Beaune Aux Cras

Bright purple, with a fresh and spicy nose and a touch of reduction, but real weight in the background. This wine has real muscle at the back of the palate, yet is also has a very seductive texture – and is very long too. A great Beaune in the making.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director

Winemaker and general manager, David Croix, has been grumbling that he feels he has the temperament of a grower rather than the deal-making knack of a born negoçiant, so he hasn’t found it easy to fill the cellar in 2012. We also find that tasting with him feels like being in a grower’s cellar, though Camille Giroud only owns a couple of vineyards. There are, nevertheless, one or two really exciting new wines here this year, notably the Volnay Santenots, and the whole cellar is on top form.

This domaine-owned vineyard is well-sited with a series of terraces, an unusual feature in Burgundy. Old vines and millerandage yielded only 20hl/ha, even in 2017. Carel used 100 percent whole-bunch, resulting in a wine that is lush, spicy and very lovely. Drink 2022-2027.

With a range that spans both Côtes, Carel observed that the red vintage is about pretty, balanced, fresh fruit. The reds south of Beaune are generally lighter than the north, where there is better phenolic intensity. Carel puts the whites on a par with 2014, but the raw material is healthier and so the wines are purer. He rates 2017 as one of the best white vintages in the last decade. Stylistically, Carel’s preferred direction for reds is towards whole-bunch and he confesses he would always do 100 percent if he could (and this year he often has).