Wine & Spirits - October 2020 - 65

FOCUS: BURGUNDY
plexity in the end, where the wine makes its
most significant and lasting impression. § Maisons & Domaines Henriot, NY
278058

92 | Domaine Bouchard
Père & Fils

$45

2017 Beaune 1er Cru du Château (Best
Buy) ^ Brisk, bold and juicy, this wine glows
with red and purple fruit and floral notes. As
it opens over the course of several days, any
sense of compression in the coal-black tannins turns toward detail, those tannins layered into a satiny mille-feuille of savory custard and rose petals. This is a selection from
Bouchard's parcels in 17 premier cru vineyards, all vinified separately before blending. §
Maisons & Domaines Henriot, NY
278530

91 | Domaine de Bellene

$100

90 | Domaine Chanson

$123

2018 Beaune 1er Cru Vieilles Vignes Hommage à Françoise Potel ^ Powerfully compressed, this wine yields a rose perfume out
of its youthful tannic extract. There's a pungent character to those tannins, with scents
of spruce and pine driving the wine forward.
Superconcentrated for now, this needs cellar
time to reveal its layers of flavor. § Loosen Bros.
USA, Salem, OR
278014
2018 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Fèves ^ Chanson owns the entirety of this 10.2-acre premier cru, a site at the north side of Beaune
facing east and southeast, all of it planted to
pinot noir. In 2018, the vineyard produced a
luscious wine, its black fruit ripened toward
hints of molasses, the warmth showing in the
power of the tannins as well. A potent young
Beaune, this needs bottle age to mellow. § Vintus, Pleasantville, NY
278008

90 | Louis Jadot

$62

2017 Beaune 1er Cru Boucherottes
Domaine des Heritiers Louis Jadot ^ Ripe
dark-cherry flavors run deep in this clean,
violet-scented Beaune. There's some earthiness to the tannins, with an underlying note
of fresh mushrooms to complement the firm,
juicy flavors of the fruit. The wine's complexities are hidden for now; you could enjoy it
as you would a young California pinot noir,
though its structure will sustain the fruit as
it ages. § Kobrand, Purchase, NY

CORTON
278446

94 | La Pousse d'Or

$165

2017 Corton Grand Cru Les Bressandes ^
The domaine owns an acre of vines in Bressandes, planted in 1956, 1986 and 1994 on
this east-facing hillside. And the wine from

their fruit is pretty great: It's immediately
complex, with detail powering out of the
substantial extract, the rich espresso scents
of oak, the gracious light cherry and sweet
raspberry essence and the sun and clouds
shadowing the wine's earthiness as the finish lengthens to the horizon line. Checking
in on the wine four days later, the cherry
depths are shaded with delicate fruity mushroom scents, the tannins holding freshness
and gamey notes, as if melding into the roast
duck this wine might ultimately meet. § North
Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA
278060

92 | Domaine
	 Bouchard Père & Fils $125

2013 Le Corton Grand Cru ^ One taster
described this as "a thinking wine," noting
that it was all about the layering of complex
scents. In fact, you might miss the delicate
breath of ripe black cherries under the more
powerful, muscular density of the cherryskin tannins. Keep after it and the shadowed
fruit turns luscious, the tannins gentling into
a clean cherry persistence, a backdrop for the
quiet complexities. § Maisons & Domaines
Henriot, NY
278445

91 | Louis Jadot

$145

2017 Corton Grand Cru Les Maréchaudes ^
This feels tense and dynamic when first
poured, its energy invested in a cool perfume of roses and cranberries. Air brings
ballast, as the wine deepens toward meaty
blood-sausage scents and black-mushroom
power. The detail of the wine seems to disappear into the tannins, suggesting it's built
for the long haul rather than for accessibility and easy assessment. Corton, historically,
has taken a decade or more to come into its
own; perhaps this is the climate-change version of that same ten-year waiting game. §
Kobrand, Purchase, NY

PERNAND-VERGELESSES
278068

92 | Domaine Chanson

$68

2018 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Les
Vergelesses (Best Buy) ^ Chanson farms 13.3
acres in this premier cru at the base of the
Corton hill, where clay in the soil helped
sustain the vines and the freshness of their
grapes through the summer of 2018. The initial impression is floral, generous, shimmering with purple-grape intensity. The lasting
sensation is silken and soft, with highlights of
rhubarb and strawberry. It's a Pernand with
stature. § Vintus, Pleasantville, NY

POMMARD
278079

93 | Pierre Meurgey

$160

2016 Pommard 1er Cru Les Grands Epenots ^ Pierre Meurgey was a partner in and
president of Maison Champy before selling
his shares to start his own négociant projects
in 2014. He works with a grower for this wine
from the north of Pommard, at the border
with Beaune, where the soils are high in iron.
The vines deliver a powerful wine, almost
chunky with youthful tannins, completely
saturated by fresh cherries and violet flavor.
It's a wine of complexity and depth, with a
long life ahead. § Banville Wine Merchants, NY
278078

92 | Domaine
	Bourgogne-Devaux $82

2017 Pommard Les Vignots ^ Luc Bourgogne
is based in Meloisey, in the increasingly fashionable cooler elevations of the Hautes-Côtes
de Beaune. His small domaine extends into
Pommard, where this parcel of 50-year-old
vines rises to the top of the hill, close to the
forest, on thin soils that barely cover the
limestone bedrock. The freshness of the altitude comes through in the wine, as does the
sunniness of the site's southern exposure,
combining in a bright and complex length of
flavor. It's light, crisp and lasting on fragrant
fruit, meadow flowers and a dark woodsiness,
with the structure for a long life ahead. § North
Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA
278071

92 | La Pousse d'Or

$126

90 | Domaine
	 Joseph Voillot

$151

2017 Pommard 1er Cru Les Jarolières ^ Patrick Landager attained biodynamic certification for the Pousse d'Or domaine with
the 2018 vintage. His 2017s show the extra
care and insight in farming that biodynamics can bring. This wine, in particular, shows
its energy in a beam of red fruit and a tense
generosity. While marshalling that inner
power, the wine is not shy with its new-oak
scents, requiring long development in bottle
for the two to meld. § North Berkeley Imports,
Berkeley, CA
278006

2018 Pommard 1er Cru Les Pézerolles ^ This
wine smells pretty great, and the memory of
that scent is enough to sustain its appeal
even as it dives into a tannic finish. For now,
it's tense with green-peppercorn spice and
a hard-mineral feel; there's nothing plump
about it to assuage that structure. Still, the
flavors have staying power and speak of a
long life ahead. § Vintage '59 Imports, Washington, DC
277995
WINE & SPIRITS

OCTOBER 2020

65
Wine & Spirits - October 2020

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