2021 Burgundies from Gilles Lafouge!
5/31/2021
Gilles Lafouge is the sixth generation at this 10 hectare estate in Auxey-Duresses. The domain includes excellent premier cru vineyards with old vines in Auxey-Duresses as well as small parcels in neighboring Meursault and an old-vine plot in Pommard 1er Cru Les Chanlins. There is good vineyard work here with plowing and organic composts, vinifications are with wild yeasts and the wines age mostly in old barriques with a small percentage new. Never over-extracted or over-oaked, these are true wines of terroir that offer terrific value. Says John Gilman in The View From the Cellar "The white wines are very racy and transparent, and offer up outstanding minerality and cut. Stylistically they are very similar to Jean-Marc Roulot's wines and are well worth discovering. The reds here are equally 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."
We've just received our small allocation of the elegant 2021s from this very low-yielding "pre-global warming" vintage. These are absolutely delicious traditional wines that will bring a smile to any lover of good Burgundy. We apologize for the tiny quantities, we hope there will be more wine next year...
Gilles Lafouge on the 2021s, quoted in Burghound: "Yields were all over the place but we were basically down 70% in white and around 40% in red. Potential alcohols were perfectly good at between 12 to 12.5% for the pinot and slightly better for the chardonnay at between 12.5 to 13%. We vinified the reds lightly using no whole clusters, but we still chose to do an eight day cold soak, which helped as the colors were very slow to emerge. After pressing off we did a very careful lees settling to be sure that we were barreling down with clean new wine. As to the wines, the reds are delicate but beautifully balanced and despite being on the lighter side, I believe that they will age extremely well expressly because they are so well-balanced. Given how tough the growing season was, I am actually very happy with the results."
-David Lillie
