I'm an unabashed wine geek. I wear it proudly on my sleeve. And as a geek I love geeky things. In wine, loving Vosne Romanee is not geeky, but loving something like, say Irancy, or Savigny-Les- Beaune or today's wonderful appellation, Pernand-Vergelesses is very geeky. Why are some wines geeky and why are some wines not? That's actually a loaded question and feed me a few gin and tonics and throw me on stage in front of a few thousand people and we've got the first ever Wine Ted Talk. For the circumstances that pertain to this email, and for the sake of brevity, I will explain why Pernand is geeky and not all wine is geeky. Pernand is an appellation that in a way is a microcosm of all of Burgundy. It's a village to start off with. It's in the Cote de Beaune and most importantly it has village wines, a ton of 1er Cru wines and Grand Cru wines. But the geeky part is mostly that Pernand is slightly off the beaten path in the Cote de Beaune. There is Pommard, Volnay and even the Beaune wines are better known than Pernand. Which makes all the more enticing for the wine geek is that Pernand is slept on and as a result it is a terrific value. While everyone is oohing and aahing over Volnay/Pommard and fancy Beaune 1er Crus, I'll be happy as a clam sitting in my corner drinking Pernand 1er Cru from Girard and geeking out. It is market inefficiency in a bottle and inefficiency never tasted so good.
Today's wine is special to me as it is the 3rd vintage of this great wine and one of the best value plays in all of my Burgundy book. It is the 2014 Jean Jacques Girard Pernand Vergelesses 1er Cru "Les Vergelesses" for as little as $29.99 on a 4-pack. Let me get straight to the point. The wine is unbelievable and is one of the best expressions of Pernand one can get. It's like a baby Corton. Especially in 2014, with its wonderful purity, freshness, precision and cut. I adore this wine. It also got 92 points from Burghound. Yes. 92 pt Red Burgundy from the notoriously stingy and always eloquent Allen Meadows, the foremost authority on Burgundy in the world. I've been selling wine for a while now and I can't remember 92 BH and $29.99 for a Red Burgundy ever. White, sure, but red, no. Girard is an experienced wine maker. And I've always loved his wines but something happened in 2014 and the wines went from great to miraculous. Stunning, stunning pinot fruit with perfect balance. Perfect acidity and freshness keeps it balanced and lithe on the palate. The finish is long and clinging. Many of my growers have breakout vintages that are not necessarily in "great" vintages.
Below is Allen Meadows' review.
"Here too discreet wood frames a fresh and markedly ripe nose of plum and black currant liqueur aromas that are liberally laced with spice and earth nuances. There is excellent volume to the attractively concentrated and textured middle weight flavors that possess a suave mouth feel while retaining a fine sense of energy and detail on the lingering and sappy finish. Note that moderate patience will be required before this beauty will be approachable." - BH 92 2024+
This is as good if not better than the magnificent 2012. This is an absurd price for a wine from a great vineyard and the Les Vergelesses is indeed that. The wine is multi layered and complex aromatically right out of the gates with a heavenly, supple-like and very elegant texture. Sweet, brambly fruit and lively poignant acidity that is ripe and makes this wine come alive in your mouth. The harmony is truly outrageous. He coaxed terrific freshness and precision out of the wine. There is a some structure for sure but the tannins are ripe and chewy and there is dazzling purity. Ile de Vergelelesses gets all the fame but Les Vergelesses is like the little brother who is so close but just falls a tad short but sometimes when you least expect it he will out perform the older brother. Ile de always needs time to integrate and develop, whilst Aux or Les Vergelesses (some people use Aux and others use Le) is a puppy wanting to impress a new owner, though the '14 COULD use some time. Full of complexity and fruit, even in a vintage like 2014 from the get go. This really rocked. The nose was and is very deep and as Burghound says there is ripe blanc currants, plum, loads of spice and earth.. The earthiness runs throughout and the aromas as I coaxed my glass just became pungent like you would not believe.
2014 Jean-Jacques Girard Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru "Les Vergelesses" - $31.99 ($119.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)
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