smoke, mushroom, forest floor

## About this wine

Laurent Saillard spent 13 years in New York City working as a chef and restaurateur, notably running Balthazar and co-founding Ici in Brooklyn, before returning to France to pursue winemaking. He learned the craft alongside Noëlla Morantin and at the renowned Clos Roche Blanche in Touraine prior to establishing his own estate in Pouillé in 2015. Encore is crafted from a dedicated Pinot Noir vineyard parcel situated near his Scarlette plot, planted on clay and limestone soils overlying chalk.

## Interesting facts

- Laurent Saillard worked for 13 years as a chef in NYC before returning to France to make wine.
- Aged in a combination of terracotta amphorae and 500-liter neutral oak barrels.
- Crafted with whole-cluster semi-carbonic maceration and fermented with indigenous yeasts.

## Food pairing

This energetic, high-acidity Pinot Noir pairs exceptionally well with lean meats, earth-driven mushroom dishes, and soft goat cheeses. Soft tannins ensure seamless harmony with poultry and pork without masking subtle flavors.

## Wine making process

The Pinot Noir grapes are hand-harvested in small crates from organically and biodynamically farmed vineyards. Vinification involves whole-cluster semi-carbonic maceration using indigenous yeasts for around one week without chemical inputs. The wine matures in an equal split of terracotta amphorae and 500-liter neutral oak barrels to preserve vibrant primary fruit flavor while building textural nuance. It is bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal added sulfur dioxide.