Burgundy Wine

Expert Review - Vintage 2022

Burghound Allen Meadows | Ripe yet very fresh aromas include those of red and dark pinot fruit along with floral top notes, in particular violet. The vibrant and delicious, if not especially dense, middleweight flavors conclude in a dusty and lingering finish that flirts with rusticity. Solid quality here in a package that should reward mid-term keeping.

Decanter | From vines grown on the plateau above Les Clos, this is a great introduction to the Raveneau style.

Expert Reviews

Decanter 91 Points | Raveneau’s Petit Chablis comes from relatively recently planted vines (2010) located high on the plateau above the grand cru. So clean, vibrant and precise. Crystal clear in character. This is certainly not a heavyweight but is a memorable example of the appellation. The wine will be bottled in Spring 2023. Aged in oak (400/500l old wood) which adds an extra level of roundness and suppleness to the wine. A very fine Petit Chablis. (2021). 

John Gilman 90 Points  | This has excellent depth for a Petit Chablis, as well as lovely mineral undertow and backend lift and has to be one of the wines to search out for dipping into the vintage in its first blush of youth. The bouquet is really pretty, wafting from the glass in a mix of lemon, apple, a lovely base of chalky soil tones, white flowers and a nice touch of citrus zest in the upper register. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and has excellent mineral undertow, with a lovely core of fruit, superb acids and grip and a long, complex and quite lovely finish. This is very fine. (Drink between 2023-2035). (2021). 

Burghound | Note: from a .82 ha holding There is plenty of maritime character to the pretty green fruit and citrus scents. There is impressive density and solid underlying tension to the utterly delicious middleweight flavors that conclude in a crisp, stony and refreshing finale. This should drink well after only 2 to 3 years of keeping. (2021).

Vinous  | The 2021 Petit Chablis has an attractive bouquet that could dupe you into thinking there are light red fruits (white tipped strawberries) here. The palate is well balanced with good weight, just a touch of bitter lemon with a linear finish that is lifted by the acidity. This is a fine Petit Chablis. (2021). 

Winemaker Description

A clean, charming, distinctive wine with expressive minerality. Its structure and intensity in the mouth suggest good ageing potential. Ideal with fish and white meats with creamy sauces.

The winery and vineyards are located in and around the village of Poinchy, which is just outside of Chablis itself. The wines from this area tend to be ever so slightly more generous on the palate in terms of power and amplitude, but with a clear and distinct line of briny minerality and acidity that unmistakably scream 'Chablis'!

AgriBio certified since 2010 and practicing organic farming. Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in 50% tank and 50% neutral barrels of varying age. Blended wines are aged on the lees for 18 months in combination of 2/3 tank and 1/3 oak.

Expert Reviews

Neal Martin of Vinous writes | The 2021 Chablis Côte de Léchet 1er Cru comes from 60-year-old vines and spent six months on the fine lees, 10% aged in barrel. It has a punchy nose with very aromatic floral scents, hints of grapefruit and more subtle earthy aromas. The palate is well-balanced, with a slightly honeyed opening and acidity neatly offsetting tropical notes of mango and pineapple. Quite concentrated on the finish, this should drink well for a few years. Oddly, more like a 2022 in style!  Drinking 2024 to 2032.

Jancis Robinson writes 16.5+/20 Points | Cask sample. More discreet nose than the regular Chablis and much more obvious acidity. Should mature into a very attractive drink. Some lime notes and medium palate weight.  Drinking 2025 to 2035.

Expert Review - Vintage 2022 

Allen Meadows of Burghound writes 88-91 Points | Notes of wet stone, apple, carnation and spice lead to round and supple but slightly denser medium weight flavors that seem almost easy-going on the mid-palate before instantly tightening up on the balanced if youthfully austere finale that could also benefit from developing more depth.

Expert Review - Vintage 2022

Burghound Allen Meadows writes 89-92 Points | A cool, pure and airy nose features aromas of Granny Smith apple, citrus rind and an appealing floral top note. There is both good volume and a lovely texture to the generously proportioned and stony middleweight flavors that exude a refreshing salinity on the balanced, long and complex finale. This is an excellent Puligny villages, indeed Jobard rarely misses with it.

Expert Reviews

Allen Meadows Burghound 89-92 Points  | A very Meursault nose of white fleshed fruit, acacia blossom, hazelnut and a whiff of citrus character introduces rich and seductively textured medium weight flavors that flash a lovely minerality that adds a sense of lift to the bitter lemon-tined finale. This is also an excellent villages and worth considering.

Jasper Morris 90-92 Points | Mid lemon and lime. The bouquet is not overtly weighty. The hillside vineyards and those below complement each other. There is certainly excellent energy beneath here a fine thread to freshen the weight of white orchard fruit. Impeccable village Meursault.

Antoine Jobard is the son and heir to the estate of the famous Francois Jobard, one of the first producers ever imported by the venerable Kermit Lynch. The estate is managed with the same quality standards and organic practices as Antoine's father.

The Aligoté for this wine comes from a single vineyard of only 0.2 hectare in size, which was planted in 1987. This is some high-quality old-school Aligoté, gently pressed with no settling of must, primary and malolactic fermentations in oak (but only 20% new), no lees stirring during élevage, and nearly two years of aging in 4-5 year-old neutral oak.

This all serves to cultivate a rich and creamy profile while preserving this varietal's natural freshness, creating an Aligoté that is crisp but flavorful and speaks of Jobard's incredible terroir. 

Expert Reviews

Allen Meadows Burghound 91-93 Points | Here too the nose is quite fresh with its combination of apple, white flowers and just sliced citrus, especially lemon. There is both excellent punch and a lovely texture though only average density to the lingering and balanced finish where a touch of youthful austerity slowly emerges. While this could be enjoyed young, it has apparent development potential so at least a few years of keeping are recommended. (2022). 

Vinous 93-94 Points | The 2022 Meursault-Blagny 1er Cru had a lot of reduction when I tasted it from barrel though its intensity was clear. The palate is very promising: wonderful tension here steely and spicier than the Meursault Village with touches of fennel and white pepper on the finish. Quite feisty and surely one for long-term aging. (Drink between 2026-2048).

Expert Review

Wine Spectator 94 Points | Black cherry, blackberry, violet, smoke and toasty oak flavors highlight this suave, silky red. Almost seamless from start to finish, with just a dusting of tannins to distract from the smooth balance and texture. Very fresh and bursting with fruit and spice notes on the finish. Best from 2026 through 2043. 25 cases imported.

Winemaker Description

The storied Domain La Romanée-Conti has a history dating back to 1760 when Prince Louis-Francois de Bourbon-Conti first bought the piece of land. It has since been passed between a succession of owners, coming to rest as the biodynamic home to this Romanée-Conti Grand Cru. Grown without pesticides, this silky-smooth pinot noir reveals a bouquet of dark wild berries, cassis, rose petals, blood orange, exotic spices and liquorice. 

Winemaker Deswcription

Jean-Marc Boillot was one of the younger generation in Burgundy who was determined to improve his family’s wines. In 1984, after vinifying 13 vintages at the family’s domaine, Henri Boillot, Jean-Marc walked out in protest, intent on producing highly concentrated, rich, and ripe wines. He became the winemaker for Olivier Leflaive for the next four years and at the same time produced wines from 5-acres of vineyards, bottled under his own label. The wines impressed Boillot’s grandfather, who bequest half his vineyard to Jean-Marc. Boillot runs his domaine from his grandfather Henri Boillot’s house and cellars in the village of Pommard. Jean-Marc’s maternal grandfather was the late Etienne Sauzet, from whom he also inherited exceptional vineyards.

The 2021 Macon-Villages has a clear and brilliant appearance with a silver luster and green reflections. The bouquet is a range of delicate and generous fruits. In the mouth the wine shows a creamy texture with a beautiful balance between refreshing sweet fruit flavors and juicy, mouthwatering acidity. A wine to be enjoyed immediately. 

Inviting, almost flirtatious aromas of earthy red fruits - cherries and raspberries, with subtle notes of violets and rose petals accented by aromatic savory spices. Beautifully balanced and elegantly sophisticated, perfectly suited to accompany fine dining wine pairings.
Bart Hopkins

Winemaker Description

Francois Labet Bourgogne Pinot Noir is a medium ruby color. Focused aromas of deep red fruit with earthy notes. A fresh, bright and ripe nose combines a variety of plum and dark berry aromas but in particular cherry, with those of earth and lavender.

There is a lovely sense of energy to the well-detailed, punchy and delicious flavors that display really lovely persistence on the solidly complex and well-balanced finish.

Winery Description 

Clean pale yellow color and green reflections. A nice brilliance. The nose is fresh and fruity, ripe and round with discrete vanilla and brioche scents. On the mouth, the wine is dense and rich, fresh and subtle with a good length and finesse. Overall, the wine is nicely balanced, fresh, elegant and with a long finish. 

88 Points Wine Spectator | Features flint and gooseberry aromas and flavors that suggest Chablis, along with the delicate profile and lemon notes. Vibrant and charming, with moderate length. Drink now. 1,000 cases imported.

Expert Review 

92 Points Burghound | A slightly more deeply pitched nose is comprised by decidedly cool notes of plum, dark currant, forest floor and floral top notes, especially violet. Much like the Lavières, there is a positively gorgeous, even silky, texture to the lighter-bodied flavors thanks to the ultra-fine tannins shaping the overtly stony, dusty and youthfully austere finale. This is textbook Ile de Vergelesses.

Winemaker Description

Winemaker Description

This pretty Chablis is a balanced wine that reveals a fine, fruity nose that is oriented towards citrus fruit. On the palate, the freshness and minerality of the appellation are found, as well as a hint of minerality supported by a white-flesh fruit side.

This vintage has a beautiful concentration as well as a nice balance. Produced from vines with and average age of 35 years old and aged in stainless steel tanks for 6-10 months on the lees. 

• Winemaker Description

  Mont des Oiseaux is a cuvée produced in small quantities from Clos de l'Arlot's youngest vines, an estate Monopoly. This wine reveals the elegance of a great terroir and emphasizes the delicacy of red fruit. Fresh and tangy, with good cellaring potential, this wine can also be enjoyed in the bloom of youth.

• The Terroir

  This Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru is located inside the Clos de l'Arlot. It comes from the upper part of the Clos with a white limestone soil, and from a plot of young vines located at the bottom of the Clos on marl soil.

• Discover more

  - Ageing in barrels, with 30% of new barrels. Bottling takes place after 15-18 months of ageing.

Winemaker Description

Dense black plum and blackberry fruit, with the characteristic garrigue aroma of wild herbs. There is still a good impression of freshness on the palate and fairly grippy tannins. Well-balanced and typical of the village. The vines in this half-hectare parcel south of the village are more than 60 years of age. 

Expert Reviews 

93-95 points Jasper Morris | Bright red crimson colour with very juicy red berry fruit on the nose, this has abundant energy and makes one salivate. There is its habitual garrigue touch at the back then a second helping of sweet raspberry fruit, Impeccable structure, a really interesting complex and refreshing wine. Gourmand in the best sense. The fruit just keeps coming back behind. A stunning result from a lesser known 1er Cru. Drink from 2028-2036. (2021). 

93 points Wine Spectator | Wild cherry, currant, sandalwood, smoke and earth notes are defined by lively acidity and refined tannins in this intense red. Accents of smoke and roasted game bird add to the complexity, while the texture is silky and the aftertaste long. Wait a decade at least on this. Best from 2027 through 2040. (2021). 

91-93 points Burghound | A perfumed, spicy and restrained nose requires aggressive swirling to coax the aromas of pretty essence of red cherry and crushed fennel to reveal themselves. The delicious, refined and vibrant middleweight flavors flash a subtle bead of minerality on the focused, balanced and sneaky long finish. This is a Roncière of punch and finesse. *Burghound Outstanding! (2021). 

90-92 points Vinous | The 2021 Nuits Saint-Georges Roncière 1er Cru has an open bouquet with red berry fruit, cedar and light graphite aromas. Fine definition. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, quite sapid in the mouth with a pleasant strictness allied with tension on the finish. Give this 3-4 years in bottle. (NM) Inner quote mark (1/2023). (2021). 

Winemaker Description

The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy cranberry and strawberry, bright and taut with a transparent finish. Warning - you will be totally smitten.

Expert Review

93 Points Wine Advocate | The 2020 Meursault Village has turned out beautifully in bottle, unwinding in the glass with scents of crisp Anjou pear, lemon zest, freshly baked bread, blanched almonds, pastry cream and apple blossom. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and layered, its textural attack segues into a fleshy, precise mid-palate that's animated by racy acids, concluding with a long, mouthwatering finish. It's another terrific rendition of this benchmark cuvée.

Expert Review - Vintage 2021

Burghound | A perfumed and exuberantly spicy nose offers up a blend of both red and dark cherry along with floral nuances. The wonderfully sleek, refined and punchy medium weight flavors possess a gorgeous texture thanks to the very fine-grained tannins supported the firm, youthfully austere and mineral-driven finish. This is textbook Fuées. Outstanding.

Expert Review

Expert Review

Winemaker Description

Tollot-Beaut’s Les Vercots 1er Cru is rustic and robust with aromas and flavors of red cherries, spice, and earth with substantial weight and ripe tannins. It is aged for 18 months in 50% new Burgundian pièce.

Red Burgundy might be the world’s most flexible food wine. The wine’s high acidity, medium body, medium alcohol, and minimal tannins make it very food-friendly. Red Burgundy, with its earthy and sometimes gamey character, is a classic partner to roasted game birds, grilled duck breast, and dishes that feature mushrooms, black truffles, or are rich in umami. Winemaker Description. 

Expert Review

92 Points Jasper Morris | 11 barrels for one hectare equates to about 25 hl/ha. Because Vercots has a heavy soil they put some extra fine pinot clones in this vineyard, which has paid off in the quality of the fruit. Slightly paler in colour but with some finesse. A savoury sandalwood touch to the oak this time, but the vineyard tannins are not fierce. Made with an agreeably light touch. Drink from 2025-2030.

Winemaker Description

Les Grèves is voluptuous and structured with aromas and flavors of bright red fruit and mineral notes. The flavor is intense and powerful but is delivered on the palate with finesse. Aging in 30% new Burgundian pièce brings notes of vanilla and spice. The vines were planted between 1969 and 1987.

Red Burgundy might be the world’s most flexible food wine. The wine’s high acidity, medium body, medium alcohol, and minimal tannins make it very food-friendly. Red Burgundy, with its earthy and sometimes gamey character, is a classic partner to roasted game birds, grilled duck breast, and dishes that feature mushrooms, black truffles, or are rich in umami. 

Expert Reviews

93 Points Vinous | The 2021 Beaune Les Grèves 1er Cru, picked on the first day of picking, has slightly darker fruit than the Clos du Roi, but there is still a sense of delineation and transparency that makes it very alluring. The palate is medium-bodied with dark cherries, bergamot and bay leaf. It's nicely structured with a bit of sinew on the finish. This is very promising. (2021). 

92 Points Jasper Morris | Slightly paler in colour, mid crimson. A more reticent bouquet with some substance behind, one suspects. Good intensity here, all in fresh red fruit, acidity adds to the energy and there is enough fruit concentration to sit well with the oak. Agreeably persistent. Drink from 2025-2030. (2021). 

Winemaker Description

Cathiard is a tiny domain - there never is very much wine. You enter a spick and span white stucco suburban home in the center of the small village of Vosne Romanee. There is a walled vineyard outside the front door. Go down the staircase and you are in a minuscule cuverie and barrel room.

Sebastien Cathiard has been slowly assuming control of this top estate in Vosne-Romanée from his father Sylvain. He is now fully in charge, but the wines have been so good for so long that he wisely has changed very little. They continue to farm meticulously, de-stem and rigorously sort all the fruit prior to fermentation. The only thing he has changed is the gradual reduction of new oak, seeking a bit more purity of terroir expression.

Expert Review

"An ultra-fresh and very bright nose freely offers up its array of red berries, plum and even more floral wisps. There is again a lovely textured to the beautifully delineated and stony middleweight flavors that conclude in a youthfully austere, linear and chiseled finale. This is also really quite good and worth considering."
Allen Meadows-Burghound

Winemaker Description 

Domaine les Chenevières was established in the 1850s and has been handed down from father to son through six generations of the Lenoir family of winemaker-growers. Currently run by Benoit Lenoir, the 45-hectare estate is situated in the Saint Maurice de Satonnay, eight miles north of Mâcon, where he has established a reputation for producing high quality Mâcon-Villages. The estate is farmed sustainably, with biodiversity in the vineyard being encouraged and minimal treatments employed. Yields are controlled to obtain the richest grapes possible. Benoit aims for a balanced approach of combining tradition with contemporary winemaking methods, vinifying plot by plot to produce wines with a bright floral and fruit-forward expression and excellent Mâcon typicity.

The Mâcon-Villages appellation covers white wines produced in selected communes of the Mâconnais wine area in southern Burgundy. The landscape of the Mâconnais is one of rolling limestone hills, bordered in the east by the Saône River. The Mont Pele vineyard is south-easterly facing vineyard on a very dry, acidic limestone soil with some clay, which produces a light, fresh and approachable style of Macon-Villages, with the clay component providing good water retention properties, to nourish the vines during the warm summers. The 35-year old vines are pruned according to the Guyot Arcure method, an arched style of pruning, which allows for a better circulation of the sap. Where possible the soils are worked by hand, to reduce the need for synthetic preparations.

Following a gentle pressing, the juice was left to settle with enzymes to clarify the must. Selected yeasts were added and fermentation took place at controlled temperatures of 18 to 20°C, in stainless steel tanks lasting for three weeks. The wine was then racked and left on its fine lees to impart texture and complexity, until bottling.

A quintessential Mâcon-Villages, with a lovely creamy texture lifted by green apple notes and mineral freshness on the crisp finish.

Winemaker Description

Bruno Clair set up an eponymous estate in France established in 1979 with vineyard holdings spread all over the area.  Half of the vines are a century old. Bruno Clair, a true vigneron, has the expertise needed to reinvent this area better than anyone and his Marsannay wines are very elegant and long-lasting. His respect for the terroir and the stylistic precision of his wines makes him one of the best producers in Burgundy.

This textbook En la Rue de Vergy is one of the rare white wines of the Côte de Nuits. It is complex, perfectly balanced, and well-structured with very clean tannins and crisp acidity and a long finish. The intense, rich palette presents lemon, grapefruit, oak, vanilla, yellow apple, almonds, and white melon flavors with herbal, floral, and mineral nuances. It's a nice accompaniment to paella.

OH! The caves of Bailly Lapiere, one of the major producers of Cremant in Burgundy.

The spectacular caves have supplied the stone for some of the greatest architectural works in Europe including the Pantheon, Notre Dame de Paris, Chartres Cathedral and more. The underground extraction probably began at the end of the medieval period and finally ceased around the beginning of the 20th century. The caves and their history are astonishing.

Bailly, a village in the Auxerrois region of Burgundy, is the birthplace of the Crémant de Bourgogne AOC. Bailly Lapierre has been in operation since 1972 in an underground quarry; the cellars are 50 metres underground, quarried deep in the heart of the famed Tonnerre stone, an enchanted, magical setting in which to watch over Crémants as they age. 430 grape growers provide the grapes for their Crémant (pinot noir, chardonnay, gamay, and aligoté). The wine goes through full malolactic fermentation and ages for 12 months in-bottle prior to release, giving it a wonderful roundness. It is clean, pure, and refreshing. Organically grown.

Winemaker Description

Mercurey was named after the Roman temple built here to honour the god Mercury. Boasting 650 ha (1,605 acres), 85 plots and 32 Premier Crus, Mercurey is the largest of the Côte Chalonnaise’s appellations.

Their vineyard of "Pierre Milley" is planted on the hillside where they benefit from southwest–western exposure. The soil is rich in clay and well drained due to its stony nature. The bedrock consists of compacted limestone with a few predominately marly limestone areas. 

Expert Review

90 Points Wine Spectator | A bright red, offering pure cherry, raspberry and violet flavors. Elegant and balanced, ending in a mouthwatering impression. (2020).

Winemaker Description

Considered the pinnacle of Burgundy, Domaine de la Romanee-Conti produces some of the world’s most revered wines from its tiny vineyards in Vosne-Romanee. Grands-Echezeaux, is a Grand Cru vineyard yielding sublime wines that are among the most highly-sought, seductive and rarest in the world.

The 2020 Grands Échézeaux is full-bodied, ample and fleshy with an abundance of powdery tannins and succulent acids. The luscious palate presents strawberry, cherry, leather, earth, mushroom, mint, a touch of spice, oak, and refreshing minerality.

Winemaker Description

Chambertin is the wine of Kings. Masculine, powerful and well built. Vigorous and firm, well-structured and very dense. With great persistence in the mouth and aromas of chocolate, licorice and red berries.

Expert Reviews 

Jasper Morris 100 Points | An imperial robe as we have come to expect. The bouquet is very backward, no problem there either, all about the fruit, the new wood is irrelevant. Starts slowly then builds immaculately, still too early really to see the detail. As always it is about grace style intensity and length rather than overt muscle, all the finesse one can want. Long and lovely

Robert Parker 97 Points Wine Advocate | Rousseau's 2020 Chambertin Grand Cru is brilliant, unwinding in the glass with aromas of wild berries, orange rind, plums, exotic spices, Egyptian musk, woodsmoke and rose petals. Full-bodied, velvety and concentrated, it's deep and tightly wound, with striking intensity and energy. Still very primary, even after a year's élevage, it will require patience, but it's a magical Chambertin in the making.