The under $30 category is a tricky one in wine retail. You want something that is easy to drink and well made but optimally, if you're me, you also want wines that have some complexity and palate weight. We don't sell too many wines that are pure gluggers.
If I had to choose some of my favorite under $30 Burgs on the red and white side it would have to be the HCDN wines of the brilliant Julien Cruchandeau. The ex DJ/Musician keeps cranking out great
wine after great wine and he is one of our best selling Burgundy producers. And with good reason. There is a precision and style to these wines that remains unique in my book and in Burgundy in general. They have a sheen to them and have really tremendous fruit but also wonderful mineral and earth flavors that sometimes, in the higher end bottlings need a few years to come into harmony with the fruit. I never have enough of Julien's wines around as I drink them too quickly. Having said that the Bourgogne HCDN wines he makes have become legends at Fass Selections. These are not knock back wines (although one can easily do that) yet they have grace, depth, finesse, structure and the fruit of more expensive wines but still retain their appellational integrity.
Up first is the 2015 Julien Cruchandeau Hautes Côte de Nuits Blanc VV for $XX.XX a bottle. This is my fourth vintage working with this remarkable wine. It is rarer than an anthropomorphized hen dentist's teeth to have a white Burgundy at this price to be this good. It is shockingly good. Tasted side by side with the '14 this just rocked. It has a richer impression than the '14 as it was a warmer vintage, but man, that acid is still there and gives the wine snap. Great complexity for a wine of this pedigree. Deep, mouth filling and even a bit saline on the finish. The bottling is nothing if not consistent. We always start with the out of this world Bouzeron and move on the HCDN VV and I think I'll just move on to the serious appellations and I just get so enthralled and obsessed with this wine. It's almost Chablis like as the limestone minerality just shines through. It's light yet deep and opulent with zowie minerality, and such nice finesse and elegance, and of course, so much win.
Up next is a classic wine that I wish I could get more of but don't because there is not enough to go around. It is one of Julien's most popular wines and always sells out quickly in France along with the white from above. It is the 2015 Julien Cruchandeau HCDN "Les Valencons" for $XX.XX a bottle. It is the higher end of Julien's two HCDN cuvees. These are some of the best values that I sell. No joke. It is all silky dark cherry fruits intertwined with gorgeous earthen and mineral notes while all being held together by great acids. The nose is very pretty with subtle cherry notes and the classic Burgundian wet earth aromas. It screams freshness on the nose. The fruit is sweeter than the Les Cabottes and has really voluminous texture. It's at once big and ripe but also sexy, inviting and subtle. I love the style of this wine. Sweet sweet fruit and elegant tannins. This is the most concentrated and big Valencons yet!
The slope "Valencons" is super steep with the typical clay and limestone with not much soil. The perfect site for Pinot Noir. This is only 10% new oak and the rest being 3rd, 4th and 5th passage barrels. which is the higher end of Julien's two brilliant HCDN red wines. I just had the Les Cabottes, which is the lower end of the two HCDN reds the other week and it needed 45 minutes of air and then it became a juicy, cherry, mineral, incredibly fresh, deep, layered and a very gluggable bottle of Red Burgundy. I've had many a customer call Julien a genius for what he can do at the inexpensive price points. The wine has to be tasted to be believed. As Julien says, you can taste the sunshine!
No comments:
Post a Comment