2012 Burgundy Grand Cru Pinot. A Steal, not a Deal at $53.99 - The Red Wine Version of Sebastien Dampt

Most people never get the chance to drink Grand Cru Red Burgundy.  You have Chablisfor white Burg and some of the Grand Crus are more affordable but on the red side, you rapidly get into millionaire-land.  For some reason, that offends me at some level. I want all of my customers to be able to afford to taste the greatness of Grand Cru Red Burgundy once a year.  Just so that they can see what great red Burgundy can be.  So, I took advantage of the strong dollar, my direct from the winery pricing and cut my margins and am able to offer the 2012 Xavier Durand Corton Grand Cru "Le Rognet" for as little as $53.99 a bottle on a 3-pack.  

I was going to wait until Christmas Eve for this offer so that I could title it "Merry X-Mas" but he was running out of the wine so, here it is.  Make no mistake, this is one of the great red wine values of the year.  My customers that are used to buying Grand Cru reds will be stocking up.  I hope that everyone else will take a long, hard look at this and consider it for a special occasion.  Burgundy is getting more expensive every year and I'm not sure if I'll be able to offer a Grand Cru Red Burgundy at this price point again.

This wine is absolutely bonkers and has all the 2012 volume, power and purity one can ask for.  And more. Plus it has that extra depth and complexity that only Grand Cru Burgundy can pull off.  The nose has terrific purity; it's is flinty, mineral, decadent and complex all at once. The full Burgundian symphony in effect. It opens and opens after some time in the glass to reveal layers of spice, fruit and flowers. Just a terrific nose and only something Burgundy can bring you. The palate has killer inner mouth floral aromatics and deep, layered, mouth coating fruit. This is toothsome as one wine writer might say. But also the fruit is sweet and the tannins are ripe. This has exceptional fruit quality. You have to peel it off of your mouth. All of it becomes alive with its absolutely electric acidity. It is so deep. Just an outrageous bottle of wine and complex like you would not believe. This is limited so place your idea order and I will try and accommodate.

This is great now but can age up to 15 years. Easy.

Next up is one of my favorite "I get no respect villages" and that is the 2013 Xavier Durand

Aloxe-Corton "Les Boutieres," which can be had for as little as $31.99 on a 4-pack. This wine is a personal favorite as I love underdogs and it does not get more underdog than Aloxe Corton. Was just flipping through wine-searcher and saw many north of $70! The 3 tier system really screws you when it comes to Aloxe-Corton. Big mineral and classy nose. There is dominating minerality but also the classic Xavier "big fruits of pleasure" as I say in my note. The palate is beyond impressive. It has thrust and just huge levels of fruit. One of the best 13's I tasted on my trip this part March. So much volume and precision. Big tannin, huge fruit and ridiculousness as my note continued. As it opened it developed wonderful sweet tart cherry fruit and an animal quality that added to the complexity. Despite its immediate appeal this can use some time in the cellar, but if one is to open now, open 30 minutes in advance and evolve with it.  Despite the classic Xavier accessibility it has the stuffing to age 10-12 years.

The Boutieres is from the southern tip of the appellation right at the border of Chorey Les Beaune. The Boutieres has marly clay and very heavy soil which leads Xavier to say it his best wine to age. I can see why.

Some of you, frankly I wish more of you, are going to be getting a few selections from
Xavier Durand's fantastic 2012's when the Fall Ship commences. Can you believe how hot it is still? I will fully admit, that when one writes 4-5 e-mail offers every week, one can sometimes have an off offer that in no way represents the wines, winemakers, me or Fass Selections. Even Sandy Koufax can have a bad start or two and he still is Sandy Koufax. The first Durand offer I tried to get too metaphorical and made at what is best a comparison only really serious burg geeks would get. Comparing an estate that nobody has heard of to an estate that barely anybody has heard of was probably not one of my better premises, regardless if it was an apt comparison.

Many of my Burgundies are in a particular style that is acid/terroir driven and they typically need hours/days open or years in the cellar to really show themselves. The wait is worth it. But sometimes I don't like waiting. I'm an impatient neurotic NYC Jew. Waiting is known to give me anxiety. Sometimes I want to open a young Burgundy that is full of fruit and a dash of earth that I can drink after a 10-15 minute aeration. I also want it to have all the things that my other Burgundies have but without having to wait forever. That is why I absolutely adore the wines of Xavier Durand. I feel with Xavier Durand, his wines will be as popular as Murat one of these days, who is the most popular producer in all of Fass Selections. I am chomping at the bit to get these and sink my teeth into them as they are, to hijack a John Livingston Learmouth term, "WOW" wines. Not wow as in wow, this is completely mind blowing but wow as in this is "what one wants." So British. I love it. They are full of incredible and dense fruit, bordering on the darker cherry side. It is dazzlingly pure and sweet fruit and all framed by Xavier's meticulous and judicious use of new oak. He is the master of new oak of all my producers. You don't know it is here. After every wine when I tasted with him back in March, he would tell me the new oak % and I would gasp as I never even expected these wines to have new oak, but they do and sometimes 25% but you cannot tell. Like Dujac or Rousseau he gets amazing material for the oak to suck up. You cannot tell it is there. Like a great chef with salt, where salt is needed in every dish, you don't know it is there and when there is too much it ruins the dish/wine. I point this out because for Xavier being so young and being able to get this amazing quality fruit while being this skilled with oak is just phenomenal. Also he has about some of the fairest prices in all of Fass Selections. Today I am offering two outstanding Burgundies from Xavier Durand that will test the QPR barrier. The quality to price on these is about as good as it gets because of a number of factors. Not the A++ terroir, so that discount is in effect, young winemaker discount is in effect, the I buy direct discount is in effect and combine all three of these and you have some serious values here. It's kind of unfair that I know how these taste and you don't. I'm still not used to it to be honest. Knowing how all these wines taste and you, the client, not knowing till months, years down the line depending on when you crack them.

2013 Xavier Durand Aloxe-Corton Les Boutiers - $33.99 ($127.96 4-pack)

2012 Xavier Durand Corton "Rognet" - $55.99 ($161.97 3-pack)