Stunning Village Nuits and Grand Cru Corton for $44.99 and $73.99 from a Great Young Producer

2016 Nuits St. Georges "Les Charmois"
 - 2014 As Good or Better than Chevillon in a Blind Tasting
 - $44.99 vs Chevillon $84 Average Price
 - 2016 Shows Durand's Improvement As a Winemaker
 - Incredible Nose: Cherries, Spice, Violets, Mineral
 - Incredible Lacy Texture
 - Explosive, Fresh, Sweet Tony Black Cherry Fruit
 - Terrific Purity and Concentration

2016 Xavier Durand Grand Cru Corton "Le Rognet"
 - Enormous Aromatic Complexity: Big Dark Fruit, Decadent Spice
 - Dense, Dark Palate Soaking Fruit
 - Electric Inner Mouth Aromas
 - This Wine Ages Incredibly Well
 - Grand Cru Burgundy for $73.99 - Easily Drinks Like $100+

When I visited Xavier Durand this year i didn't know what to expect. I adored his 14s and the vintage

seemed to suit his style. His 15s I liked but did not love so I didn't offer them. Still, I loved what he did in 14 and in 12 and needed to get a read into which direction he was going in. Well, I am so so glad I made the visit as the 16's are smoke shows. They are his best wines yet and have everything I loved in 2014 but more fruit, more energy and more freshness. The aromas on his 16's are just nuts. He is really refining his style and understanding the terroir and cellar work more. He's improving at a rapid pace as 17 was unreal as well. I am very happy to have Xavier in the portfolio. Today I have his top two red wines and in the world of Red Burgundy values like this for these two elite appellations do not come around too often. I've got a village lieu-dit wine from Nuits St. George and a Grand Cru Corton Rognet today. These are stupid great and in the world of high priced Red Burgundy I've got terrific wines at great prices.

Up first is the stunning Xavier Durand 2016 Nuits St. Georges "Les Charmois" for $44.99 a 4-pack. I blinded my neighbors on the 2014 next to Chevillon Nuits St. Georges Vieilles Vignes and they concluded that at a minimum the Durand wasequal and was likely better. The 2016 Les Charmois from Durand is an unreal wine and is better than 2014 Chevillon and obviously much less expensive. The nose is just stunning and penetrates your nose like water from a high pressure hose, if the water was cherries and spice. It's got that urgency of aromas. Super floral and super mineral. Dark violets and some other florals I cant quite identify. The nose is complex and juicy if that is possible. A hint of sweet wood that is so well done! Juicy juicy juicy with sweet sweet fruit and lovely framing wood and insane spice. Terrific body and freshness and an airy quality only the best Burgundies have. Amazing laciness and texture. Stunning inner mouth aromas. Really flavorful and saturating.  It glides onto your palate. Tons and tons of farm cherries abound and they are of the small little black kind. They burst and are so explosive and so sweet. It's stunningly pure. The 16s are the purest wines Xavier has made. Terrific and very approachable. Dark cherries echo on the finish and the purity and concentration are off the charts. This is the real deal and I think will age 20+ years.


Next up is a wine I have not offered since 2012. Back then it $50 ish a bottle and today it's $74. That's really really not a bad increase. Especially once I tell you what it is. Today I have the 2016 Xavier Durand Grand Cru Corton "Le Rognet" for $73.99 a 3-pack. It's a stunning deal from one of my favorite sleeper Grand Crus. This is a great Grand Cru and many people think it is the greatest of all the Corton Grand Crus on that majestic hill. The wine is just incredible and drinks like $100+. Easy.  I think everyone should drink the Nuits above and let this age as the 2010 Xavier opened for me was lights out. It needs age as well. The nose is enormously complex. An amalgam of aromas. It's deep as the ocean can get. Bottomless. Big big fruit. So expressive. Incredibly mineral with some incredible and decadent spices. So deep you can get lost in it. There is just so much dark fruit and spice which is typical of Le Rognet. But there is an underlying mineral intensity as well. I mean this is Grand Cru Red Burgundy. Rich, dense palate with dark, dark fruit that saturates every nook and cranny of the palate but in an elegant, finessed, way. It's downright hedonistic. The inner mouth aromas are just so electric and full of fruit and energy. It's rich and dense with terrific freshness and impeccable Grand Cru Balance. Long complex and very juicy. Incredibly well made wine. This is Grand as it gets but I get the sense there is so much more being held back. The finish is so long and winding it's like a road with a sunset at the end of a movie. Where will it go? It will go somewhere. Great. The 2010 showed me but the 2016 is much better wine albeit younger.

2016 Xavier Durand Nuits St. Georges "Les Charmois" - $46.99 ($179.96 4-Pack) 

2016 Xavier Durand Corton Le Rognet Grand Cru - $76.99 

($221.97 3-pack)