Burgundy, Part 1b: Cote de Nuits (The Grand Cru legends and hangers on)

Here is Part 2 of Lee Watsons look at Burgundy.

  

This is in the heartland of Grand Cru red wine, the heart land of the Cote de Nuits and the heart land of the history of the Cote de Nuits with the Cistercian Monks building the huge wall around the now biggest Grand Cru appellation called Clos de Vougeot. I personally love Clos de Vougeot, as you can pick up some great wines at an affordable price. The Echezeaux also you can pick up some great wines at an affordable price, but some Vosne-Romanee’s can demand a very high price. Let me tell you a little bit about these next 3 appellations that could all fit in the whole of Gevrey-Chambertin together, they are the most famous and some of the most expensive Pinot Noir wines in the world.

  Vougeot:

The famous and controversial Grand Cru in Burgundy ‘Clos de Vougeot’. Its controversial because of the Grand Cru Status, the soil here has a sandy structure and produces a ripe wine that’s plump and lush, but can lack the depth of a Grand Cru at the level of Richbourg, Romanee St. Vivant or Musigny. Traditionally the area was graded on location, lower slopes the poorest quality were Cuvees des Moines (wine for Monks), the middle slopes were Cuvee des Rois (wine for Kings), the top of the slopes produced the best quality and were called Cuvee des Papes (wine for Popes). Choose your wine now though on the grower not the location. Just because it says Clos de Vougeot on the label it cannot always guarantee a Grand Cru fine wine. There are 1er Cru and village wines under Vougeot, but I feel it might be worth sourcing and spending your money on a 1er Cru from either Gevrey-Chambertin or maybe Nuits St George just to name an example.

 Flagey-Echezeaux: (pronounced “ E-shoe-zoo”)

This commune is normally mentioned together with Vosne-Romanee unless it’s under Grand Cru. Flagey has two Grand Crus; Grand Echezeaux (9,ha) and Echezeaux (37,ha) and in size they are similar to Clos de Vougeot (50,ha) and carry the similar status to connoisseurs as a second division Grand Cru. To put the size in to perspective, the top Grand Cru Romanee-Conti is only 1.8 ha. The 1er Cru in Flagey is all labelled as Vosne-Romanee. You can find some great Echezeaux at good value and the Grand Echezeaux will generally be a little higher in price as the wine is generally richer with more intensity of black fruits and some gamey flavours.

  Vosne-Romanee:

When you say the words Romanee-Conti it creates an image of the greatest Pinot Noir in Burgundy, but to some like me, Romanee-Conti means in English “an unobtainable wine”. This whole region can be unobtainable to some even the 1er Crus demand a high price. The region holds 6 of the 24 Grand Crus of Cote de Nuits (Romanee-Conti, La Romanee, La Tache, Richbourg, Romanee-Saint-Vivant, La Grand Rue). Echezeaux Grand Cru still produces more wine than all these Grand Crus together, that’s how small they are from 0.85 ha of La Romanee the smallest appellation Controlee in France to 9.4 ha of Romanee-Saint-Romanee. Vosne-Romanee and Flagey-Echezeaux are a good place to look out for 1er Crus, there are 14 and start on the slope about 500 meters from the main road (RN74). Between the 1er Crus and the main road are all labelled under Vosne-Romanee, which any in my mind are worth looking for.

Our recommendations:

            Jacques Prieur, Clos de Vougeot, Grand Cru,             2004 $1,105

            Jacques Prieur, Clos de Vougeot, Grand Cru,             2006 $1,115

            Jacques Prieur, Echezeaux, Grand Cru,                    2004 $1,785

Jacques Prieur, Echezeaux, Grand Cru,                    2006 $1,820