Well certainly, there is terroir. But one also needs great winemakers to make Grand Cru.I've had Grand Crus I would not cook with. One or more winemakers needs to make wine good enough to
make the vineyard famous.
Monthelie sits between its famous neighbors Volnay and Pommard. I do believe that there is Grand Cru Quality wine in both regions although no vineyards have received that status as of yet.
Florent wanted to make a wine of Grand Cru quality. He wanted to find a little slice in Monthelie that had the terroir to make a wine that great. So he did.
The grapes are harvested from a very small special selection from a unique terroir. The vines are older than 60 years. It is not fined or filtered and aged for 18 months in special wood barrels. Only 2,000 barrels of these are made in the world and Florent is the only person in Burgundy who has ever used them. There is no noticeable oak on this wine.
This is a wine I have been waiting to sell since my second trip to Burgundy for Fass Selections. I have had dreams about it where I've woken up and could still taste it in my mouth. It is the 2012 Florent Garaudet Monthelie "Les Mons Helios" which can be had for $52.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. The nose is just everything one can ask for. Macerated deep and pure perfect cherries are the focus. The dark ones that are perfectly hard and then just explode in your mouth with the purest and richest cherry juice you can imagine while also tasting a sweetness in a different tone from the skin. And it is literally like tasting these particular fresh cherries (the dark crunchy ones). It has that crunch that all great Burgundy vintages have and also that great in season fruit, in this case, cherries have. The palate is almost a sensual experience in the mouth. It is an explosion of such pure tiny berry fruit like I have never had in Monthelie before. It cascades like an elegant waterfall of cherries. It really never ends. The fruit is so pure, the concentration is so deep, it is so rich, yet it is off the charts fresh. It has all the volume and amplitude that the top 2012's have and honestly it needs 3-4 years but because the fruit is so luscious, deep and profound it can be drunk and enjoyed in its youth. But as happy clients can attest to, give it a few years and they will be rewarded as the 2010 is drinking out of its mind now. After the cherries, aromatically speaking, there is a litany of spices earth, mineral and so much other stuff. You can't stop smelling it and it can only make one smile and shake your head in satisfied amazement. And then you keep going back in your head, the same two things, over and over again. "This is really Monthelie?" And "This is ONLY a village wine?" It makes no sense that a red Burgundy can be this good, no this great, and only be a village wine. Whatever Magic Florent has figured out from this plot, it trumps the appellation system.
This will age for 15-20 years easy and is such a nice value play in 2012. Do not miss this as you will regret it. There is less of this than is previous vintages and it will be allocated.
When I tasted the wine with Florent, his smile was all I needed as it told me two things. It was, indeed, the 2012 Helios, and more importantly it was going to be bottled and I could finally sell it. This is the last 2012 I'll sell from my cadre of producers and I truly have saved the best for last. If there is one word that can describe this wine it is transcendent. I don't think I've ever used that word, even with my, what feels like never-ending hyperbole, because no wine I've sold has done what his has. The wine is one of the best expressions of Pinot Noir from Monthelie I've ever had. But it's more than Monthelie while being everything that Monthelie is and can be. He lifts the whole appellation on his shoulders with this wine, just as Soderberg did with Sex, Lies & Videotape with independent film. With one tall swoop, Soderbergh made independent film cool and introduced it to everybody. Film was never the same without that. I truly believe once people taste this wine they will never think about Monthelie or even the whole Burgundy appellation system the same way ever again.
It is bottled and corked by hand. The presentation is gorgeous in thick glass and a special wood package, but alas, because of our warehouse you will never see anything except the beautiful bottle and the profound elixir that is in it. This is, easily the best red Monthelie I have ever had, and for my money one of the most tasty, delicious, profound, elegant structured wines of the 2012 vintage and easily one of the best wines I had on my jaunt through Burgundy this past March. How can something so big, so dense, so juicy and so deep be so fresh? Well, taste the 2012 Monthelie mon Helios from Florent Garaudet and you will see how. One of the best, most unique, interesting and just plain delicious bottles of Burgundy I have ever had.
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