When you love drinking red burgundies, giving up is just not option. Abiding passion must be served. Yet over the last decade as prices on even village wines have escalated to $60 or more per bottle, popular producers’ wines have sadly slipped out of reach in recent vintages. When you’re feeling the disappointment, just remember you’re not alone, and do no despair.
With a little imagination and disciplined buying strategies, you can snare shrewd bargains on delicious bottles well worth drinking with pleasure. Three wines from recent vintages—the 2013 Domaine Philippe Gavignet, Nuits-Saint-Georges “Les Argillats” (average US price: $38.00), the 2015 Domaine Xavier Besson, Givry 1er Cru “Les Grands Prétans” (average US price: $31.00) and the 2015 David Duband, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits “Louis Auguste” (average US price: $35.00)—prove the point.
DOMAINE PHILIPPE GAVIGNET
The first strategy focuses on buying wines from lesser known, but nonetheless highly accomplished growers working in outstanding locations. Vigneron Philippe Gavignet presents a perfect illustration.
He toils in the shadows of internationally renowned Nuits-Saint-Georges growers such as Henri Georges, Robert Chevillon, and Domaine Faiveley, and his top vineyard holdings in Nuits-Saint-Georges “Pruliers” 1er Cru and Nuits-Saint-Georges “Les Bousselots” do not carry the prestige of the more famous Nuits-Saint-Georges “Les Saint-Georges” 1er Cru.
Yet Gavignet, working along side his son Benoit and daughter Elodie, consistently achieves outstanding, noteworthy results. The family’s stated goal is to produce wines with authentic personalities faithfully reflecting the traits of each vineyard and vintage. The team meticulously tends 40 acres of vines in lesser known but still excellent locations. And their lutte raisonnée philosophy essentially eliminates synthetic chemical treatments on the vines resulting in vital soils and healthy vines producing better quality fruit. The Gavignets then harvest and sort by hand to ferment only unblemished, fully ripened grapes. After fermentation, they take a restrained approach by aging the wines in a maximum of 1/3 new oak barrels.
Gavignet’s Nuits-Saint-Georges “Les Argillats” lies north of the village on a southeast facing slope just above prime premier cru locations. The combination of Pinot Noir vines averaging over 55 years old and stony, limestone rich soils mixed with clay creates the potential for a fine balance of freshness and depth. The highly recommended 2013 Domaine Philippe Gavignet, Nuits-Saint-Georges “Les Argillats” delivers beautifully. Typical of 2013 reds, the wine highlights bright red fruit aromas with understated spicy notes. Fresh red fruit flavors of medium concentration layer with zesty acidity and super fine tannins. Try it with grilled lamb chops.
DOMAINE XAVIER BESSON
The next buying strategy focuses on wines from underappreciated “terroirs” in the hands of conscientious, hard working producers. The 2015 Domaine Xavier Besson, Givry 1er Cru “Les Grands Prétans” fits the specifications perfectly.
The Givry appellation lies in the Côte Chalonnaise, a subregion of Burgundy immediately to the south of the more famous and frequently visited Côte D’Or subregion. Yet Givry has similar soils—a brown mix of limestone and clay—and its cool yet sunny climate during autumn creates the potential for delicious, high quality Pinot Noir fruit. Fourth generation grower Xavier Besson takes full advantage which provides a terrific buying opportunity for drinkers willing to try the wines.
Besson’s Givry 1er Cru “Les Grands Prétans” comes from fully mature Pinot Noir plantings with some vines over 50 years old. The older vines and Besson’s meticulous work lowers yields to render fruit with excellent depth and complexity. Besson harvests by hand to use only fully ripened fruit, and the grapes ferment with indigenous yeasts to promote natural aromas and flavors in the wine. The wine ages in a combination of traditional barrels and larger oak vessels to create subtle woody notes. In the warm 2015 vintage, Besson’s wine offers ripe dark cherry fruit and spicy aromas opening to delicious, juicy dark red fruit balanced with enticing freshness and elegant tannins. Decanting the wine for a hour before drinking knits together all the elements nicely. It pairs perfectly with chicken thighs sauteed with mushrooms, shallots and minced garlic.
DOMA
INE DAVID DUBAND
The third strategy focuses on buying wines coming from generally undervalued regional appellations in outstanding vintages.The 2015 David Duband, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits “Louis Auguste” (average US price around $35.00) offers a classic example.
David Duband tends his own vines as well as those made available to him under a favorable, long-term sharecropping arrangement. The combined vineyards spread across an impressive array of appellations in Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée and Nuits-Saint-Georges, and his wines include renditions of some of Burgundy’s most famed climats such as Chambertin, Chamre-Chambertin, Clos de La Roche and Echézeaux. He enjoys a stellar reputation as a meticulous organic grapegrower with a deft, restrained touch in the cellar.
Duband lavishes the same passion and attention to detail with the 2015 David Duband, Hautes-Côtes de Nuits “Louis Auguste.” The wine comes from vines growing near in his home winery in the off-the beaten track village of Chevannes. Since the spot has a higher altitude and cooler climate than Burgundy’s better known sites, its Pinot Noir grapes feature pronounced acidity and freshness which created superb balance i grapes from the warm 2015 vintage.
Duband allows indigenous yeasts to ferment his hand-picked, carefully sorted grapes. The fermentation includes 40% whole clusters to highlight freshness and natural spiciness. The wine aged in barrels (30% new oak) for 14 months before being bottled without either fining or filtering. The result in 2015 is an altogether delicious wine with plenty of personality, pure fruity depth and fine balance. Pair it with grilled pork chops with a mushroom and red wine sauce.