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| | Frederic Esmonin, Louis Latour, Domaine Leroy, Hubert de Montille, R.
Dubois Burgundy,
Charleux in Maranges
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- FREDERIC ESMONIN
- This property is also known as the Domaine des Estournelles. They own or farm
three Grand Crus in Gevrey-Chambertin as well as some premier cru and village vines.
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- The wines tend to be exuberantly fruity, showing lots of bright cherry and
berry aromas and flavors. Oak is usually noticeable, too and the wood
tends to contribute a certain spice tone to the wines, instead of adding a
sweet note (as in some top Burgundies). This makes the Esmonin wines
rather distinctive.
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- Their recipe calls for a four day cold soak, followed by a warm fermentation.
Typically they use 25% new wood for their wines.
The cellar is rather small and we suspect this accounts for their cycling
the wines through their aging in the time before the next
harvest.
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 I
liked the 2004 Gevrey Chambertin wines we have from Esmonin and did not find
the 2005s quite as charming. Bob tasted the 2005s as well and we both
agreed in preferring the 2004s!
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The 2009s are showing wonderfully and yes, they're young. But somewhat
drinkable now!!
In the 2009 vintage, as in the 2007, we found the Estournelles-Saint-Jacques to be our
favorite wine (typically we've often preferred the Lavaux bottling).
The wine has loads of bright cherry fruit and a nice spice element from a
bit of wood. We suspect it will be a nice wine in a decade when fully
mature, but it's so enchanting now...
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This domaine also has a tiny patch of vines in the grand cru site of
Mazy-Chambertin...less than half a hectare. The 2004 is a bright, mildly
cherryish Burgundy...there's a nice bit of wood here and the tannins are of
a moderate level. It's drinkable now, but ought to cellar well for
another ten years...And the wine arrives at a very attractive price, too.
- Currently available:
2009 Gevrey-Chambertin "Estournelles Saint-Jacques" SALE $49.99
2004 Mazy-Chambertin $59.99
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DOMAINE CHARLEUX
- The winery of Maurice Charleux is situated in the village
of Dezize-lès-Maranges near the center of
town. It's hardly a bustling city and it's a far cry from most of
the famous wine villages of Burgundy. Dezize is south of Santenay,
so it's not on the radar of most wine drinkers.
The good news, though, is there's nice wine being made from vineyards in
that neighborhood and since they're not the most fancy appellation in
Burgundy, prices remain attractive for those of us who actually drink wine
(as opposed to those who merely 'collect' wine).
The Charleux estate was founded in the 1890s by Ferdy Charleux. He
had about an acre and a half to start and when he died in 1924 Ferdy had
amassed all of 2 hectares (close to 5 acres). His kid Joey brought
the total holdings up to 8 hectares and now his son Maurice runs the
show. The domaine encompasses about 12 hectares and Maurice's son
Vinny is on board in the cellar and vineyard.
The father and son team of Mo & Vinny cultivate the vines in an
environmentally-friendly fashion. They're not farming
biodynamically, as I understand it, but lutte raisonnée.
We visited the property and tasted some nice wines. They seek to
capture the character of their "terroir," as most good Burgundy
vintners will tell you. To do so requires an eye towards details in
the vineyard, first and the cellar second. New oak, then, is kept
for the most cellarworthy, well-structured wines, as the wood tends to be
less apparent with extended bottle aging. Indigenous yeast
fermentations...
We currently have a really surprising 2009 Maranges 1er Cru "Clos
Roussots." This is, as noted, a Premier Cru wine and yet it
arrives here at a most attractive price. The wine has a classic
Burgundian fragrance...a bit of cherry, a note of forest-floor, a
suggestion of wood, but only a hint...and the 2009 is lovely now, but we expect
it will develop additionally for a few more years.
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Currently in stock: 2009 DOMAINE CHARLEUX
"Maranges 1er Cru" CLOS ROUSSOTS $24.99
Vincent Charleux, tasting in the vineyard.
Dans la vigne.
Dans la cave.
Maurice Charleux
Son and Father
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CHANSON
 The
Chanson house has been around for several hundred years. We only know
them since the late 1970s or early 1980s when a small importer in the bay
Area brought in some wines.
The firm has a checkered history in the recent past. It was owned by
the Marion brothers who attempted to "improve" their wines by
illegally blending wines from outside of Burgundy to enhance the body and
color of their Pinot Noirs. Their cellar master said nothing publicly
about this and the whole situation became a real mess when the Bizot family,
owners of the great Champagne house of Bollinger, bought Chanson.
It seems Monsieur Bizot realized that the cellar had wines which had been
tampered with and he alerted the fraud squad. In doing so, however,
the bureaucrats arrested Bizot since his group owned Chanson for some 16
months before alerting authorities about the illegal wines. The
Chanson inventory amounted to some six million bottles, apparently, and
something like 727,000 of them were "played with."
There was a great court battle and Bizot reportedly broke down in tears when
questioned on the witness stand. His family, as you might expect,
bought the place with the intention of improving the quality of wines and,
we suspect, having the same high level of integrity as the Champagnes of
Bollinger.
Well, now we're seeing some wines from Chanson and clearly they're doing
good work. The wines we've tasted strike me as good quality, but not
as "flashy" as some people are looking for. You won't find,
from my tasting experience, tons of wood on their Burgundies. You will
find elegant and refined wines, however.
The Bizots hired Jean Pierre Confuron, whose family owns a fine domaine in
Vosne-Romanee, to oversee the winemaking. Confuron seems to be
producing a good level of quality and I suspect the Chanson name may soon be
regarded as a good, "safe" choice when buying Burgundy.
From the handful of wines I've bought or tasted at recent trade events, I
found a very fine 2004 Savigny of Premier Cru status. Now, everyone is
much fixated on the 2005 vintage, so wines from a solid vintage such as 2004
can be good values.
We especially liked Chanson's 2004 Savigny-Dominode, a particularly good
site within the Savigny appellation. They sorted through the grapes
with care and culled out berries not to their liking. You'll find a
very elegant wine here. It spent about 15 months on oak, but the wood
is very much subdued in this wine. Taking center stage is the cherry
and raspberry notes of the Pinot Noir. I find a faintly floral tone,
as well. It's mildly tannic and dry on the palate. We suspect
this will be a very fine bottle if cellared properly for 5-8 more years,
maybe longer since it seems to have a nice 'edge' to it.-
 I
bought a bottle of their 2005 Beaune Premier Cru wine...unusually good,
happily. It combines the sumptuous character of the 2005 vintage with
good vineyard and cellar work...it's youthful, but drinkable now. It
ought to cellar well for a decade, or so.
We'll be interested to watch the wines from this label...
Currently in stock: 2004 CHANSON Savigny-Dominode 1er Cru Sale
$39.99- 2005 Beaune 1er Cru "Clos des Mouches" SALE
$99.99
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HUBERT de MONTILLE
 A lawyer in "real life," the wines of Monsieur de Montille are
amongst the most respected in Burgundy. The domaine comprises some 7.5 hectares,
with holdings in Volnay and Pommard.
 The wines are made with an eye towards elegance
and restraint. You won't find "big" wines here, nor will you find a de
Montille Burgundy to be lavishly oaked. De Montille understands that he's making
Volnay, for example, not Chambertin. His winemaking reflects this understanding and
in his desire to showcase the delicacy of the Pinot Noir.
Wines from this property
are not going to win most blind-tastings. They, as stated before, don't have lots of
new oak nor the sweetness from chaptalization. In fact, the wines of de Montille are
usually right around 12-12.5% alcohol. Yet the wines are
regarded as a reference point for Volnay if you cellar them until they reach
their peak. These are not the most immediately-gratifying or showy
Burgundies. If you're looking for something flashy, best to look
elsewhere since these are vinified with the idea that their customers buy
them young and hold onto the wines for a decade or more.
The 2001 Pommard from Les Pezerolles comes from a small parcel of about one
hectare. As with other De Montille wines, this is a far cry from
today's big, hugely-oaked, sweetly fruity, nearly-Syrah-styled wines.
This is refined, elegant and youthful. Very fine and it has tremendous
cellaring potential.
Photos of The
De Montille Cellars, Family and Friends
- Currently in stock:
1990 Volnay 1er Cru "Les Champans" Sold Out
2002 Bourgogne Rouge Sold Out
2001 Pommard "Les Pezerolles" $65.99
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LEROY
 This is
a legendary firm with an energetic woman at the helm. Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy had
been affiliated with the Domaine de la Romane-Conti for much of her life, that vaunted
property having been in the family when she was born. She had been active in the
Domaine, along with running her own negociant firm, Leroy.
She was removed from her DRC property position in a brouhaha over the marketing of the
Domaine's wines, which she was in charge of. Her own sister was instrumental in
booting Lalou Bize-Leroy out of the DRC.
She and her husband Marcel own the Domaine d'Auvernay and this estate and the
"domaine" Leroy occupy her time.
She had hired the famous Andre Porcheret as her winemaker (away from the Hospices de
Beaune), but he returned when he found the Madame too damned difficult to work with!
To call her eccentric, some contend, is merely the tip of the iceberg.
Okay. For years people accorded the Leroy wines a great deal of respect.
The prices were (and still are) incredibly high. We would always
include a bottle or two in our regular Burgundy tastings and the wines fared poorly.
I think it was back in about the late 1980s or early 1990s I finally said
"Enough!" and we would not include any more of these frightfully high-priced
wines in our tastings.
I think her ousting from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti must have been a mighty big
wake-up call. Hell bent to show the DRC she can make greater wines, she
purchased a couple of modest properties with great vineyard holdings. She purchased
the Domaine Remy in Gevrey-Chambertin and Charles Noellat in Vosne-Romanée.
All well and good, but in typical Lalou fashion, she paid astronomical prices for these
properties. To say the least, many Burgundian vintners are not fond of this woman.
The new holdings give her terrific resources. She's embraced the "culture
biologique" and viticulture and winemaking are done according to the
phases of the moon. She believes in ridiculously low yields in the vineyards which
she says accounts for the depth and expressiveness of the vineyard. I've read
articles and interviews which indicate she views the notion of "green
harvesting" and "bleeding off" free-run juice from the vats (to have a
greater ratio of skins to juice) as lunacy. While many top vintners report yields of
30-40 hectoliters-per-hectare, Lalou seems to prefer a yield of around half that!
Her neighbors, it seems, often regard her as the lunatic.
In Remington Norman's wonderful book, The Great Domaines of Burgundy, he writes:
"Whilst no competent taster could credibly dispute the depth of
extract or tannin in these wines, they can, and do, argue about what is underneath...For
those accustomed to rate a wine by sheer size, Leroy's score highly; others,
concerned more for the building than for the scaffolding, who expect subtlety and balanced
tannins, are less enthusiastic..."
 We
had found some marvelous Nuits-Saints-Georges wines a near 10 vintages ago. I recall a number of tasters were surprised at finding the oak in
these wines reminiscent of American cooperage!
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In a blind-tasting of 2000 vintage Chambolle-Musigny wines in the summer of
2003, we found the Leroy wine to be supremely good. But she makes only
1100 bottles and charges a pretty penny for it. The wine is simply of
the quality one hopes to find in Grand Cru bottles of Burgundy. The
really "grand" bottles are few and far between.
The Leroy importer has had a myriad of bottles open at recent trade
tastings. I can't say I've tasted anything that's a great example of
Burgundy. They open a number of old vintages which are more impressive
for their age than for how they've weathered the test of time. It's
lovely to open a 30 year old bottle of red Burgundy, but for those who are
actually "tasting" the wine instead of admiring the label and the
insanely high price tag, the wine falls short of "grand."
An older bottle of Bourgogne Rouge demonstrates that the wine merely
becomes, well, old. It doesn't transform into a great bottle of
Vosne-Romanee or Gevrey-Chambertin. It's still "only"
Bourgogne Rouge and not especially charming.
The same goes for bottles of white Burgundy...we've been shown
"Bourgogne Blanc" with some bottle aging and it's merely
"old" wine. It had not transformed from some youthful, tight
young wine into a majestic, regal cousin of Montrachet.
For a winery which views itself as being amongst the elite, consumers would
be better served if, in fact, the wines were of as high a standard of
quality as they are of high price.
- Currently in stock: Nothing
LOUIS LATOUR
 For
many years, we wondered how this large, family-run domaine could do a rather
nice job in making stylish white wines and have uninteresting reds.
For years we'd hear about their insistence on stabilizing the
wines...between filtering and Pasteurization, I suspect they lose a few
'layers' of their red Burgundies.
I buy a bottle of this-and-that periodically. We have had some small
format bottles of rather pleasant Marsannay. Fairly-priced and quite
drinkable, it's been good for its price.
Their Corton Grancey is an ambassador for the winery and it's usually good,
but not quite reaching, in my view, "grand cru"
quality.
With the mania for the 2005 vintage in Burgundy, I tried a bottle of
Latour's Chateau Corton Grancey and it's certainly more complex and shows
nicely. There's a taut spine to this, so holding it for several more
years is ideal. It may, in fact, age nicely for a decade or
two. And though Latour has its own cooperage and even
offers barrels for sale to other wineries, this is not especially woody or
oaky.
Currently in stock: 2005 LOUIS LATOUR "Chateau Corton
Grancey" $99.99
- DUBOIS
 Louis
Dubois started this little wine business back in 1898 and today it's run the
the brother and sister team of Raphael and Beatrice Dubois.
They are not related to Blanche Dubois, nor are they affiliated with
Sonoma's Clos du Bois.
The headquarters are in Premeaux-Prissey, quite close to
Nuits-Saint-Georges.
They have vineyards in a number of locations, with something close to 24
hectares
We have a very simple, but classic, little red Bourgogne from
Dubois.
It is, as noted, a 'simple' Burgundy. You won't find dark color, lavish
oak treatment or a wine reminding you much of a bottle of Romanee-Conti.
On the other hand, we sell it for $14.99 (before the case discount) and
experienced tasters will recognize this as coming from Burgundy. It's a
light-bodied Pinot Noir, with a touch of the forest floor notes we find in many
good Pinots. It's dry and mildly tannic, so pairing it with
mildly-seasoned lamb, pork or roasted chicken is ideal.
We like it at cool cellar temp, too.
- Currently in stock: 2009 R. DUBOIS Bourgogne Rouge $14.99
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