My Burgundy producers are like family to me. They grow up so quickly and since I started working with Xavier Durand h e has improved more dramatically than any producer in my book. I adore his wines. There are many reasons but the top is that he making excellent wines from sometime not so sexy appellations. Don't be an appellation snob as you could be and are missing out on values and wines of incredible depth and character. Of course Xavier makes a Grand Cru Corton, which is very well respected and priced so well that it sells out in a week or less these days. but the two wines that he makes that absolutely make my geek flag fly are his duo from Aloxe-Corton. Great Aloxe-Corton provides tremendous value, especially when you have a winemaker on the rise like Xavier. His prices are rising as demand for his wines in France has bloomed since we started working together in 2012. He is a tinkerer and has a scientific approach to winemaking, which is essentially trial and error, and he really turned a corner in 2014 after a difficult 2013 vintage. He is fully biodynamic since 2014 and while not certified by Demeter he does all the necessary things with vineyard, cellar and bottling. It's insane how much better his 14s are than his 13s and 12s. The 12s were delicious, but they lacked the style, and pure intensity of the 14s. I think this is the first vintage where young Xavier has found his voice. It has been a pleasure taste him rise up through the qualitative ranks. I love this duo of Aloxe-Corton and cannot wait to taste these side by side in 15 years. If I can wait that long!
Up first is the 2014 Xavier Durant Aloxe Corton Les Boutieres for $29.99 on a 4-pack. I'm taking a small margin on this as Xavier raised his prices because he got wrecked in 2016 by frost and I wanted to keep it under $30. Dark, ripe and very engaging off the bat. So intense and deep and my personal favorite of Xavier's wines. Big mineral and classy nose. In '14 there was no pumping or pigeage which resulted in a super clean wine. There is dominating minerality but also the classic Xavier "big fruits of pleasure" as I say in my note. The palate is beyond impressive. It has thrust and just huge levels of fruit. This wine is a personal favorite as I love underdogs and it does not get more underdog than Aloxe Corton. Was just flipping through wine-searcher and saw many north of $70! The 3 tier system really screws you when it comes to Aloxe-Corton. This is picked last even after the NSG and Corton. One of the best 14s I tasted on my trip this part March. So much volume and precision. Big tannin, huge fruit and ridiculousness as my note continued. As it opened it developed wonderful sweet tart cherry fruit and an animal quality that added to the complexity. The extract is pitch perfect. Despite its immediate appeal, this can use some time in the cellar, but if one is to open now, open 30 minutes in advance and evolve with it. Despite the classic Xavier accessibility it has the stuffing to age 10-12 years.
Up next we have the 2014 Xavier Durand Aloxe-Corton "Les Chaillots" for as little as $39.99 a bottle. This is right next to the 1er Cru Les Valozieres, which is a rare bottling in itself (1er Crus are extremely rare in Aloxe-Corton) and this is top, top terroir and is easily 1er Cru in quality and is 2nd only to his Corton in pricing from the estate. This is a VERY serious wine. This has red soils and has more grip, density and substance than the Boutieres. This needs some age but man is it fun to drink young. These clay soils do tend to yield hard wines. (See Petrus as the most famous hard, clay soil based wine.) But with Xavier's gentle hand and newfound voice in 2014 he absolutely killed the Les Chaillots this year and that is why this is the 1st time I am offering it. It is very powerful and super meaty and gamey like a great Gevrey. There is terrific menthol and mint aromas that fan out over a few hours and layers of spice and mineral add to the party. The wine is so dense, so sappy and very pure. Incredibly long and just soaks your palate with juicy dense blacker more than redder fruits and blazing minerality and freshness. Amazing finish. I had to sell this wine. It's funny as half of Chaillots is 1er Cru and half is village. To my amateur palate this is easily 1er Cru in quality and a steal at $40. The Louis Latour 1er Cru 13 of this wine is between $56-$68! Trust me, we would all rather be drinking this.
Aloxe-Corton also makes especially nice village wines that can be wonderful values and can age quite a bit in the better vintages. In 2014 both of Xavier's Aloxe's have excellent aging potential. The 1er Cru and village wines are mostly Pinot Noir but their are some rare Aloxe village white wines and 1er Crus. There is almost a village hierarchy in Aloxe and today I have a village village wine and village "1er Cru" wine. The village wines also have a knack for a long slow evolution in the bottle and will develop into complex, gamey and well-fruited wines. If there is any village where you almost have to wait 5-10 years for the wines not to be austere, it is Aloxe-Corton. But not with Xavier's wines. They can be enjoyed young because of the incredible fruit he manages to get in all of his wines. There is terrific earthiness, transparency (these scream terroir) and minerality as well that supports the largesse of fruit. But the intense structure is there and suggests a long and complex evolution. These wines, versus the Corton, actually get more new oak (40%) than any wines in the entire collection do. That's because, according to Xavier, wines from Aloxe-Corton are harder and can take it. He is right. They need age and can take whatever is thrown at them.
2014 Xavier Durand Aloxe-Corton "Les Boutieres" - $31.99
($119.96 4-pack)
2014 Xavier Durand Aloxe-Corton "Les Chaillots" - $41.99
($159.96 4-pack)
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