Warning: The estate makes only 2,000 bottles per year and one of the most important American Burgundy importers has been sniffing around so the word is out. My small allocation may not go up (ever) and at some point, like the wines of Enderle & Moll and Mobitz, these wines will only be offered to previous buyers, perhaps as soon as the 2016 vintage. So this could be a speak now or forever hold thy peace offer...I am so lucky to have found Pierre Berlancourt and his wonderful Bourgogne Blancs. It is a blessing
that I can work with such a unique and brilliant winemaker. Others are after him and in fact before we even tasted this time he showed me a piece of paper with the name of a world famous importer on it and said they wanted to buy his entire production. Who knows what the future brings with the brilliant wines of Pierre Berlancourt, but for now I have small allocations of three of his brilliant, unique, distinctive and delicious 2015's. Pierre proudly told me that the 2015s were the best wines made in the history of the estate and by golly he was right. His 2015s are stunning stunning wines. It's truly unbelievable what he can do at Domaine Berlancourt with the Bourgogne appellation. If there is an estate that sticks its nose up in the air to the appellation system in Burgundy it is Domaine Berlancourt. For those of you who have not read my recent blog post "God, Science and Sweat: The Three Ways to Make Wine," I encourage you to give it a perusal. The basic point is that it is possible for great winemakers, through incredibly hard work, to make stunning, even world class wines, in humble appellations. I have always known this, but I've never seen anyone make wine this good from ordinary terroir. How do they do this?
- The total production of this winery is a microscopic 2,000 bottles (they earn a living from their adjacent hotel, not from winemaking).
- Yields are cut back to 28 hl/ha for the first wine and approximately 15 hl/ha for the second.
- As a basis for comparison, the average yield for this area is 68 hl/ha.
- Legendary winemaker Lalou Bize-Leroy's famously low yields are 16 hl/ha (most of her wines are a thousand dollars and up).
- What low yields do is add incredible concentration of flavor and texture to the wines.
- These wines are made as if they were from Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards. And it shows.
Now I love the wines of Jean-Marc Roulot, and his Bourgogne Blanc is considered by many to be the best in Burgundy. But as great as his wines are (and they are stunningly great) Jean-Marc can't afford to make 2,000 bottles of wine each year and personally slave over every vine and every bunch of grapes. As great as Roulot's Bourgogne Blanc is, I think that this first wine may be better (and it's about half the cost). It is stylistically different. There is more depth, sap, power and concentration than any other Bourgogne Blanc and if we are speaking honestly (most of the Puligny Montrachet out there as well).
The first wine is the 2015 Domaine Berlancourt Bourgogne "Cuvee Equinces" for as little as $27.99 on a 4-pack. This wine is elegant, powerful and concentrated. There is incredible purity, sap and strength, like you are drinking from a grand appellation. The nose is super mineral. Wafting. There is serious aromatic complexity at this point. Give this baby 2-3 years and it will be even better. There is epic power and concentration with undeniable freshness. Blind you would think this is a 14 or 13. It is so juicy and has absolutely perfect balance. The fruit is so vivid and it is layered until the kapow finish of minerals and intense fruit. The farming is all organic and that reflects in just the dazzling freshness and purity of the wine. Perfectly integrated oak and it drinks wonderfully after a serious decant and breathing. I can see this benefiting from age tremendously, as the floral, mineral and rich finish does not quit. The length of this wine is astounding. I think it will get better over the next 3-5 years and hang on for 2-3 more. Truly a remarkable wine. The vines are located in Puligny-Montrachet but is appellation Bourgogne. Pierre is treating his plots like Folatieres, Pucelles and not just Bourgogne and the results are astonishing. I have a somewhat decent amount of this. Buy as much as you can and store it. I'm not kidding.
I also have a very very small amount of what is equivalent to their Grand Cru, the 2015 Domaine Berlancourt Bourgogne "Cuvee Les Champans", for as little as $69.99 a bottle NET. I have never encountered a wine quite like this in my career. Almost 20 years now. Blind, I would guess Grand Cru Chevalier Monthrachet or Puligny 1er Cru "Folatieres.". It is from yields of around 15hl/ha and aged in 100% new oak for 3 years. Pierre had decanted if for two hours before I arrived. The last time I visited, the 2014 did what all great wines do when they are initially opened. For 8 minutes it drank out of its mind then slammed shut. Not this time. It was Heavenly. It was so refined, so elegant, insanely complex and so pure, with enormous power lurking underneath and it had such length. Oh, that length. It drank like great 1er Cru and even Grand Cru white Burgundy. It is a wine that should be aged. Pierre Berlancourt recommends 10 years and I would agree. There is a lot of material here and it needs time to mellow out. I think in 5 years this will be in prime drinking and last for 10 more. This is very limited.
Also please check out my list of The Top 10 Bourgogne Blancs as Berlancourt is on there as well. Well, of course they are on there!
I also have a microscopic amount of the brilliant 2015 Domaine Berlancourt Bourgogne Rose for $29.99 a bottle NET. I'll have more in 2016 and I am going to purposely undersell this wine as I have so little. Here is my list of Top 10 Roses and it is on there. The wine is insane. Floral and hauntingly elegant with saturating Pinot fruit that is so clearly defined. Also hints of that lovely Puligny iodine. So well made. A cerebral rose if there ever was one. Juicy and concentrated with terrific power and minerality. Long, mineral finish that dissipates perfectly.
On a past trip to France I was visiting the Domaine les Alexandrins in Mercurol in the Northern Rhone and Thomas, the 23 year old "do everything guy" at the estate dynamo said I got a winery in Burgundy for you if you are looking for new estates. He gave me the name. I googled it and emailed my business partner. There was not much info at all. It was a bed and breakfast in Meursault and they made wine. That's all I knew. I was staying in Beaune and made it over there. There was no one there. I took some great macro photos, which you can see on my Instagram feed.
I was running all around with lots of appointments and driving so I had my business partner shoot them an email. They returned it after I left Beaune and was in Chablis. My business partner had Pierre Berlancourt send me two bottles of each wine to my hotel in Reims, Champagne. And they got there and I was so happy. Teamwork, perseverance had paid off and I had the wines. Now, I was hoping they would be good. No, I'll admit I was hoping they would be great, as the information they sent in the e-mail was mindboggling as it was fascinating.
Sometimes finding a great winery requires countless emails, phone calls, great grower not having enough wine, missed appointments due to hailstorms, and all kinds of other things that impede the process of buying and selling wine from said winery. But other times it comes because of serendipity, happenstance and perseverance. And that is how Fass Selections came to sell the unique, compelling and brilliant Bourgogne's of Domaine Berlancourt.
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