Author: Thomas Wilcox

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Pommard in Volnay Robes: Raspberry, Spice, and Earth

The idea of terroir dominates the wines of Burgundy. From a single grape planted across 30 miles of small towns comes an astonishing diversity of wines. Cellar work, weather, harvest times, and other factors play a role in the final product, but in Burgundy, the place (terroir) is king.

Volnay and Pommard are a particularly good study in terroir. These neighbors feature opposing takes on Pinot Noir: Volnay is known for wines of elegance, Pommard for wines of power. Some Burgundy enthusiasts prefer one over the other — we like them both. But for those who’d rather not choose, today’s wine is a Pommard dressed in Volnay robes.

 

 

And as you approach the border, the differences between the towns blur a bit, and it’s from this gray area that today’s wine comes. Though all of its vines are within the Pommard appellation, they majority lie near the Volnay border. The nose is pretty and exotic, with soy sauce and spices alongside the classic raspberry fruit. The mouth shows dry blackberries, with elegant, delicate, long mouthfeel.

The 2014 shows the vintage’s classic cool, ripe tannins. Though it will certainly benefit from another few years of cellaring, today half an hour in a carafe dramatically softens the tannins and opens the palate. Paired with a simply prepared peppery steak, this is a delightful glass of classic Burgundy.

 

 

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Mégard Pommard 2014

Ansonia Retail: $62
3+ bottle price : $54/bot

 

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Luxurious 2015 Premier Cru White Burgundy under $40.

Burgundy is in short supply these days. Seven consecutive short vintages, increasing demand from international buyers, and a weak dollar mean that even when you can find them, white Burgundies are noticeably more expensive than a few years ago.

For those in search of White Burgundy value, we have some excellent options in our current March Futures. But in the meantime we’ve got a few ideas from current stock that are drinking beautifully today.

White Burgundies from Michel Gros and Boyer-Martenot have been popular among readers in the last few weeks — rich, explosive, drink-now, mouthfilling whites for wintery weather. To this genre we add an additional suggestion at an even better price: Belland’s Santenay 1er cru blanc 2015.

 

Clive Coates MW calls Roger Belland “one of the best sources in the village.” Together with his daughter Julie, Belland crafts excellent wines with cool, fresh fruit and beautiful balance. They are the fifth and sixth generations of the Belland family to work this property, and know their land and vines intimately.

Their 2015 Santenay 1er cru blanc is easy, open, and a delight. It shows baked apple, honey, and white flowers in the nose. The mouthfeel is thick and vibrant, with a voluminous texture punctuated by pleasant acidity — look for notes of crème brûlée and apple pie.

Oak, fruit, and acidity are all in perfect balance — serve this on a Sunday as an aperitif before a lazy afternoon meal.

 

 

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Belland Santenay 1er cru blanc 2015

Ansonia Retail: $42
6+ bottle price : $36/bot

 

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2015 Red Burgundy from Corton, without a Grand Cru Investment.

The Grand Crus on the Hill of Corton are some of the longest lived wines in Burgundy. The top names like “Bressandes,” Renard,” and “Clos du Roi” feature sturdy tannins and intense, robust mouthfeel. Many require years to begin to show their stripes, and some are still in fine form several decades on.

Just to the south of the Hill of Corton lies the town of Aloxe-Corton, home to villages and premier cru vineyards in the same style. They offer the same reward for time in the bottle, but require less time to realize their potential.

Buy a $150 Grand Cru and you’ll want to make sure it’s fully mature before pulling the cork. At a third of the price, the Domaine Ravaut’s 2015 Aloxe-Corton is more flexible.

 

 

The 2015 vintage is among the finest in recent memory. At the Domaine Ravaut, a small family domaine with an old school style, the 2015s are juicy and delicious. Their simpler red (2015 Côte de Nuits-Villages) is delightful now; and their 2015 Grand Cru Corton-Bressandes will be extraordinary, provided you’ve got a cellar and some patience.

Ravaut’s 2015 Aloxe-Corton offers a happy medium: a 2015 red Burgundy, ready to age for 5-10 years, for under $50. The nose is dark and very dense, with notes of stones and smoke alongside cherry jam and anise. The mouth is young and intense, with perfectly aligned tannins and a very long, sophisticated finish. Jancis Robinson’s reviewer remarked: “All in proportion between fruit and structure.”

All of Ravaut’s 2015 reds are clean, well made, and well priced. Break one of these out in a few years, and you’ll be pleased at your foresight.

 

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Ravaut Aloxe-Corton 2015

Ansonia Retail: $56
3+ bottle price : $48/bot

 

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A 2012 Vintage Retrospective: the Six-Year-Old Sampler

Now six years on from the growing season, the 2012 vintage has become a favorite among French wine drinkers. In the Southern Rhône, a dry, sunny summer made for happy vignerons and delicious wines. Nature brought Burgundy a far more difficult vintage — everything from frost to hail to inconsistent flowering made vignerons’ lives difficult — but an even more successful one.

Today the 2012s from both regions are drinking beautifully. They’ve not yet lost all of their youthful fruit, but have gained fascinating and delicious notes along the way. We include four Burgundies (village, premier cru, and two grand crus), and two Rhônes (from Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas).

Depending on your perspective, six years ago might seem like an eternity or the blink of the eye — but these six are proof of what a little careful aging can do.

 

 

Michel Gros Nuits-St-Georges 2012
This Nuits-St-Georges plot is near the Vosne border, and the wine shows hints of its more floral neighbor. Look for notes of toast, violets, and black cherry.

Varoilles Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru “Clos des Varoilles” 2012
From a 6 hectare monopole, this is classic, mouthfilling Gevrey-Chambertin. Look for notes of blackberries, cinnamon, and earth.

Ravaut Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru 2012
Bressandes is the most celebrated Grand Cru in Corton. Look for notes of raspberry, cocoa, minerals, and burnt cherries.

Collet Chablis Grand Cru “Valmur” 2012
From one of the seven grand crus of Chablis, this 2012 Valmur received 93 points from Vinous, who called it “seamless” and “terrific.” Look for notes of stones, peach, and white pepper.

Goubert Gigondas “Florence” 2012
A Gigondas that shows up many a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, this is raised in small oak barrels. Look for licorice, blackberry jam, lavender, and garrigue.

André Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2012
An iconic Châteauneuf-du-Pape house, organic and biodynamic for decades, with some 140 year old vines. Look for plum, pan drippings, and apple tart.

 

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Mixed Case: a 2012 Vintage Sampler

Ansonia Retail: $470
sampler price : $395/half-case

 

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Almost Champagne: Michelin Star-worthy Burgundy Bubbles.

Two main distinctions separate Champagne and other French sparkling wine. First, terroir: Champagne’s unique chalky soils contribute to the singular flavors of its wines. Second, time spent on the lees: Champenois must age their wines for at least 15 months on the lees, adding complexity and depth.

Today’s wine is a crémant from Burgundy, but it’s the closest thing to Champagne you’ll find. The winemakers at Louis Picamelot hold their finest wine — the Cuvée JB Chautard — for 36-48 months on the lees, longer than many Champagne houses. The result is an extraordinarily complex crémant, with notes of almond and crème brûlée reminiscent of Grower Champagne.

Let your guests taste it before you tell them where it’s from — we’d bet every one of them will guess Champagne.

 

 

The Maison Picamelot in Burgundy’s Côte Chalonnaise was founded in 1926 by Louis Picamelot. Since then they have joined the ranks of the finest Crémant houses in Burgundy, with their wines appearing on the wine lists at Michelin starred restaurants such as the three star Lameloise in Burgundy and Alain Ducasse’s three-star in Monte Carlo. Today we’re suggesting their finest wine — the Cuvée Jean-Baptist Chautard 2012.

The JB Chautard is an exceptionally elegant blanc de blancs, a blend of Chardonnay and Aligoté. The nose shows peach, lime, and toast; the mouth is very fine, with a rich palate buoyed by delicate freshness and a beautiful mousse of bubbles.

There’s nothing quite like Champagne, and if it’s the classic you’re after we can help. But these are Champagne-level bubbles for less than half the price. Hide the label and you will impress even the most skeptical of sparkling wine enthusiasts.

 

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Picamelot Crémant “JB Chautard” 2012

Ansonia Retail: $38
6+ bottle price : $32/bot

 

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Rich, Muscular $25 Gamay: “Refined, Delicious, and Refreshing.”

Beaujolais has always had a turbulent relationship with the rest of Burguntdy. To many in the Côte d’Or, the Beaujolais represents overmarketed and undercrafted wine. But in recent years the Beaujolais has undergone a renaissance, as the prominence of Nouveau recedes and more vignerons make ageworthy wine.

Among our favorite serious Beaujolais sources is Laurent Perrachon, a multigenerational domaine working very old vines with meticulous care. Perrachon has more fans than just us — the domaine regularly receives top notes from Jancis Robinson, Josh Raynolds (Vinous), and Allen Meadows (Burghound).

Jancis Robinson calls Moulin-a-Vent the “most highly rated of all the Beaujolais crus,” and after a sip of today’s wine it’s not hard to see why. Perrachon’s Moulin-a-Vent “Les Burdelines” is as dense and bold as any Beaujolais we’ve tasted. As with Perrachon’s other wines, this bears more resemblance in mouthfeel to a Northern Rhône Syrah than a Pinot from Burgundy.

 

 

A generation ago the words “refined” and “Beaujolais” were rarely found in the same sentence. But it’s a good word to describe Perrachon’s 2014 Burdelines — Burghound awarded 90 points, finding “detail, verve, and refinement,” and calling it “delicious and refreshing.”

Perrachon keeps this wine in oak for a bit longer to help it knit together, and the extra few months of rest does the wine wonders. There’s a smoothness and elegance that’s unusual for Gamay, and even more so for any $25 bottle of red. The oak adds a faint note of toast, but more serves to soften the edges and round the palate.

With an hour in a carafe, this wine will happily accompany a hearty meal and a rowdy group of friends. Look for anise, cherry, black pepper, and stones on the nose, with a dense, chewy mouthfeel and notes of briary cassis and black raspberry. This isn’t a Beaujolais you’ll forget about soon — it may be only twice the price of the Nouveau, but it’s easily ten times the wine.

 

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Perrachon Moulin-a-Vent “Burdelines” 2014

Ansonia Retail: $30
6+ bottle price : $25/bot

 

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“Seductive,” “Utterly Delicious” 2015 White Burgundy from Michel Gros.

The Côte d’Or produces nearly all of Burgundy’s most famous wines. It’s split into the Côte de Nuits (famous for its reds), and the Côte de Beaune (famous for its whites); if you’ve got an expensive, ageworthy Burgundy, it’s almost certainly from the Côte d’Or.

But Burgundy doesn’t have to be expensive or ageworthy to be delicious. A talented winemaker with excellent terroir can make terrific wine miles from the main drag, and today’s wine is a perfect example.

Michel Gros is best known for his brilliant red Burgundies from towns like Vosne-Romanée, Chambolle Musigny, and Nuits-St-Georges. But he also holds quite a bit of land in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, a patchwork of rolling hills to the west of the Côte d’Or.

With so many excellent reds, one might wonder why Gros bothers with a white at all. But one taste of this wine will settle the question.

 

 

The Fontaine-Saint-Martin vineyard is named for an ancient Cistercian abbey dating to 1127. The hillside of vines has been in production for centuries, and tended by Michel and his father before him for the last 40 years. In 2014 Gros determined this special terroir was sufficiently different to merit its own cuvée.

The Fontaine Saint Martin is indeed special — its soil is the same mix of marl, clay, and limestone found on the Hill of Corton. The wine may not match the richness or longevity of a Corton-Charlemagne, but its smooth floral quality readily calls to mind the famous Grand Cru.

From a rich year with perfect ripeness, the 2015 Fontaine-St-Martin blanc is not a wine to keep for a decade. It’s open, approachable, and simply delicious today. Burghound found “fine richness” and “round and utterly delicious flavors.” The nose is floral, showing gardenia, white pepper, pears, toasted lemon. The mouth is intense and smooth, at once mouthfilling and fresh.

It’s a perfect cocktail white — don’t tell your guests it’s not from the hill of Corton, and they’ll never know what you paid for it.

 

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Gros Fontaine-St-Martin Blanc 2015

Ansonia Retail: $45
3+ bottle price : $39/bot

 

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Exquisite Winemaking from 140-Year-Old Vines in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Jacqueline André is unusually passionate about her vines. She refers to one plot of grenache planted in 1877 as her grandes dames; they were a gift from her grandfather, and today she treats them with extreme care and affection. The ancient rows are hardly straight, but the fruit they produce is of the highest quality,

The André domaine stopped using chemicals to treat their vines in 1963, and became the region’s first certified organic domaine in 1980. “If all we eat is fast food,” she explained during our visit a few months ago, “our bodies don’t do so well. It’s the same with vines — the better care they’re given, the longer they live.”

It’s a commonplace these days to say that the wine is made in the vineyard rather than the winery, but at the Domaine André it is the focus of every day’s work.

 

 

And the wines? In a word, they’re exceptional. André makes only one white and one red, focusing all her attention on meticulous detail of the winemaking process. (In 2014, when the harvest was not up to her standards, she sold her entire crop in bulk and released no wine under her label.) The result of her intensity is wine with extraordinary finesse and clarity. They’re as complex and rich as classic Châteauneuf, but with a subtlety and grace usually only found in Burgundy and Bordeaux.

The best word to sum up André’s 2013 Châteauneuf-du-Pape rouge is refined. The nose is clear and very pure, showing intense red cherries, lavender, and pan drippings. The mouth is perfectly integrated with a smooth and fleshy mouthfeel, firm but pleasant tannins, and a long silky finish. The bottle we opened last week showed plum, licorice, apple tart, and jam on toast.

Not all Châteauneuf-du-Pape is 15% alcohol and requires an afternoon nap — André’s is as elegant and balanced as they come.

 

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André Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2013

Ansonia Retail: $60
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Rugged and Juicy: 2015 Bourgogne Rouge, $25

It’s hard to go wrong with the 2015 red Burgundies. Our favorite reviewers, those with restraint and objectivity, have all been effusive. “One of the half-dozen top vintages for red Burgundy of the past generation,” writes Steven Tanzer of Vinous. “A genuinely great vintage,” opines Allen Meadows (Burghound).

The vintage was successful at nearly every level — Premier and Grand Crus from 2015 will enhance cellars for decades to come, and even many village-level Burgundies will reward patience handsomely (see Sunday’s post).

But 2015’s quality reaches all the way down to the Bourgogne level, where everyday wines upgrade to vibrant, juicy, delightful glasses. Today we’re suggesting an everyday red Burgundy with far more character than the pricetag suggests.

 

 

Pierre Bourée is an old-school producer in Gevrey-Chambertin. They use whole clusters and a longer-than-usual maceration, resulting in wines with a rugged character reminiscent of a time gone by. Their 2015 Bourgogne rouge is an excellent entree to this exceptional vintage, showing an intensity and depth usually reserved for wines of higher classifications. It’s accessible, ripe, and simply delicious.

Bourée’s Bourgogne rouge 2015 doesn’t require thought or contemplation — the fruits are ripe and pleasant, making it effortlessly drinkable. The nose is dark and brooding, showing raspberries and stewed cherries. But it’s in the mouth where it truly shines — there’s a depth and intensity rare for a Bourgogne, with perfectly ripe fruit, juicy tannins, great length, and a clean finish.

Over the last year this has deepened and smoothed out into an even more impressive glass. It’s a bistro style red Burgundy without the markup — at your table it’s just $5/glass.

 

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Bourée Bourgogne 2015

Ansonia Retail: $30
6+ bottle price : $25/bot

 

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Back in Stock: Vibrant, Refreshing Old-Vine Chablis. $22

When vines grow old, vignerons are faced with a choice. Older vines mean lower yields, which can squeeze a domaine’s bottom line. But old vines also produce more concentrated and better quality juice, leading to wines of depth and intensity. We are always pleased to find vignerons who sacrifice quantity for quality and allow their vines to continue into old age.

The Domaine Gautheron in Chablis has kept a small plot of their oldest vines, now over 55 years old. The wine from this plot is a harmonious marriage of finesse and energy. There’s the refreshing stony minerality found in the best Chablis, but also an elegant roundness derived from the low-yielding old vines. The result of the combination is superb balance and depth.

 

 

Cyril Gautheron is a rising star here in Chablis. The Gautheron family has made wine in Chablis for 200 years, but Cyril has taken the reins with an unusual passion. Our visits with him regularly run late as he discusses the intricacies of his family’s property, and shows us unblended wines from dozens of plots.

Gautheron’s 2015 wines were all excellent. In a year with abundant sunshine, Cyril managed to maintain a clean freshness that keeps this wine lively. The nose shows chalk and lemon, with bright, clear notes and the faintest whisper of toast. The mouth is everything you want from Chablis — precise, elegant minerality, combined with pure, ripe Chardonnay fruit.

This is perfect food wine — with a vibrancy to stand up to rich fish, and a roundness to taste complete on its own.

 

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Gautheron Chablis Vieilles Vignes 2015

Ansonia Retail: $26
6+ bottle price : $22/bot

 

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Advance Order: “Gorgeous” Gevrey-Chambertin, Last of the 2015 Red Burgundies

The 2015 vintage in Burgundy has been a delight. We greatly enjoyed our sun-drenched visit in the summer of 2015, exciting barrel tastings in 2016, and last year’s arrival of the wine in the states. The wines are popular, delicious, and built to last. We’ve stocked up on as many as our shelves can handle, and hope to have them around to offer for some time to come.

March Futures, which will be released next week, has the final advance order opportunity of the 2015 Red Burgundies: the Domaine des Varoilles in Gevrey-Chambertin. Our newest red Burgundy source has already found many friends among our readers. The Domaine’s intense, concentrated style marries perfectly with their classic Gevrey terroir.

All four of Varoilles cuvées will be in next week’s March Futures — a village, two premier crus, and a grand cru — but we’re highlighting their village monopole today. The 2015 vintage produced excellent wines at every level — you don’t have to buy Grand Cru to experience its greatness. Varoilles’s village level Gevrey-Chambertin “Clos du Meix des Ouches” 2015 is a perfect example.

 

 

The “Clos du Meix des Ouches” is a small monopole at the edge of the town. It’s surrounded by an old wall, which helps block the wind and trap warmth, making its wines particularly round. Today the 2015 is a delightful glass of young red Burgundy. The nose is floral and nicely balanced, with a mixture of violets, pan drippings, ginger, soy, and cherries. The mouth shows perfectly ripened tannins and a long, vibrant finish — we expect it to improve for another decade or two.

Jancis Robinson found it “rather gorgeous,” finding it has “already lots of pleasure but with the tannins to keep it in shape.” Burghound found it “solidly concentrated” and “sleekly textured,” predicting “this attractive effort should drink relatively well early.”

We expect the 2015s to be around for decades to come, and we hope we’ve reserved enough to keep them in stock for quite a while. But March Futures represents your final chance to purchase them at advance order pricing. If you have the space and time to hold them, they are likely to be an excellent investment.

 

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Varoilles Gevrey-Chambertin “Meix des Ouches” 2015

Ansonia Retail: $936
March Futures : $695/case  ($57.92/bot)

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“Suave and Silky” Six Year Old Châteauneuf-du-Pape: 91 points, $35

With June-like temperatures earlier this week we were tempted to break out the rosé and declare summer’s arrival. But experience tells us we’re not done with winter yet. And with colder evenings in mind, we’re suggesting today one of our recent favorites, the 2012 Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Christophe Mestre.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape is among the world’s great wines. Made famous by French Popes more than seven centuries ago, the area boasts a long winemaking history. Today the small appellation (only about 12 square miles) makes some of the world’s most sought-after wine.

Last spring we came upon a gem in this well-trodden appellation. Christophe Mestre is a young winemaker from an old Chateauneuf family, whose talent and terroir have already begun to bring him acclaim.

 

 

Fans of the appellation used to paying well over $50 for bigger names should take note — this is a rich, classic, mouthfilling Chateauneuf-du-Pape with a remarkably low price tag. The nose is explosive, with a wide range of notes from violets and pan drippings to strawberry jam and lavender. The mouth is smooth and soft and rich, with a dark red complexion and silky tannins. It opens beautifully over half an hour in a glass.

Small production and limited US distribution have kept Mestre under the radar of most of the wine world — but we don’t expect this to last. Vinous’s Josh Raynolds awarded this wine 91 points, calling it “suave and silky,” with “seamless red berry liqueur and licorice” flavors “enlivened by a zesty mineral flourish.” Raynolds highlights the wine’s energy, something we find particularly attractive in rich, southern reds.

We don’t make a habit of predicting temperatures. But we can assure you this will make many friends at your next dinner party, whatever the weather.

 

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Mestre Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2012

Ansonia Retail: $40
3+ bottle price : $35/bot

 

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Peach, Hazelnut, and White Flowers: Elegant, Golden 2015 Meursault

If you ever need to convert someone to white Burgundy, pour them a glass of Meursault. Made from pure Chardonnay and grown in soils balanced between marl and chalk, Meursault is some of most opulent white wine in the world. Chardonnay can make rich, mouthfilling wines in most locations — but those from Meursault also contain elegance, minerality, and balance.

The town’s low water table means the vines reach deep into the earth for water, pulling minerals and nutrients from deep root systems. The chalk and other minerals in the soil bring a freshness and balancing minerality to the best Meursault. We meet plenty of people who tell us they don’t like Chardonnay, particularly when raised in oak — but we have yet to find someone who doesn’t enjoy Meursault.

 

 

We used to describe Vincent Boyer as a young, up and coming winemaker in Meursault. But at this point he has unquestionably arrived. It’s hard to imagine how Boyer’s wines could get any better, but every year we visit — even through the last several difficult vintages — his quality seems to improve.

Today we’re suggesting Boyer’s 2015 Meursault Cuvée Fernand Boyer. It’s a blend of four village-level plots in Meursault, and named for Vincent’s grandfather, the founder of the domaine. Like all of Vincent’s wines, it’s exceptionally well made; but because it’s from several plots it offers a slightly friendlier price tag.

The 2015 “Fernand Boyer” is classic Meursault. The nose shows stone fruits like white peaches and nectarines, and a lovely balance between tropical and citrus notes. The oak influence is very light, and in this ripe year Vincent has let the pure fruit and beautiful white flowers shine through. The mouth is rich and smooth but full of energy, with a long, smooth finish. Shellfish or pork tenderloin would match this nicely, but all it really requires is a glass.

 

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Boyer-Martenot Meursault “Fernand Boyer” 2015

Ansonia Retail: $54
3+ bottle price : $49/bot

 

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Notes from Harpswell No. 11

This winter in Harpswell has me thinking about the ways that aquaculture is like viticulture. If you follow our posts you know that the French vignerons suffered the trials of Job in recent years — frost in some places, hail in others, or frost and hail for the particularly benighted. I am the holder of a Maine LPA (“limited purpose aquaculture” license) and the proud owner of two vintages of oysters (somewhere between four and five thousand, or as I like to think, more than 350 plates of half-shells). Our vignerons’ experiences make me wonder what nature might have in store for this rookie sea farmer.

 

 

Mainers think about their oysters in much the way the French think about their vineyards, with terroir at the heart of the matter. The place affects the flavor, producing oysters that are more briny or less so, fatter or leaner, depending on their location. Maine’s Côte d’Or is the Damariscotta estuary, where Maine’s best known oyster farms can be found and where the brackish and saltwater flows are particularly conducive to growing delicious oysters.

The waters off Maine are pristine but cold, which means oysters need three years to grow to the size you slurp in a restaurant. In temperate months, my oyster cages float a few football fields from my dock, just below the surface of Harpswell Sound and tethered in place by moorings and buoys. There they filter-feed on passing nutrients, soaking in the combination of food and salinity unique to the place and enhancing water quality in the bargain. For two Falls now, I have lowered my oyster cages to the floor of the Sound, wishing them a peaceful and healthy winter there.

 

 

Last winter was mild and easy — ice collected along the bank below our house as it always does, but the buoys floated free all winter. This year’s early and occasionally record lows extended the ice all the way across the Sound, locking in the buoys that both mark and tether my bottom-dwelling shellfish. My three moorings have no trouble keeping the cages in place during the summer, but I fretted about what might happen if a large ice floe locked around my buoys got a hankering to visit Portland. My mind was not eased when I saw ice drag four of a neighbor’s still-floating oyster cages and their mooring about 200 yards up the Sound and into my view.

 

 

So far, so good. The January thaw was intense and came with a few inches of rain, so the combination broke up all the ice over just a few days. My buoys shrugged off their captors, and as far as I can see remain exactly where they were last fall. But then half the winter lies ahead.

Our vignerons mostly met their disasters with a wistful smile, some repeating the old saw that a prudent producer needs to have three vintages: one in the vines, one in the cellar, and a third in the bank. Both of our oyster vintages are in the mud, not the bank or the cellar, but we plan to adopt a positive attitude anyway.

MW

 

 

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“Outstanding” Premier Cru Gevrey-Chambertin, with a hint of Vosne-Romanée.

The Domaine des Varoilles is the newest addition to our Burgundy portfolio. Based in Gevrey-Chambertin, the domaine boasts an extraordinary collection of vines, ranging from village-level to Grand Cru Charmes-Chambertin.

Most interesting, perhaps, are their two premier cru monopoles at the western end of Gevrey-Chambertin. “Clos des Varoilles” and “La Romanée” sit side by side, with “La Romanée” up the slope, and the larger “Clos des Varoilles” further downhill. Only a small wall and a six-yard dirt path separate them (see photo) — but their characters are strikingly different.

 

 

Clos des Varoilles, for which the domaine is named, is prototypical Gevrey-Chambertin — rich, meaty, full-bodied, and intense. La Romanée, on the other hand, is elegant, subtle, and silky. If the Clos des Varoilles is an ambitious young pitcher throwing 100 mph, Romanée is a wise slow-ball veteran painting the corners of the zone.

We’re excited to release the domaine’s “La Romanée” 2014 today. This is still 1er cru Gevrey-Chambertin, mind you — so think concentrated, meaty wines with dense fruit and plenty of length. But it’s Gevrey-Chambertin with a splash of Vosne-Romané — there’s a finesse and and elegance that comes from the increased mineral content in the soils.

 

 

The 2014 Romanée is a wine whose best days are clearly in front of it. Today the nose shows gingerbread and cherries, with briary, brambly fruits and a pleasant toastiness. In the mouth this walks a beautiful line between robust Gevrey structure and elegant mineral notes. The tannins are perfectly extracted — intense and bold but not at all bitter or dry.

Burghound awarded 91 points, finding it “impressively concentrated” and calling it “a wine of finesse.” After revisiting the wine a year after his initial tasting, he named it “particularly outstanding” for its appellation.

Old vines (planted in the 1950s), exceptional terroir, expert winemaking, and an excellent vintage — all make it hard to find much wrong with this wine. It’s not exactly cheap, but the best in any category rarely is.

 

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Varoilles Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru “La Romanée” 2014

Ansonia Retail: $100
6+ bottle price : $85/bot

 

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