There are two parts to this story, the most important being a delicious, well-priced bottle of Pinot Noir from older vines. The house of Maison Bertrand Amboise is a well-respected source for red and white Burgundy with a particularly important association with the villages of Nuits-St.-George and an elevated reputation for that appellation since the early 90s.
The domaine itself dates back to the late 18th century. Bertrand took control of the estate in 1988 after the death of Martin’s (Bertrand’s wife) father and has never looked back. Today Bertrand’s son, Francois, manages the vineyards (w/Bertrand) & daughter, Ludivine, manages the commercial aspects of the domaine; allowing Bertrand to concentrate on the winemaking.
Low yields and ripe skins allow for long, slow fermentations on the skins, sometimes 3+ weeks, which is why these wines have more color than most and a sweeter impression of the tannins. All cuvees are 100% destemmed. The Victor Fagon Bourgogne Rouge 2016 exhibits a lovely blue fruit note in the peripheral flavors as a result of that ‘ripe skin’ process. It is particularly evident in the case of a 2016, a good vintage but one that didn’t always show that ‘next level’ ripeness. This wine actually shares textural and flavor elements that are a bit more pandering like a 2015 red Burgundy, but a brightness more associated with the vintage of record.
The juice comes from vines that average 50 years old located in Premeaux-Prissey, the southern part of Nuits-St-Goerges. Raised in 2-5 year old barrels, it is rather dark in color for a Burgundy with upfront, powerful blackberry fruit in the nose, refined tannins, and loads of darker fruits across the palate with aspects of soil and oak spice. It’s a surprisingly good effort for the fare, and, like we said, shares as much with a 2015 as 2016 stylistically. This would have been an email but people have already been nibbling on it to the point where our ‘par’ quantities were below necessary levels. We wrote this so a few more folks got the ‘411’ before it disappears.
Why are we talking about Bertrand Amboise and Victor Fagon in such a casual, back and forth manner? We know it’s a little confusing, with the wine’s moniker different from the estate notes. This happens occasionally in the world of wine. Sometimes a producer is linked with an importer who may not be doing everything the producer would like. But the producers have legal/contractual restraints as to what they can market under their own brand. This is one of those cases, and this is a great ‘workaround’ for such cases.
The name on the label represents Francois’s son “Victor” and “Guy-Crescent Fagon”, doctor to Louis XIV and important benefactor to the wines of Nuits Saint Georges. Victor Fagon is an amalgam of the two names for marketing purposes. In the end, it’s the wine that matters, and this one delivers.