The Last Cases of 2 of My Favorite Burgs from the Last Trip - Stock up!

My first appointment in Burgundy in early March was a typical Burgundian rainy morning, and the destination was Gamay. Yes, there is a village in the Cote de Beaune called Gamay, and they only

grow Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a tiny bit of Aligote. It is also where Jean-Jacques Morel's winery is and where some of his vineyards are,  right across the street from Marc Colin. Jean-Jaques Morel also happens to be one of the most artistic winemakers in Burgundy. It was fascinating tasting there again as I tasted many of the same wines I had tasted in February, and yet it was like I was tasting completely different wines. They gained more in such a small space of time, more than any other wines I have encountered; 2 very good wines became great. Many of you will be getting these wines as soon as they are processed into inventory by our warehouse. I am more excited about tasting these wines in the comfort of my own home than almost any other Burgundy producer as there is nothing like his wines. They are as natural as wine can get without being too natural and tasting just like every other natural wine and losing their sense of place (they have none of the natural wine funk).  These are utterly classically styled and structured Burgs but with all that freshness and liveliness from Jean-Jacques' natural methods.

These will be sold out soon and we likely won't be getting any 2013s according to jean-Jacques because the harvest was so small, so I strongly encourage Burgundy lovers to buy as much as they can store.

The 2008 St. Aubin AC Rouge ($27.99 on the 4-pack) is the Burgundy you want to be drinking over the next 3-5 years. It is at peak, has 6 years of age on it so there is a bit of that earthy quality along with that scintillating 2008 stony minerality. The fruit is still abundant and the wine is so fresh and vibrant you would not think 2008. The tannins are as fine as spider silk and so ripe and sweet. It is nothing short of miraculous. There are Burgundies from humble appellations, which if you can catch them at the right time can be magical. A '99 Roty Marsannay "Ouzeloy" 3-4 years ago reminds me of this wine, not in taste and /or flavor profile, but in overall surprise factor. It will wow you, and I'll bet, when it arrives in Fall, will change more, and in the upwards direction.

I am also offering the stunningly good 2012 Bourgogne Blanc "Les Genouvrees" for $27.99 on the 4-pack (mix and match pricing). I asked if this was a different wine when I tasted it. It gained weight, richness and was even more precise. Very long with a delicate texture, excellent concentration and a hint of that natural taste on the finish. Something that reminds me of very fine hazelnuts. The cleanliness and freshness of Jean-Jacques Morel's wines is something all wine lovers should experience. Like they took a spigot to the vine, which is my highest compliment for a wine.

 So why should you buy this wine?

• You cannot get this anywhere else. Maybe France or Australia. Both very far away places (unless you live there).
• These are great wines to bring to a tasting because they are not brought into the States. 
• This is arguably one of, if not the top, example of natural Burgundies out there.
• The total production is only 7,000 bottles over 9 wines in each vintage (depending on yield) and this can be substantially fewer than 7,000 bottles in short vintages. 
• These are some of the most carefully made artistic expressions of red and white Burgundy I have ever had and all the Burgundy lovers on the list should try these.

When I re-read my tasting notes on Jean-Jacques Morel, there was one word circled and underlined at the top of the page. Special. Even in Burgundy, there are winemakers and there are artists, and Morel is an artist. He only makes 7,000 bottles of wine per year. At these levels of production, this is clearly somewhere in the hobby/obsession/labor of love area, as opposed to being a highly profitable business. I'm not saying that the great winemakers in Burgundy couldn't make wines like this if they wanted to, but the way that Morel makes wine, you can't really do it at volumes much higher than he does. These wines are incredibly, incredibly good but they are also very unique and distinctive which is a result of how they are made.

These wines are natural wines. Before I explain further, let me say that I'm over the natural wine phenomenon - I just want good wines, natural or not. Because natural winemakers eschew certain modern winemaking techniques, their wines are vulnerable to certain flaws if the winemaker does not do everything 100% perfectly. This is why Morel really can't make much more wine than he does any more than an oil painter can mass produce his paintings; making natural wines of this quality is an incredibly painstaking and difficult process.

This was surely one of my toughest appointments to get as it happened at "Frenchspeed" and it is actually happenstance that I even was introduced to Jean-Jacques Morel. I was e-mailing another "natural" wine producer in Burgundy whose wines I tasted and liked and wanted to taste at the estate to see if I could do business with him. Well, he e-mailed me back and said no-go but you should taste with my friend Jean-Jacques Morel as he is doing some super exciting stuff in St. Aubin. I actually had to hire someone to call Jean-Jacques and a few others to get an appointment as he would not answer my e-mails. The French have a special not as urgent relationship with e-mail like us Americans do. Long story short, I met up with Jean-Jacques in July on my recent trip and I fell in love with the wines.

Mr. Morel is a character right out of Back to the Future. He actually looks like and reminds me of The Professor. This is the smallest production estate I have ever encountered in Burgundy at just under 7,000 bottles. Yes, bottles. He also used to sell grapes to Pierre-Yves Colin Morey for some of his St. Aubin Blancs.

These are some of the purest and prettiest Burgundies around. Fully natural or as Jean-Jacques likes to say, "95% Natural." He uses little to no sulfur at bottling, and in 2009, he actually forgot to sulfur his red St. Aubin at bottling. I tasted it and it was still fresh and lively and could go 5-10 more years, easy.

His vineyards look like no other in Burgundy. They are alive with so much cover crop and white flowers you cannot even tell where the vines end and the cover crops begin. Just a startlingly alive vineyards. The wines are even more alive than the vineyard. They are an exercise in purity and terroir expression.

I am selling the last of what Jean-Jacques has of these wines. These wines are amazingly special and shows how good "Natural" wine can be in Burgundy.

I will admit I don't love much natural Burgundy out there. It is usually too expensive and is more about technique than terroir. I won't go into names but the usual suspects really don't impress me. They also are overpriced. So Jean-Jacques Morel, who is a Parisian and very familiar with the natural wine scene, knows what is up and he is making some of the most stable and pure natural wines I have ever had. Great terroir helps as well.

2008 Jean-Jacques Morel St. Aubin Rouge AC - $29.99 

($111.96 4-pack)

 2012 Jean-Jacques Morel Bourgogne Blanc "Les Genouvrées" - $29.99 ($111.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)