Apologies for these e-mails coming in a little later each week, these days. Both Melissa and Lisa are out of town, and it’s been just Derek and I to cover all open shop hours, and this will apparently continue on for longer than we had planned. Speaking of which, if any of you read our tales of daily toil and think that this is a team you’d like to join, now would be a reasonable time to make that impulse known, as we are about to embark on a round of hiring. The work can be tough, and require a keen eye for detail (while multi-tasking), but we also drink really well. But that’s all you’ll hear of the retail sausage making for today. Shall we talk about exceedingly rare and beautiful wine instead?
Burgundy. The original home of Pinot (Noir) and Chard(onnay), in Cote d’Or, France. Many of the most sought after, smallest production wines in the world come from this relatively tiny piece of rarified earth. Unlike many of the famous Bordeaux houses who produce up to 50,000 cases per year (looking at you Lafite!), these are actually very rare, and the rarest of them have been regularly breaking auction records. It’s becoming exceedingly difficult to find any Burgundy at all that we can get on our shelves at a reasonable retail price.
Beaujolais begins at the southern border of Burgundy and is the source of many of the world’s best gamay. Unfortunately, the light sweet strawberry/banana water that often passes for Beaujolais Nouveau is what many people imagine, when they hear the name of this otherwise venerable appellation. Some very serious Burgundy producers also grow gamay, including Leroy, whose older vintages of Pinot Noir have been specifically responsible for breaking many of those auctions records. They’ve gotten so fancy that we can’t even get their Bourgogne Rouge on the shelf at under $100. I’ve always been a huge fan of the least expensive bottles from truly great producers, and the first ever release of Leroy Bourgogne Gamay 2019 is a shining example of why that is. We’ve also picked up a Cru Beaujolais by a legendary Pinot producer: AF Gros Moulin à Vent 2018. Many of the best Gamay, like their Pinot counterparts, need years in bottle to approach their peak drinking window, and these are the two most delicious, lighter style, ready to drink Gamay I’ve tasted in all reasonable memory. Put them in the fridge for a few minutes, to add a light chill on warmer evenings.
This week’s e-mail deal is a 6-pack of our current favorite, most affordable Burgundy (and high end Gamay) we can offer, starting with a white Burgundy, Goufier Montagny 2017, a medium bodied, medium rich, lusciously textured Chardonnay, with deeply tropical tones. Next is the baseline Pinot from another micro-producer I have been collecting for decades, Domaine Forey Bourgogne Rouge 2018. Two delicious tiny production old school Pinot Noir by Monthelie-Douhairet-Porcheret: M-D-P Bourgogne Rouge 2019 and M-D-P Monthelie Clos Meix Garnier 2018. And of course, included will be both aforementioned gamay noir: AF Gros Moulin à Vent 2018 and Leroy Bourgogne Gamay 2019. Official numbers are directly below. Cheers.
