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Wine: Goubert Beaumes-de-Venise 2016
Type: red Rhône Valley blend
Price: $22/bot
Video Tasting Notes: Goubert Beaumes-de-Venise 2016
Author: Thomas Wilcox
Smooth, Mouthfilling New Wintery Red. $22
France’s Rhône valley produces rich, smooth red blends, perfect for a wintery afternoon meal. At one end there’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape, famous and long-lived; at the other there’s Côtes du Rhône, uncomplicated and inexpensive. Today’s wine is from the middle.
Many of our favorite red Rhônes come from the Domaine les Goubert, best known for their excellent Gigondas. Today we’re pleased to announce the return of one of their lesser known wines: their red Beaumes de Venise.
If Beaumes de Venise calls to mind dessert wines, you’re not wrong. The town is famous for its sweet Muscat wines first planted in 600 BCE. But the terroir also produces a small amount of excellent red, with a rugged richness that makes them perfect for cold weather.
Goubert’s Beaumes de Venise is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Cinsault, with the final grape adding a sauvage quality that makes the wine distinct and delicious. We found the 2016 Goubert BDV irresistible, and noticeably more complex than in years past. The nose is dark and weathered, showing strawberry jam, honey, and earthy notes of the local underbrush known as garrigue. The mouth is lively and juicy, with pleasant youthful structure.
This is an astonishingly complete wine at $22. It’s perhaps a bit less refined than its older brother Gigondas, but what it lacks in elegance it makes up in pluck. With icy winds howling and temperatures plunging, you’ll be happy for a bottle of this to keep yourself warm.
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Goubert Beaumes de Venise 2016
bottle price: $22
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Extraordinary 12-Year-Old Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru
The Clos de Vougeot is a 900-year-old Grand Cru vineyard in the heart of Burgundy. It’s the largest Grand Cru in the region, and certainly the most famous. Over nine centuries of growing seasons, it has seen kings and countries rise and fall.
Because of its size and number of owners (82 at last count), its wines vary widely in quality, from underperforming to extraordinary. Michel Gros’s cuvée sits firmly in the latter category — he’s the vineyard’s smallest landholder, but his handful of vines are in its most prestigious neighborhood: the Grand Maupertuis.
This is Burgundy at its most classic — an ancient vineyard, a storied winemaker, and already a decade plus under its belt.
We rarely offer Gros’s Clos de Vougeot, only because we’ve rarely any to sell. But to start the year off right, we’ve found (almost) a case of the 2006. We opened a bottle a few months ago and it’s unmistakably special wine.
The nose combines the floral aspects of nearby Vosne-Romanée with bolder tannins more reminiscent of Gevrey-Chambertin. The mouthfeel is intense and muscly, with earthy notes and dark briary fruit. The finish is long and rich. Burghound called it “powerful… rich, full, and intense.”
This wine is hardly an everyday value, but it’s an extraordinary find. When you open the bottle, imagine the centuries and generations that contributed to its contents — a small piece of history waiting for your corkscrew.
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Michel Gros Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2006
bottle price: $195
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Notebook: On Wine and Time
As another year draws to a close, we reflect on time and its passing. Wine has its own relationship with time — each bottle contains a multitude of timespans.
Consider a centuries-old vineyard, its limits first drawn in the Middle Ages. Its eighty year old vines have weathered drought and war. Each year they labor one hundred days to make their flowers into ripe fruit. It takes only a few hours to clip the grapes and bring them to the cellar. Then weeks of fermentation and vinification; months of maturation in barrel; years of cellaring in bottle. And then the final act: a few hours in a decanter and a few seconds on the tongue.
A single glass of wine at once calls forward the expanse of the past and provides an experience entirely in the present. Centuries of seasons, unknowable generations — all distilled into a single moment of sensation.
Not all wine lives up to the past it inherits, and thankfully much wine doesn’t claim to. If every bottle of weeknight Côtes du Rhône required contemplation of centuries past, one might switch to beer.
But given space and proper consideration, a bottle of wine is a time machine. Faulkner wrote “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” At its best, wine tells us stories of where it’s been, making the past alive, and bringing it into the present.
TW
“Opulent” 93-point Grand Cru White Burgundy
The wines of Chablis are known for their limited oak, piercing minerality, and crystalline elegance. Our favorites are often mid-range bottles that combine everyday pricing and with great energy and beautiful precision.
But high-end Chablis can be truly extraordinary. Far from the midweight mouthfeel and dry fruit of simpler cuvées, wines from Chablis’s seven famous Grand Crus show a depth and power that’s remarkable for a white wine.
The Domaine Jean Collet makes superb everyday village and premier cru cuvées. But if you have room in your budget for a white Burgundy splurge, this Grand Cru won’t disappoint.
Collet’s 2016 Grand Cru Valmur is huge and intense. Romain has expertly balanced Chablis’s signature minerality with a richness that calls to mind Corton-Charlemagne or Montrachet. Vinous and Burghound both awarded 93 points, finding “broad-shouldered flavors,” “highly-textured mouthfeel,” and calling it “opulent” and “very promising.”
This is exceptionally powerful white wine. The nose shows gardenia, green tea, and baked lemon flavors, with a bright chalky stoniness that enhances the fruit. The mouth is simply packed with flavor — it’s bold and rich, but vibrant in texture.
Recommended uses: convert a red-wine-only drinker; dress up your holiday Oysters Rockefeller; surprise that friend who swore off Chardonnay; kick off your 2019 in style.
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Collet Chablis Grand Cru “Valmur” 2016
bottle price: $69
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A Favorite House Red Returns: Rich, Smooth, Earthy Rhône Blend. $19
We spend lots of time reading about French wine regions, following critical reviews and leafing through guides. But our favorite discoveries often come from time spent on the ground. One such pleasant surprise came from a wine list at a small outdoor bistro in Séguret a few years ago.
It took a few days to track down Eric Chauvin after that dinner, his Domaine Souverain has neither a road sign nor a website. But after several phone calls and a bit of luck we managed to find him, and we’re certainly glad we did. This year he even joined us for lunch at the same restaurant where we first discovered his wine.
Two years ago we sold through his 2014 Séguret in a matter of weeks. We missed out entirely on his 2015, which he ran through even more quickly. But this year we reserved ahead, and the excellent 2017 has just arrived in our warehouse. It’s a perfect house red — rich and smooth, earthy and interesting, and all for under $20.
The Domaine Souverain is a small-scale organic source in Séguret with no other US importer. Eric Chauvin is as humble as his wines are delicious. They’re intense and beautifully balanced Rhône blends that drink more like a Gigondas or Vacqueyras than the Côtes-du-Rhône pricing suggests.
Souverain’s 2017 is just lovely — it shows a bright nose of blackberry and lavender, with a cool earthiness that fans of the Mas Foulaquier will immediately recognize. The mouth is beautifully balanced, with softened but present tannins, clean dark fruit, and a faint smokiness in the nose.
With holiday guests on the way, this is as useful as a few plates of cookies — a rich, approachable, wintery red wine that drinks far above its weight.
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Souverain Séguret 2017
bottle price: $19
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Gold in a Glass: Extraordinary “Beguiling” Old-Vine Meursault
With chilly, drizzly weather settling into Boston this week, our first suggestions for wine are usually red. Recently arrived reds from Goubert are approachable and affordable, and were a hit at yesterday’s depot tasting. But if your menu or your guests require something white, look no further than today’s cozy Meursault.
Though it has no Grand Cru, the wines of Meursault are some of the most sought after in the world. They inhabit the decadent, opulent end of the white Burgundy spectrum, drawing on clay-heavy soils to produce muscular, mouthfilling white wines. Today’s wine takes this theme one step further, drawing on 90+ year old vines for extra concentration and depth.
Planted in 1924 by Vincent Boyer’s great grandmother Lucie, the “Ormeau” vineyard is named for the elm trees that once shared the clay-rich ground. This is classic, mouthfilling Meursault – showing peaches and citrus, with pear and a faint nuttiness in the nose. All of Boyer’s wines are rich, elegant, and complex, but “Ormeau” is among the most classically Meursault in the lineup.
Burghound calls this “beguiling,” “attractive,” and “very Meursault.” We’ve set aside a few bottles of this to serve next week as our guests arrive for Christmas dinner. There’s no wrong time to drink Meursault, but a chilly winter’s evening seems particularly right.
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Boyer-Martent Meursault “Ormeau” 2016
bottle price: $69
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Five New Gift Sampler Ideas!
Everyday White Burgundy from a Master of Meursault. $22
Chardonnay is responsible for all of Burgundy’s finest white wines. But 10% of white wine vineyards in Burgundy are Aligoté, a less celebrated grape that produces simple, refreshing wines. Aligoté is seldom magnificent, but in the hands of the right winemaker it can be delicious.
Boyer-Martenot’s Aligoté is unlike any other we’ve had, with a rich mouthfeel and unusually complex bouquet. Vincent Boyer, a highly skilled craftsman of rich, elegant Meursault, has managed to apply a bit of his magic to this grape. Forget what you know about Aligoté — Boyer’s is real white Burgundy.
Drawing from vines with an average age of over 40 years, Boyer’s Aligoté is smoother and rounder than any we’ve had. The secret is his use of 5- and 7-year-old barrels to age the wine — barrels too old to impart much oak flavor, but which aid in microoxygenation and add softness and depth.
Boyer’s Aligoté from his stellar 2017 lineup has just arrived in the warehouse, and it may be his best yet. The nose shows wild honey and herbs, with white flowers and classic green apple. The mouth is lively but smooth, with a dry, floral richness that’s nearly unheard of for Aligoté.
For readers interested in making kir, we have an exceptional crème de cassis source — a glass of this wine joined by a splash of cassis will be a fantastic match. But, for once, the cassis isn’t mandatory — this is a complex, pleasant glass of white Burgundy on its own.
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Boyer-Martent Aligoté 2017
bottle price: $22
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Outstanding New 2015 Gigondas from Goubert. $28
For several decades the Domaine les Goubert has produced some of the most popular wines in our portfolio. Grown in the warm Provençal sunshine around Gigondas, they’re smooth, accessible, welcoming red wines perfect for a cozy evening by the fire.
In recent years they’ve unmistakably increased in precision and polish, no doubt a result of winemaker Florence Cartier’s attention to detail. We sampled four of the just-arrived cuvées last night side by side — Côtes du Rhône, Sablet, Beaumes de Venise, and Gigondas — and they’re outstanding at every level.
All four are available now, and we’ll be writing more them in the coming weeks. But we’re starting with the old favorite and their flagship — Gigondas.
2015 was a magnificent year in Gigondas. Josh Raynolds of Vinous writes that the vintage “produced one of the most consistently excellent sets of Gigondas that I’ve ever had the chance to taste,” noting the wines’ “distinct power and depth.” Goubert’s 2015 Gigondas is no exception.
The nose is packed with dense red fruits, spice, violets, and warm earth. The mouth is bold and intense, showing a richness reminiscent of nearby Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Notes of plum, wild cherries, and chocolate dominate the palate, which finishes long and sophisticated and with what Raynolds calls “very good, spicy tenacity.”
We ran out of most of our Goubert wines last month, and it’s a relief to have them back in stock. When wine is this rich, this tasty, and this affordable, it can be hard to open anything else.
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Goubert Gigondas 2015
bottle price: $28
FREE EAST COAST SHIPPING ON ANY 12 BOTTLES
Mystery Wine: Iconic 2010 Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Today’s wine comes from one of the most famous names in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. We imported their wines for our Futures group for decades, but their national importer kicked up a fuss about us a few years ago. So to avoid conflict we’ve taken them out of our main sales channels.
But we still have some stock from an earlier vintage in our warehouse, so (inspired by a west-coast wineseller who does this from time to time) we’re offering the wine without releasing its name. Here’s what we can tell you:
This is a legendary source. Jancis Robinson says “I love this producer, which follows the Clos des Papes model of … not wasting any wine on a special cuvée.” Their standard is as high as any domaine we work with — in 2002 when flooding made for a difficult vintage, they declassified their entire crop and sold it all in bulk. Year in and year out this domaine turns out exceptional wine.
Their 2010 is an exceptional vintage. We’ve had many vintages from this winery, but 2010 had the lowest yields in the history of the domaine. The wine closed down in its early years and we decided to hold it rather than sell it too soon. But it has begun to emerge from its adolescent hibernation — today it’s rich and bold, and with intense and beautiful structure we recommend softening with a bit of time in a decanter. If you’ve got room and patience, we expect the wine to improve for another decade at least.
We’re not the only fans. We try not to rely too much on critical scores and reviews, but with a mystery wine they’re a useful barometer. Robert Parker awarded this wine 96 points, finding “a sweet bouquet of black olives, incense, blackberries, mulberries, black cherries and lavender,” and finding it “mouth-coating, saturated, and dense.” The Wine Spectator also gave 96 points, stating that it “should cellar wonderfully.” Josh Raynolds of Vinous gave 94 points, finding it “Juicy and energetic, with superb finishing focus and floral-driven persistence. Impeccably balanced, with the depth to age effortlessly.”
In conclusion: We won’t tell you the name of this wine (at least not on our website — guesses by email will be entertained). But we can tell you that it’s of exceptional quality, from an iconic estate, with 8 years already under its belt. Even without the name, we’re pretty certain you will find this an interesting opportunity.
Quantities limited, first come, first served.
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[Mystery] Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2010
bottle price: $65
SOLD OUT
Electric New Sancerre: “Like Biting into a Stone.” $35
The soils of Sancerre are famous for their flint. This unusual mineral gives the region’s wines notes of smokiness and stones. The minerality acts as a perfect foil for Sauvignon Blanc’s lush grapefruit notes, and Sancerre has always been among the world’s most popular wines.
Our new Sancerre producer, the Domaine de la Garenne, makes three excellent cuvées: a fruit-forward Sancerre from a blend of soil types, an intense and refreshing Sancerre “Bouffants” from limestone-heavy soils, and today’s vibrant new Sancerre “Infidèle” from soils full of classic flint.
If you like your Sauvignon Blancs zippy, dry, and mineral, it doesn’t get more exciting than this.
On Saturday at our Holiday warehouse tasting in Newton we opened the Infidèle to universal acclaim. Comments included: “I really don’t like Sauvignon Blanc, but this is delicious;” “It’s like biting into a stone…in a good way;” and “Most exciting white I’ve had from Ansonia all year.”
In the nose Infidèle is delicate and lovely — a combination of dry grapefruit, straw, and a hint of gunflint smokiness. But in the mouth it’s outstanding, packed full of flinty minerals, notes of chalk, grapefruit and lime rind, and smooth, tension-filled texture.
Garenne only makes 200 cases of this every year, and we’ve got far fewer than that. But this isn’t wine you’ll forget about soon.
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Garenne Sancerre “Infidèle” 2016
bottle price: $35
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Drink-Now 7-year-old Premier Cru Red Burgundy: a Clos de Tart Neighbor
Morey-St-Denis is a tiny town. Home to only 680 people, its half-square-mile of vineyards produces a wide array of wines, ranging from simple Bourgogne to famous Grand Cru. We’ve found much to like across this small terroir, particularly in the premier crus from the Domaine Pierre Amiot. Today’s offer is for Amiot’s excellent 2011 premier cru from “Ruchots.”
The Ruchots vineyard lies a mere 10 feet from the Clos de Tart, an iconic Grand Cru vineyard in production for nearly a thousand years. While you wouldn’t mistake one wine for the other, it’s easy to see why most consider Ruchots the best premier cru in the town. It’s a wine of unusual depth and intensity for its class.
Clos de Tart deserves its praise and acclaim, but at $250 a bottle it’s nice to have a more affordable neighbor at the ready. For those in search of a special red Burgundy from an exceptional location, we offer “Ruchots.”
From an acre of vines, the Amiot family makes just 200 cases of this wine per year. Their vines, planted in the 1950s, produce concentrated, intense red Burgundy. Allen Meadows (Burghound) awarded 90 points to the Ruchots 2011, calling it “rich and fleshy.”
We opened this on Thursday night (as our Instagram followers may have seen) with steak-frites and cauliflower, and it was startlingly good. The fruit in the nose has softened, and now shares the stage with notes of woods, mushrooms, and spice. In the mouth it’s exceptional, showing unmistakable premier cru intensity, and a long, beautifully textured finish.
This wine is enough to prove that Morey-St-Denis is more than just a stop between Chambolle-Musigny and Gevrey-Chambertin. This certainly requires no further aging, but should hold up for another year or two if needed. From a small, well-located vineyard in an overlooked town, is nothing short of a well-aged gem.
Less than three cases available; first come, first served.
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Amiot Morey-St-Denis 1er cru “Ruchots” 2011
bottle price: $85
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Honey, Flowers, and Green Tea: White Crozes-Hermitage Returns
For many years at the start of every tasting, Rhône winemaker Denis Basset would give us small taste of his only white. “Just to set the palate,” he’d explain, before continuing on to his rich, syrah-based reds. The white was always lovely — floral and fresh, beautifully expressive, and a perfect way to start a tasting. And every year, when we asked how much we could buy, he’d smile and shake his head. (Loyal local restaurants were to blame).
Two years ago, enfin, we were able to purchase some. It mostly disappeared through Futures, and since then we’ve been disappointing customers who have been asking for more. We’re excited to report that this year we planned a bit better, and reserved some in advance. It’s just arrived in the warehouse, and it’s as lovely as we remember.
Denis Basset runs the Domaine Saint-Clair, which he started several years ago after spending the first decade of his working life in the family’s flower business. He has rapidly gained confidence and acclaim; both Decanter and the Guide Hachette have listed him in a dynamic new generation of Crozes-Hermitage winemakers.
Basset’s white is a Rousanne-Marsanne blend (70/30), in the style of a classic northern Rhône. The nose is soft and enveloping, with tropical notes of mango, pineapple, and green tea. The mouth is rich and round, but well balanced, showing nectarine and honey notes. There’s so much exotic fruit in the nose you almost expect this to be sweet, but the mouth finishes cool and soft and dry.
This is a perfect winter white wine, with bright citrus to match rich foods, but a cozy, mouthcoating softness that makes it hard to put down. Serve some with a salty triple cream cheese and crusty bread.
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Saint-Clair Crozes-Hermitage blanc 2016
bottle price: $25
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Five Vintages of “Simply Terrific” Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru: 2005-2015
No town is more celebrated for its wines than Vosne-Romanée. Home to some of the world’s finest and most sought-after bottles, Vosne is undoubtedly the most famous Pinot Noir village on earth. Michel Gros is a lifelong resident, and his family has made wine there for centuries.
Gros farms vines across the tiny appellation, and but one of his best plots is the premier cru “Aux Brûlées.” Located just 10 feet from the famous “Richebourg” Grand Cru, it’s as well placed as premier cru vineyards get. And as you might expect it turns out extraordinary wine year in and year out.
Vosne-Romanée is a tiny appellation, covering only half of a square mile. Founded in the 6th Century, the town has been famous for its wines for almost as long. The Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er cru Aux Brûlées perfectly marries the depth and richness of high-level red Burgundy with the silky elegance found only in Vosne-Romanée.
We’re excited to offer five excellent vintages of this wine, all in very small quantities: 2015, 2012, 2010, 2009, and 2005. Below are Burghound scores for each Aux Brûlées available, as well as general notes on the vintage. (And don’t forget our other 2005s from Michel Gros offered last week!)
Aux Brûlées 2015
“Extremely fine.” — Jancis Robinson
“The greatest vintage since the legendary 2005.” — Burghound (93)
Warm, welcoming tannins, mouthfilling texture, ripe and full.
$165 Add to Cart (750ml) >
$295 Add to Cart (1.5L) >
Aux Brûlées 2012
“A very fine to excellent vintage.” — Burghound (93)
Cool tannins, dense, distilled texture, dark berry fruits; drinking well now.
$135 Add to Cart (750ml) >
$245 Add to Cart (1.5L) >
Aux Brûlées 2010
“Very good quality.” — Jancis Robinson
“Exciting and ultra-classic vintage of refinement, balance.” — Burghound (93)
Excellent terroir transparency, sophisticated wines with clarity and poise.
$175/bot Add to Cart >
Aux Brûlées 2009
“Excellent vintage of opulence, charm, and seduction.” — Burghound (92)
Cozy, accessible, smooth, easy drinking; velvety tannins.
$175/bot Add to Cart >
Aux Brûlées 2005
“Revered, and rightly so.” — Jancis Robinson
“One of the greatest vintages in the history of modern Burgundy.” — Burghound (92)
Sturdy, regal, polished, complex, exquisite; built to last.
$185/bot Add to Cart >