It’s hard to believe that there’s a Burgundian style of wine that could be considered under-appreciated, but in our opinion, the humble passetoutgrain is exactly that. It’s an easygoing blend of Pinot Noir (naturally) and Gamay, a lingering reminder of that grape’s long history in the region (until Philip the Good, very dramatically, banished the variety in the 14th century, and it found a new home in Beaujolais).

Domaine Trapet might be best-known for their extremely elegant and classical Gevrey-Chambertin wines, but their passetoutgrain, called “À Minima” is a fan favorite for its joyfulness. The cuvée name is a nod to the absolute minimal amount of SO2 used only at bottling. The natural wine movement has certainly found a foothold in Burgundy, but in a more limited way than in, say, the Languedoc. The stakes are too high and the financial constraints too stringent for most winemakers to experiment with natural wines.

But an established and esteemed winery like Trapet, with holdings in several Grand Cru sites, can take on some risk. Jean Louis Trapet isn’t taking any chances with Le Chambertin, but he’s happy to experiment with his holdings in a vineyard not far away, still within Gevrey-Chambertin: Grand Champs.

Here, he biodynamically farms Pinot and Gamay. Because he blends the two varieties, he can't call the wine Gevrey-Chambertin, but instead Passetoutgrain. In the cellar, everything is completely natural. There are no interventions whatsoever other than a smidgen of sulfur at bottling. Unlike his other wines — or virtually any other wine in Burgundy — he ages the wine in large barrels (foudres) and in tank, rather than smaller barriques.

We love Burgundy’s 2022s — they’re perfectly balanced, with beautiful fruit and good minerality, and frankly, anything from Trapet’s illustrious cellars is bound to be phenomenal. Whether you’re an À Minima devotee or newly convinced of its greatness, you’ll want to snag a bottle or four:

Domaine Trapet Père et Fils, Bourgogne Passetoutgrain A Minima, 2022 $32.99