Ah, Burgundy.\u00a0 No appellation is more frustrating or confusing, yet the joy of finding the \u2018good one\u2019 always seems to provide the impetus to continue the hunt. \u00a0Finding a deal is a bonus. The 2015 vintage has been a fun exercise because the vintage\u2019s engaging ripeness definitely allows for a higher success rate.\u00a0 Of course the trick, from our point of view, is to find the juicy little numbers that don\u2019t have triple (or quadruple) digit prices.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the quest is easy; sometimes there are riddles to be solved as there was with this sleeper from Joseph Drouhin.\u00a0 We have been pleased with Drouhin\u2019s 2015 red Burgundy efforts at a number of levels.\u00a0 But when we first came across this one, it was a bit of a curiosity.\u00a0 Labeled Joseph Drouhin <\/strong>Cote<\/strong><\/span><\/a> de Beaune 2015<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>but bearing a fancier label (with a resemblance to Drouhin\u2019s Clos des Mouches label\u2026sans mouches<\/em> of course), it was priced $10 higher than their more plainly labeled Cote de Beaune Villages.<\/p>\n It brought about questions on our part since the labeling didn\u2019t necessarily sync with our impressions of the workings of the Burgundy hierarchy.\u00a0 As one might have expected there was a perfectly Burgundian explanation.\u00a0 Drouhin is a big house and produces a lot of negocient wine as well as bottlings from their own estate properties.\u00a0 The \u2018Villages\u2019 with the regular label can come from any one of 16 different individual villages (Aloxe Corton, Volnay, etc) and isn\u2019t necessarily all estate fruit.<\/p>\n The Cote de Beaune, according to the folks at Drouhin, \u201ccomes from the vines of the Joseph Drouhin estate (total vineyard area around 3 hectares – 7.5 acres) as well as from the younger vines of Clos des Mouches and other Premier Crus of Beaune that have been declassified (a Beaune wine can be declassified into C\u00f4te de Beaune).\u201d\u00a0 The story here is that there is much better (and more specific) stuff used in this one than the \u2018villages\u2019.\u00a0 However you wouldn\u2019t necessarily know that from looking at the label.<\/p>\n Fun folks, those Burgundians.\u00a0 But once you get the \u2018lay of the land\u2019 and consider the possibilities is in a top vintage, things like this can become your own precious little secret.\u00a0 Pour it out and you\u2019ll really get a feel for where this one can go, and behold its deep ruby color.\u00a0 The wine is a little reticent at first, with a touch cooler edge that most of the ultra tender 2015s, but Burgundy fans would consider the touch more lift and freshness a good thing.<\/p>\n As the nose opens, the breeding of the grapes here start to unfold.\u00a0 There are dark cherries and currants, of course, but also a penetrating florality and high notes of mineral and clove in the nose.\u00a0 As it sits in the glass few minutes, the Cote de Beaune unwinds to reveal spicy layers of fruit and plenty of flesh, nicely juxtaposed with clean acidity.\u00a0 The highlights, or maybe it\u2019s the power of suggestion, suggest this one flashes a bit of its \u2018Mouches-y\u2019 pedigree, but in any case there is no doubt that this one merits serious attention in this expensive vintage.<\/p>\n James Suckling had some nice words for this one as well, offering, \u201cVery floral and fresh with crushed raspberries and flowers. Medium-to full-bodied, dense and silky. Beautiful and layered. Lovely texture. Drink now. ..92 Points!\u201d\u00a0 Still young and very lively, it is certainly a fine choice for current applications.\u00a0 By all means, \u2018drink now\u2019 after giving this one a few minutes to stretch.\u00a0\u00a0 But we also think shows the definition and class to allow one to ponder putting away a few bottles for 5-10 years.\u00a0 Either way, you win.<\/p>\n Also, and perhaps as important, there\u2019s the value.\u00a0 Clos des Mouches itself sells for over $100, this one costs about 66% less.\u00a0 Good well priced Burgundy isn\u2019t easy to find.\u00a0 But it\u2019s out there if you are willing to dig.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ah, Burgundy.\u00a0 No appellation is more frustrating or confusing, yet the joy of finding the \u2018good one\u2019 always seems to provide the impetus to continue the hunt. \u00a0Finding a deal is a bonus. The 2015 vintage has been a fun exercise because the vintage\u2019s engaging ripeness definitely allows for a higher success rate.\u00a0 Of course … Continue reading “NOT JUST ANY OLD BEAUNE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[161,64,179,97],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2260,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251\/revisions\/2260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}