2017 Vincent Ledy Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru "Les Porrets St. Georges" Vieilles Vignes
- One of the Best Red Burgundies I Sell
- 85+ Year Old Vines
- Yields Only 20 hl/ha
- Nose: Super Fragrant
- Mashed Black Flowers
- Deep, Rich Fruit
- Almost Lurid Red Fruit Quality
- Pungent Stoniness
- Palate: Amazing Richness
- Mind Boggling, Almost Impossible Density
- So Crisp and Fresh
- An Entree into the True Top Tier of Burgundy
2017 Vincent Ledy Savigny Les Beaune
- The Same Winemaking Focus As the NSG
- Serious Savigny
- Amazing Pinosity and Savigny Character for Days
- Nose: Stoney, Mineral Dark Berry Fruits
- With Age, This Is Unreal
- "What if Henri Gouges made Savigny Les Beaune?"
- Cellar This for 5 Years and Bring it to Any Tasting You Like
Drinking Osmium - An Almost Impossible Wine
Imagine picking it up and the surprise you would feel, expecting something far less heavy for the volume. You get that experience with some wines. You sip them and your immediate reaction is one of surprise. In some cases, your brain struggles to process for a moment or two because of the unexpected density. Today's top wine is one of those wines.
It's almost a ridiculous project because he should be making twice as much wine from the land he has as he does. Vincent Ledy is almost maniacal in his work to reduce yields and make the finest wine that he can. I can tell you that it's worth it. This is one of the more expensive wines that we sell but it is an entree into the true top tier of Burgundy.
(Disclosure: There is no osmium in this wine.)
The Winemaker
Vincent is a force to be reckoned with now. The wines are deep and powerful and take hours and days to unfurl but most of all need tears to truly express themselves. And when they do, watch out as the first wine today can compete with even Burgundy Grand Crus. A client emailed a few years back that he did a blind tasting with some friends of his and the 2015 Vincent Ledy Chorey Les Beaune "Les Beaumonts" was first place for 3 people over 2 different Corton Grand Crus and a Beaune 1er Cru. He emailed me about it as he could not believe it. He was obviously very happy and it's nice to have my validations about Vincent Ledy confirmed. One other reason Vincent is not a superstar is because the only critic that has tasted his wine is La Revue de Vin de France which is a like a French Wine Spectator.
...but Jasper Morris, British Burgundy legendary critic has visited with him in Burgundy and I was thrilled about it. He said he makes "promising powerful reds." And yes he does.
The Wines
The 2017 Vincent Ledy Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru "Les Porrets St. Georges" Vieilles Vignes is $102.99 a bottle on a 3-pack. It's probably next to the Poisot Romanee St. Vivant, a few Brisset reds, the best Red Burgundy I sell. This is from 85+ year old vines. Yields for this wine were only 20 hl/ha versus an average of 37 for NSG Premier Crus. This wine is a love letter and a tour de force in winemaking. It is a work of remarkable genius.
The nose. Super fragrant nose. Like the best fragrance you can imagine. 13 was darker and had lower yields and more brooding. 14 had more lift to it and is a bit more evenly fruited between black, blue and red. 17 is more ethereal with deep, rich fruit and pungent stoniness that makes it insanely distinct. It also has terrific crunch with all that rich yet energetic 2017 fruit. Mashed black flowers and tons of stoney minerality. So floral. Violets, roses, just beguiling. But all of this is on a bed of stone. Limestone. There is also a confectionary aroma as well that envelops the black cherries and blackberries. Big sappy blackberries and black cherries. But there is also a pungent almost lurid red fruit quality that intermingles as well. I also get a iron/graphite mineral/ore component. The aromas are just off the charts. The wine is flat out brilliant. It is so deep. But what the 17 has what the 13/14/15/16 just fall short of is the remarkable finesse that only comes from the best sites in the best years. This is the most finesse I've ever had in a young Ledy and it will only grows more elegant with time. For something so big it floats. I once compared Ledy's style to the great Henri Gouges and this is the wine that made me think Gouges as soon as I smelled it. Like black cherries in pastelle clay. This is one of the most expensive direct wines I offer, but I offer it because there is nothing like it in Burgundy or Nuits St. Georges. The wine is an elixir in that the care and love that Vincent puts into it is second to none. You can taste it. The wine is always opening and changing. You see Vincent's artistry here as he uses no new barrels in this wine and the character of the great 1er Cru site "Les Porrets Saint-Georges" shines through. This is naked Burgundy at its finest.
The palate has amazing richness and density and the power and density of the site and the old vine sap are apparent in spades. Yet it is so crisp and fresh which is what 2017 is all about. The inner mouth aromas are some of the best I've ever encountered. It takes over every nook and cranny of your mouth like nothing I've ever had. It's almost like an invasive species of Pinot Noir in your mouth. The tannins are firm and the energy on the palate is second to none. The freshness and acid combined with the density, length and richness are some of the best I've encountered. This is a holy crap OMG wine. It's a wine I hope to cellar every vintage. And i have. I opened one 12 to see how it made the trip across the ocean. This wine needs extensive cellaring. With the 2017 as in the 2014 vintage Vincent made this wine into two cuvees, separating the young vines and old vines.
What a wine. I can easily put this in a lineup of the top NSG (Mugneret-Gibourg NSG Chaignots, Gouges Vaucrains/Les St. Georges, Chevillon Vaucrains/Les St. Georges) and it would finish at top or in top 3. It is top, top wine.
Up next I've got something that is one of the best knock em sock em values of the 2017 vintage. The 2017 Vincent Ledy Savigny Les Beaune for $36.99 a bottle on a 4-Pack. Below his two NSG cuvees this is the king at Ledy and one of the finest Savignys one can have dollar for dollar. I love this wine. It's serious Savigny. Forget that it's not a 1er Cru. This is a serious wine and can compete with so many 1er Crus. It can be had for $37.99 a bottle on a 4-Pack. Don't be deceived by the low price this is chock full of amazing Pinosity and Savigny character for days in that uncompromising Ledy style which he has perfected. I really adore Ledy's 17's, they remind me of a deeper version of his 2014s. I can hands down say this is my favorite village SLB out there, and as I said it really acts like many a very good 1er Cru. Through 3 tiers, this wine would cost $50 and it would be well worth it - it's best in class. Ledy's 2017 Savigny has a gorgeous nose of stoney, mineral dark berry fruits and big, dense ripe mid season cherry fruits; beautiful aromas that have serious gusto. Floral and spicey as well with cool raspberry as well. So much trademark intense Ledy minerality. It's very complex but a 2010 can recently attest this gets unreal with age. The aromas are symphonic and perfumed.
Big, and I mean big palate, that needs 2-3-4-5 hours to aerate, but once it does you have a wine that is like, "What if Henri Gouges made Savigny Les Beaune?" Incredible sweet/sweet flavors. It is super muscular, sappy, dense with extraordinary body, intensity with a sappy sweetness. It it refined and elegant on the midpalte. The fruit is dense and so so sweet and vivid like nothing else but will take 4-6 years to truly sing. It needs it. Chewy and complex but so much more to show. The balance of all the parts is something to behold. This is exquisite wine with some serious raw power. The concentration, raw power, just this short of sweet earthy fruit and a haunting confectionary quality make this an astonishing wine. Buy as much as you can as it won't be enough. This can age 20 years.
2017 Vincent Ledy Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru "Les Porrets St. Georges" Vieilles Vignes - $104.99 ($308.97 3-pack)
2017 Vincent Ledy Savigny Les Beaune - $38.99 ($147.96 4-Pack)
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