2012s from Martin Bart and Gilles Lafouge; Lovely Burgundies, Great Values!!
3/27/15 -
(Gilles Lafouge)
"Value" and "Burgundy" are words that don't frequently go together and yet these two estates consistently produce beautiful wines which we are able to offer at extremely reasonable prices. The 2012 vintage is particularly successful for both Bart and Lafouge with the wines showing great purity of fruit, bright acidity and great terroir expression and balance. (Please note: Bart Rosé and Bourgogne Rouge arrive Monday 3/30.)
Domaine Jean and Gilles Lafouge, Auxey-Duresses: There is excellent vineyard work here, in the process to becoming organic, with very short pruning. Hand-harvesting and wild-yeast fermentations of course, about 25% new oak, minimal batonnage for the whites and natural clarifications. Jean and his son Gilles are quiet, friendly and modest. Their wines in some ways reflect their personalities - always balanced and subtle with lovely fruit and precise expression of the terroirs. Says John Gilman in The View From the Cellar "The reds here are lovely, soil-driven and beautifully balanced wines with the ability to drink well early on and yet age gracefully for at least fifteen to twenty years. The Lafouge reds are extremely elegant and refined examples of Auxey-Duresses and offer impressive complexity and depth... and are amongst the very finest Burgundian values of which I am aware."
Domaine Martin Bart, Marsannay: The affable Martin Bart inherited part of the Clair-Dau estate including vines in Bonnes Mares and Clos de Bèze but the principal holdings are in Marsannay, including the fine lieu-dit of "Champs Salomon." Here the style is a bit more concentated, with the full, ripe character balanced well by the brightness of the 2012 vintage. The "Champs Salomon" is a great expression of this fine mid-slope parcel, while the "Les Echezots," higher and exposed more to the north, is especially pretty, a bit lighter and drinks beautifully young. And of course the Marsannay Rosé and Bourgogne Rouge will be great additions to summer barbeques and picnics....
