Beaune
The wines of Beaune are usually on the lighter side, especially if from the flatter vineyards on the Pommard side, or the sandier soils towards Savigny. The sturdiest wines with the greatest depth of flavour come from the steeper slopes overlooking the town itself. Beaune is also home to several of the region’s best known merchants such as Maisons Louis Jadot and Joseph Drouhin.
The wines of Beaune are usually on the lighter side, especially if from the flatter vineyards on the Pommard side, or the sandier soils towards Savigny. The sturdiest wines with the greatest depth of flavour come from the steeper slopes overlooking the town itself.
The Hospices de Beaune charity auction on the third Sunday in November is one of the highlights of the year. The Hospices building, known as l'Hôtel-Dieu, is well worth visiting. Beaune is also home to several of the region’s best known merchants such as Maisons Louis Jadot and Joseph Drouhin.- 128 hectares of village Beaune and 52 hectares of Côte de Beaune
- 322 hectares of Premier Cru vineyards. The finest vineyards include Les Grèves, Clos des Mouches
- Recommended producers: Germain, Devevey, Domaine des Croix, Jadot, Drouhin, Camille Giroud.
- Recommended restaurants: Ma Cuisine (not least for the wine list), Le Conty
Prices:
Bottle
£39.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 17cs
Étienne de Montille began picking whites on 10th and reds on 13th September, relatively early. Despite the hail (worst in Pommard than Beaune, Volnay less) yields were slightly improved compared to 2013. The fruit was clean with small berries, and beautiful clusters, so they were able to continue with their usual programme of whole-bunch vinification in most instances. The details are given for each wine. They will be long lived wines.
Bottle
£45.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 51cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Production of the Dominique Lafon wines has now moved to large cellars at the Château de Bligny, providing much better working conditions than previously. As a result of the hail, there is unlikely to be any village Volnay or Beaune Épenottes for us to offer. However, Dominique has found an excellent source of Beaune Vignes Franches this year to make up part of the shortfall. This cuvée apart, all the vineyards are managed by the Les Héretiers du Comte Lafon viticultural team, using the same methods. Starting this year, the wines will all be bottled using Diam30 corks.
Bottle
£52.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
The 2013 vintage was another very difficult vintage to manage, with a heavily reduced crop after the hail, but unlike in 2012 Dominique has at least been able to make all his appellations. The wines were at a backward stage when tasted in October but with really exciting potential.
Bottle
£57.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Bottle
£79.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 13cs
David Croix started picking here on 11th September, two days before he began at Camille Giroud. This was a much easier harvest than 2013, as there was much less hail than the previous vintage. The wines have an elegance and freshness to them that appeals enormously, and yet does not hide their impressive concentration.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
David Croix started picking here on 11th September, two days before he began at Camille Giroud. This was a much easier harvest than 2013, as there was much less hail than the previous vintage. The wines have an elegance and freshness to them that appeals enormously, and yet does not hide their impressive concentration.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
David Croix started picking here on 11th September, two days before he began at Camille Giroud. This was a much easier harvest than 2013, as there was much less hail than the previous vintage. The wines have an elegance and freshness to them that appeals enormously, and yet does not hide their impressive concentration.
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
The whites were picked from 28th August with a good crop for the Bourgogne Blanc, rather less in the other white vineyards. The reds – more wine than in 2014 or 2016 but far from a full crop – are superb, having been vinified with very light extraction, given the health and beauty of the raw material. While all the whites count as domaine wines, there are now two excellent cuvées of Premier Cru Beaune from purchased grapes to go alongside the domaine-owned Beaune Épenottes and the two Volnays.
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
This is a vintage to buy from Domaine de Montille without hesitation, whether it be the Bourgogne Rouge, a Grand Cru or indeed anything in between, such as his marvellous Volnays and Pommards. The whites are very smart, too. In common with other vignerons, Etienne and his cellar master, Brian Sieve, have opted for a higher proportion of whole bunches this year. The grapes were picked between 1st and 5th September, with alcohol levels coming in below 13 percent.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Wine Buyer
This is a vintage to buy from Domaine de Montille without hesitation, whether it be the Bourgogne Rouge, a Grand Cru or indeed anything in between, such as his marvellous Volnays and Pommards. The whites are very smart, too. In common with other vignerons, Etienne and his cellar master, Brian Sieve, have opted for a higher proportion of whole bunches this year. The grapes were picked between 1st and 5th September, with alcohol levels coming in below 13 percent.
A medium to pale red with a classy fragrant bouquet, this shows the restraint of a fine wine rather than vulgar immediacy. The real class appears on the palate, with lifted red fruit notes, some orange zest, a great sense of purity and terrific persistence. Definitely a food wine.
The early growing season in 2011 was beneficial to ripening the stems, so Nicolas and David Rossignol opted to use more this year, as they also did in 2009. The wines below were made with 25% stems in general and up to 50% for the Grand Crus. This will have influenced the structure of the wines, but it does not show in the fruit profile. The Rossignols continue to develop their style towards finesse, especially in the finish of their wines and these show very good result this year.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
In response to the very small concentrated berries which characterise the fruit in 2012, Philippe Prost, head winemaker, has opted for more whole bunch fermentation this year, up to 25% per cuvée. The wines are exceptionally intense, so a little leavening by the inclusion of some stems makes sense. The white wines are bursting with energy, clearly amongst the successes of the vintage.
Bottle 3 x 75cl 1cs
Magnum 3 x 150cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director Etienne de Montille thinks he has made brilliant 2011s and we are inclined to agree with him. They have freshness, balance, low alcohol, good acidity, excellent fruit and wonderful tannin integration. Picking began on 27th August and continued through to the 9th September as individual vineyards ripened. The fruit has attractively ripe flavours while rarely getting beyond 12.5% alcohol and Etienne chose to include slightly fewer stems than in recent vintages, except for the top Cuvées. Certain wines are available in magnum and double magnum formats, please contact us if they are of interest to you.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director These are brilliant wines once again from David Croix and his team at Camille Giroud and fortunately they were able to make a little more wine this year than last. Alhough the white selection is small, the wines are just as fine as the reds. David has made some inspirational wines from less fancied appellations such as Maranges and Santenay, as well as majoring on the Grands Crus of Corton and the Chambertins. Almost all of the wines are from purchased grapes, but somehow Camille Giroud feels to us much more like a domaine.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
The average yield across the domaine this year is 25 hl/ha, well below par, but not the catastrophe which was visited on some, and these 2012s are clearly David’s best wines yet. He found them easy to vinify, though they have required some careful management in barrel because they are so concentrated and compact. The grapes were completely healthy and showed the best analytical balance one could ask for, mostly between 12.5% to 13% alcohol and ideal acidity to preserve freshness.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
Quantities were down a further 15% on the previous two vintages. However Nicolas Rossignol reports that there were no problems in vinification, and they have added a further refinement this year with a new state-of-theart de-stemmer, which leaves the individual berries whole as it takes them off their stems. Given the natural concentration of the fruit in 2012, there was no need to seek much extraction. Once again this domaine offers superb quality at reasonable prices.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Rossignol-Trapet are in fine form at the moment and their Beaune Teurons is wonderfully perfumed with pure, sweet fruit and a serious finish.
(Matthew Tipping, Private Account Manager)
Shining a mid-purple colour and with attractive raspberry fruit on the nose, the palate of this Teurons is very focussed with a fine thread of concentrated fruit running right through the middle. It is a very good result.
(Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director)
Several years down the road since they switched to biodynamic farming, the Rossignol brothers are looking at ways to fine-tune the finished product with a few tweaks in their cellar work. They have been careful to aerate their excellent 2010s throughout the vinification process to avoid any problems of reduction and to soften the end palate of the wines. Some stems were used again this year, albeit less than in 2009.
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director David Croix has made some very striking wines in 2011. The vineyards have been improving under his care and to begin with, yields dropped as the vines acclimatised to the new regime but now they are where they should be. In the cellar, there is less intervention in the winemaking now, with shorter periods in vat and noticeably gentler extraction. A few more stems are added these days and new wood is used on around 15 to 20% of the wine. David started picking on Monday 30th August.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
Some of the Drouhin flagship vineyards have suffered as badly as any from the hail. Their yield in the Clos des Mouches was between six and eight hl/ha, depending on the plot! We have fought for the best allocations possible though because the Drouhin wines are glorious in 2012. They have added a new laser-optic sorting machine and have used fewer whole bunches in vinification, but given the wines a longer period of maceration in the vats. They have also hired a special smallscale bottling line for the little lots.
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Made from very old vines, in this vintage Nicolas Potel’s Beaune Grèves is packed with typical silky charm and approachability. It offers a great deal of complexity and concentration with very impressive rich, red fruit aromas and lovely ripe, melting tannins. This is most definitely the Beaune to buy in this vintage.
(David Jones, Fine Wine Sales Advisor)
From ancient vines planted in 1904, this Beaune Grèves wine has a really impressive depth of fruit tucked into a smart overcoat of well-judged oak. This has more power than Potel’s Savignys, while retaining the finesse; very fine.
(Jasper Morris MW, BBR Burgundy Buyer)
Nicolas and David Rossignol began the harvest on 22nd September, picking over eight days. Yields were up, the grapes were ripe, but some sorting was necessary after a little hail in Beaune and some Suzukiengendered rot in the lower vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin. They are very pleased with their new Pellenc de-stemmer which leaves the berries intact, while continuing to use a percentage of whole bunches as well.