New Arrivals from Jean-Claude Rateau in Beaune 2017 - 2025!
8/29/26 -
It's been almost a year since our last shipment from Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau in Beaune and we're very glad to have these beautiful wines coming back, arriving approximately September 9th. This shipment includes the superb 2017 and 2018 Beaune 1er Cru “Les Bressandes,” the 2024 1er Cru "Coucherias" Blanc , the 2024 Beaune "Clos des Mariages" Rouge, the 2023 Beaune "Prévoles" and the 2024 Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Rouge - and our first look at the 2025 vintage with the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Blanc, Aligoté and Bourgogne Rouge. These outstanding Biodynamic wines will offer both delicious current drinking and cellar potential, and of course they offer sensational value to the Burgundy lover...
Rateau with Eben Lillie, a "few" years back...
Jean-Claude was the fourth vigneron in France, and the first in Burgundy, to convert to Biodynamics, beginning with two hectares in the Clos des Mariages in 1979. Some of the greatest estates in Burgundy have followed his footsteps, recognizing the importance of living soils in the creation of great wine. Amel Nouar, Jean-Claude's long-time assistant, is now managing the estate, continuing his great work in the vines and in the cellar: Only a light and superficial plowing is done in summer, respecting wild plants and keeping hedges and fruit trees along the vines. Only organic composts are used, as well as biodynamic preparations. Replanting is by massale selection, seeking a great diversity in the parcels, fermentations are with wild yeasts, of course, with the goal of making wines with no additives and minimal SO2. And as with Domaine Gonon in Saint-Joseph and Domaine Baudry in Chinon, there is no new oak in the cellar! (Aging is primarily in 3 to 10 year-old barrels)
These are wines of great terroir expression and purity. Eric Asimov in the NY Times included Jean-Claude in his article '12 Top-Tier (but Undervalued) Burgundy Producers' (along with Chandon de Briailles and Jean-Philippe Fichet), saying "I hesitate to mention this estate because the wines are hard to find. But they are so fresh and seductive, both reds and whites from village and premier cru sites in Beaune, that they are worth seeking out."
-David Lillie
