Sub $35 Burgundy! Featuring: Dominique Gruhier
Sub $35 Burgundy! Featuring: Dominique Gruhier
One could say I sound like a broken record when it comes to talking about value in Burgundy, but there truly are wines for everyone in this famed region, you just have to dig a little deeper. Today I am proud to showcase a selection of White and Red Burgundies that are all below $35 and all worth a spot on your table.
Dominique Gruhier grew up in Tonnerre, about 10 miles east of Chablis, in a non-wine growing family. He went to school for mechanical engineering and quickly realized that it wasn't the right path for him. He caught the wine bug from his cousin and enrolled in lycée viticole in Beaune in 1990 and Dominique purchased his first vines, just 4.5 hectares! Restoring the vineyards and the facilities took years. It was a long journey with some incredibly large challenges along the way, from frosts, to a cellar collapse and there were a handful of years Dominique ended up with no wine to show for all his hard work. Fast forward to 2003 and he began to convert all his vines to organic farming, receiving certification as of the 2015 vintage. In more recent years they have introduced sheep to help maintain the vineyards during the winter and have planted hedges and trees as well. All of this helps not only the vines but the soils and environment surrounding the vines.
Today we have Dominique's Bourgogne Tonnerre, a wine that comes from multiple plots on steep slopes with Kimmeridgian soils, vines are 40 years old on average. After harvesting the wine undergoes native yeast fermentation before being aged for 10 months in 70% stainless steel and 30% in used barrels. They are then blended and aged another 6 months in tank before bottling. This wine showcases amazing ripe fruit, golden apples, lemon curd, and a bit of pineapple. It has an incredible balance on the palette of depth and freshness with a strong mineral finish. For red, we have his Bourgogne Epineuil Rouge, made from 40 year old vines on steep slopes with Kimmeridgian soils. It is made with 10-20% whole cluster and then a slow ambient yeast fermentation. Aged for 8-12 months in 80% foudre and 20% amphora that are blended before bottling. It is a bright red Burgundy with notes of cherry and raspberry that open into a hint of spice and rose petals. It is juicy and fresh, and drinks even better with a slight chill.
After working for about 10 years at DRC, Vincent Legou returned home to take over his family domaine. He immediately converted all farming to organic and by 2014 the whole 12 hectare domaine was certified. His goal today remains the same a decade later, "to obtain healthy and perfectly ripe grapes. That's why I do not use any chemicals." Everything is hand harvested and sorted before being fermented with indigenous yeasts. There is a long maceration and the wines age in used barrel for 12-14 months. His Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Nuits 'Le Corton' is just delicious. Ripe aromas of black cherry with cranberry open to show violet and a hint of spices. The wine has silky tannins and a long, smooth finish.
Brother and sister duo Vincent and Claire Roy are the 4th generation to run their family domaine. To put it most simply, the Roy siblings make well farmed, honest wines.Their Chorey-les-Beaune is a blend of four parcels from throughout Chorey. It is 90% destemmed and fermented in concrete with 12 days of maceration. It is aged for 14 months in 5% new 228L barrels. The wine is incredibly pretty, filled with bright red raspberry, wild strawberry and a touch of spice at the end. This perfumed wine has incredible lift and freshness and may very well be one of the best values in the Cote de Beaune.
Jean et Gilles Lafouge is a longtime favorite at Chambers Street Wines. Their Bourgogne Rouge Cote d'Or is a new cuvée, and is sourced from vines in Pommard, just outside the AOC, with deep clay soils over the limestone. It has lovely purity of floral, berry fruits, with soft tannins. Perfect with a bit of a chill, and will continue to drink well over the next 3 to 5 years!
Stéphane Magnien runs his small estate in Morey-Saint-Denis, and makes his Coteaux Bourguignons 'Pur Pinot Noir' from two small parcels in the lieu-dit "Gué" below the village, one planted in 1960 the other in 2009. It is aged for 10 months in large barrels and cuvee inox, bottled unfined and unfiltered. There are notes of wild raspberry, plum, and even a hint of blueberry that opens up to have excellent structure and depth. The palate is dense with vibrant black cherry and black raspberry fruit lifted by bright acidity, sappy and long. Give this some time open if drinking now, or allow it to age over the next few years.
The name Deux Roches (two rocks) comes from the fact that all the vines are around the two Rocks of Vergisson and Solutré in the southern Macon. The Collovray and Terrier families have been growing grapes and making their own wines since 1986 and their Saint-Veran Tradition is the first wine they ever made. Today it is fermented and aged in stainless steel and then spends 9 months on the lees. It is a bright, and lifted wine with notes of lemon and golden apple. There's a long mineral finish with fantastic freshness.
-Hanna Krilov Cohen
