Our When Harry Met Sally Diner Scene Wine - Just Absolutely Delicious

So, you remember that scene in the diner in "When Harry Met Sally" and Harry doesn't believe that women can fake being ..... happy?  And Sally proceeds to deliver a very loud enactment of said state?

Well, I had a similar, though slightly less voluble reaction to this wine at a New YorkSushi

restaurant.  One can get jaded on buying trips as one tries to take notes, and calculate price points and offer schedules.  In this case, I had forgotten just how damned good this wine is.  I started oohing, aahing and pretty much groaning over the Volupteuse, producing quite a few stares.

These wines are both really, really delicious.  Yes, my notes below go into the minerality and the acid and the balance.  And those things are important.  But the overall effect is that they are just really delicious.  You can have a bit of an intellectual conversation about the Elegante (it is after all, elegant) but mostly, you will simply be amazed at how good the wines taste.

What makes their wines unique is their vineyard is one ten hectare parcel on a hill.They make different cuvees by tasting different barrels and tanks after the harvest. Certain plots express certain things and they bottle them accordingly. Certain areas have different soil subsets and yield different wines. It is almost a German way of making wine versus a Burgundian way. Fascinating is what it is.

The 2014 La Croix Montjoie "Volupteuse," which can be had for as little as $22.99 on a 4-pack is absolutely terrific wine and what you want in affordable white Burgundy. It has exquisite purity, balance and vivid fruit. 2014 is better than 2013 in Vezelay and what I tasted in barrel was very promising. Just an amazing mix of acid/mineral. This is exactly what I want in an everyday white. It is from their oldest vines which are 30 years old and it is 20% new oak and 80% old oak. There is no noticeable wood on the wine. Amazing integration here.  The acid is wonderful. Spikey and delicate. A brilliant expression of Vezelay from the best producer there.  This wine is just plain ethereal and shows how great Vezelay can be. I grab for this often and you will too.

The 2013 La Croix Monjoie Bourgogne Vezelay L'élégante for as little as $19.99 on a 4 pack is just an insane value. I'll be blunt: this wine blows away almost any cru bourgogne in the Cote d'Or.  You simply cannot get this level of concentration and finesse at this price, period. This wine has a gorgeous floral nose, voluptuous, decadent and stunningly fresh fruit, great concentration and is as precise as a laser beam. You combine that with the sheer volume in the mouth and you would not guess that this is a $20 wine.  It does that salivation thing on your palate that keeps bringing you back for one sip. Even though it is close to Chablis, the wines are not as similar as you would think. They have minerality, but no where nearly as intense as Chablis.  These guys are just smart young winemakers with some really good terroir making really, really good wines that are a unique expression of that terroir and because it's in an unknown area, the price is very low for the quality.

I work with a lot of wineries and on rare occasions I don't see the estate until after I've tasted and sold the wines as I've met the winemaker somewhere else beforehand. This was the case with Sophie of the terrific estate La Croix Montjoie in Vezelay. I met her in Beaune in February 2014 to taste with her in a restaurant. But this time we drove to Vezelay, which is one of the most spectacular areas in all of France with a cathedral that is breathtaking. Of course we got lost on the way to the estate, which is in the small stunningly beautiful hamlet of Tharoiseau in the Yonne département. What wine trip is a real wine trip without getting lost. The GPS is very fallible. When we got there with Sophie guiding us on the phone, I was blown away by the beauty of their estate. The centerpiece is an old farmhouse which has the winery and the tasting room. With a view of the valley and the cathedral at Vezelay like you have never seen before. I probably overstayed my welcome taking pictures as it was so breathtaking. But this is more than just a pretty place. The wines that Sophie and her husband make are absolutely what you want. Absolutely delicious. They are incredibly well made, pure beyond their humble price points and I'll say it again. Just delicious. Today I have a red and a white and I don't recommend case purchases often but this is the ultimate "bridge the gap" wine. This is the wine you will pull for when you have unexpected guests and want something delicious but not something you have to think about. They are just so drinkable and so delicious.

2013 La Croix Montjoie Bourgogne Vezelay "L'Elegante" - $21.99 ($79.96 4-pack)

2014 La Croix Montjoie Bourgogne Vezelay "Voluptueuse" - $24.99 ($91.96 4-pack)