Why We Love White Burgundy and Why We Should Also Drink Things Other Than White Burgundy - Today, An Elite, Complex, Wonderful Wine from Savoie for a Song

 A Very Important Addition to the Savoie Portfolio Is Back! 
 - I Am As Excited About This Producer As I Can Be
 - Gringet - Expressive, Ageworthy, Complex - Only Planted in This Part of Savoie

2019 Familie Montessuit "Crocus Alpinus" Ayze Vieilles Vignes
 - Nose: White Flowers and the Smell of a Field after Fresh Rain   - Alpine Perfection
 - Palate - Juicy, Mineral
 - Outrageous Inner Mouth Aromatics
 - Finish Is Citrus 
 - Mountain Meursault Perrieres 
 - 100% Gringet
 - Amazing Change of Pace Wine - Quality of 1er Cru Burgundy
 - But Very Different Flavor Profile

 - This Has the Depth and Complexity You Expect from 155 Year Old Vines; It Is a Remarkable Value ($38.99) for a Unique Wine

Why We love White Burgundy and Should Also Drink Things Other than White Burgundy

Burgundy makes the most heralded white wines on earth.

Why?

I think that it is a combination of several factors:

1) They have excellent terroir

2) Chardonnay is an excellent grape

3) They have the greatest concentration of winemaking talent on earth.

When you buy wines from your favorite producer of White Burgundy, you know what you are getting. You may pay dearly for it, but you know that you are getting something at a minimum very good and at its peak brilliant.

Let me assure you of one thing after 20+ years in this business. There are other fabulous winemakers with incredible terroir in other winemaking regions that the vast majority of wine drinkers have never heard of. And because of this, their wines are 50% or more less expensive than wines in Burgundy at the same quality level.

And as much as Burg lovers enjoy seeking out the differences in terroir between the AOCs and vineyards in Burgundy, the differences between Burgundy and regions like the Savoie are incredibly vast.

So I'm going to sell and drink and love White Burgundy for the rest of my life. But I'm also going to bang the drum hard to introduce everyone I can to white wines outside of Burgundy.  

These wines are brilliant, delicious and very different.

Vive la difference!

The Wine

Many of you have raved to me about the wonderful 100% Gringet Cuvee from Familie Montessuit, the Cuvee Jonquille Vieilles Vignes but did you know there is another, older vine, higher end cuvee that is even better. Almost their Grand Cru? It's the 2018 Familie Montessuit "Crocus Alpinus" Vieilles Vignes for $38.99 a bottle on a 4 pack and $34.82 after the tariff rebate. If Gringet was grown in Meursault Perrieres maybe it would taste like this. The wine is brilliant. Stunning, deep, textured, structured and ageable. Vines are between 70-115 years old and everything is hand harvested. The interesting name comes from the flower that grows on the north side of the mountain where the vineyard is.

 

The Magical Gringet

I am so excited to bring in someone else not only explores this wonderful mountain terroir but also someone who also exclusively focuses on the brilliant ancestral grape of Ayze, the magical Gringet. Since Gringet entered my life through Belluard I have been obsessed with it ever since. In the 1980s 80 hectares were planted in Ayze. Gringet is only planted in Ayze and nowhere else. Then 20 years ago it was down to 50 hectares and today it only 20 hectares. That's roughly 65,000 bottles per year.  That is scary small for a grape this wonderful, this expressive and this ageworthy. In fact the grape is so wonderful that Domaine Montessuit only makes still and sparkling wines from Gringet. 

It's hard to find the ancestry of Gringet but some have said Savagnin and others Altesse, I'd like to think it lies somewhere between the two and like those grapes it has, in the right hands, the power to be extraordinary. With the father of the region, Domaine Belluard, taking over his estate in 1988 he made
Ayze sparkling wine a phenomenon and lifted it from being local innocuous sparkling wine sold to tourists. Now we are finally seeing a generation that is influenced by Belluard. Actually generation may be stretching it as Montessuit is only other producer of Ayze that I know. At Montessuit, they have immense admiration and respect for Belluard.

The nose is stunning and very complex. It's super refined and so, so elegant. Very precise. A step up from the Jonquille. Pungently mineral but in a distinct alpine mountain way that just screams of the great terroir of Ayze. White flowers and the aromas of a field after fresh rain. Alpine fresh air on the nose. Wild flowers. Super airy and clean. There are faint hints of pear that become more prominent with air. Nose is all alpine. Flowers, green apples, apple pie, mineral and the freshest mountain air one can believe. Freshly wet hay. Snow capped pine trees.

The palate is to die for. It's super juicy and mineral. So pure and so so clean. The minerality is remarkable. It's got depth, length, purity and strength to it that indicates it will age. They opened vintages going back to 2012 of this cuvee and they were right. This has 10/15 years ahead of it. Juicy and elegant with so much finesse and dazzling purity. Really a finesse-driven wine with amazing acidity. Terrific roundness and opulence. Dense, tactile and juicy with just awesome density and depth. Old vine sap for days. Terrific purity and structure. So long. So grippy. Stunning.  The inner mouth aromas are so outrageous and distinctive. Super mountain minerality is so unreal and so persistent. 

Finish is miles long. 1er Cru white Burg level.  Such a complex finish with terrific structure.  Palate is wonderfully elegant and super expressive with major acidity and freshness. This needs air. Structure is dominant the first 15 minutes then it gets more expressive on the palate.

Lovely tension on the finish. Insane salty finish with terrific saline grip. There is citrus peel on the finish that interacts with the incredible mineral depth. The citrus peel is perfectly judged as this is a wine about minerals, structure and depth. It's deep, powerful and concentrated and will age for 15-18 years. 

2019 Familie Montessuit Crocus Alpinus Ayze Vieilles Vignes - $40.99 ($155.96 4-Pack) (*Including tariff of $4.17)